Wanderlust Hotel Singapore is dedicated to design

Who would’ve thought of opening a glitzy, design-driven hotel in derelict Little India, an area that has been, until now, a backpackers’ haven and a Bangladeshi haunt? Loh Lik Peng would, with Wanderlust Hotel.

Click the image above for more pictures of Wanderlust Hotel

After opening The Waterhouse at South Bund in Shanghai and Townhall Hotels and Apartments in London this year, the former lawyer-turned-boutique hotelier turned his attention to an abandoned former Singapore school built in the 1920s and retooled it into a 29-room boutique hotel called Wanderlust (scheduled to open in early August 2010). It features the design touches of not one but four creative agencies. We talk to Peng about his ‘ruins to glory’ instinct and dives deep into his world of designer boutique lodging. 

CNNGo: You seem to have a love affair with old, derelict buildings and morphing them into stylish, design-driven boutique hotels. How did you get involved with hotels in the first place?

Loh Lik Peng: So it really was kind of an accident. I purchased and did up Hotel 1929 because I wasn’t having much fun practicing as a lawyer during the last downturn. It was 2001/2002 and there were many properties in distress with banks foreclosing on properties. I was mostly working on bankruptcy and winding up work and it really was hell. Then this derelict property (now Hotel 1929) in the red light area of Chinatown was put on the market by the banks and nobody would touch it so I just took the opportunity and the rest is history!

CNNGo: But why boutique hotels? Were you originally constrained by capital or did you see a genuine gap for boutique hotels?

Peng: Well, it was a combination of both. I didn’t have the capital for a large hotel for sure and I thought anyway that a boutique hotel would be so much fun to do. I’m not sure it was a case of spotting a gap in the market. It was a case of good luck and some perseverance on my part and perhaps some foresight on my parent’s part. Goodness knows why they thought this might be something that would work.

CNNGo: Why the obsession with design then?

Peng: I’ve always liked beautiful and well designed things. I like furniture especially and you know that fits perfectly with hotels.

CNNGo: We heard that you love collecting designer furniture too. What are your favorites? And tell us something about your collection.

Peng: My favourite designers are Hans Wegner and Arne Jaconsen. I think Finn Juhl ranks really high up there too.

As for collection, I have a Giraffe from Arne Jacobsen and I have some Pot chairs too. No longer in production! I have a first edition LCW from Eames that pre-dates Herman Miller so it’s very rare.

CNNGo: What is your personal ethos when it comes to designing a boutique hotel?

Peng: Have lots of fun and pull in as many creative people as you can to collaborate with you.

CNNGo: Are you done with law then?

Peng: Yes. I’m not sure anyone would hire me now.

CNNGo: Where are you setting your sights for your next lodging outpost?

Peng: (Laughs) I wish I knew! Mostly these things are opportunistic and you go where you find something interesting.

CNNGo: We see you’ve been getting your hands dirty in the restaurant business too. Are you just pursuing a passion for good food, or do you think that good restaurants are essential to the success of boutique hotels?

Peng: Restaurants definitely help when you’re setting up something like a cool boutique hotel. I’m not that much into free standing restaurants. To me they work better as part of a whole concept that includes the hotel.

CNNGo: Can you give a word of advice to aspiring boutique hoteliers?

Peng: Do your homework. Hotels are costly beasts to handle if you don’t get the formula right. They also take decades to pay back so don’t expect to make a quick buck.

 

Wanderlust Hotel