Doris Goh on changing the culture in hospitality – and going for eco luxury in China with Alila
The hospitality veteran talks about her roundabout route into the hotel business, and why she always makes a point of talking to her drivers
Doris Goh, chief marketing officer for Alila Hotels and Resorts, took a circuitous route into hospitality. She talks about what her career of more than 20 years has taught her – and where she’s heading with her current role.
You’ve worked in hospitality for more than 20 years. Were you passionate about the industry at a young age?
I never thought I’d work in a hotel, to be honest. My background was in building sciences, and I was trained in understanding construction, building and materials. At that time, I just stopped short of being a quantity surveyor, and was also considering whether I should continue my studies to become an architect. I quit my job, and it was when I was travelling in Japan that I noticed that there were job vacancies in the industry and people looking for hoteliers. I said that maybe I should try it out, even though I didn’t know what the jobs were about. Also for many years, my experience of hotels came from the outside in. However, I wanted to understand how they worked from the inside out.
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What were your first impressions of the hospitality world?
My first impression was it’s not a nice industry as the people can be quite horrible! When I was in the building trade, people might be a little rough but they were very honest. To me, the hotel industry can be superficial. But I told myself that if I’m going to make a difference, I want to make sure I don’t turn out to be those kinds of people. So I learned to stand my ground.