The submit Sen Soon Mun of Horwath HTL: Malaysia must raise service standards appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily Media.
He advocates for stronger service standards, wellness choices, and accountable adoption of expertise to assist Malaysia stand out within the tourism market.
Malaysia’s hospitality sector has a lot of room to develop. However, with the intention to unlock its subsequent section of potential, attracting guests won’t be sufficient.
Traveller expectations evolve, and regional competitors intensifies; therefore, lodges and tourism companies might want to sharpen their choices and supply experiences that give guests a stronger motive to decide on Malaysia.
Sen Soon Mun, Director at Horwath HTL Kuala Lumpur, sees alternatives significantly in wellness, forest-based tourism, and technology-enabled hospitality. His expertise contains advising on resort developments and investments, bringing a industrial perspective to the modifications going down in Malaysia’s tourism panorama.
At Horwath HTL, Soon Mun’s specialisation focuses on market insights and monetary feasibility research, serving to buyers and builders assess the viability of hospitality tasks. His expertise additionally covers operator searches and Hotel Management Agreement (HMA) negotiations.
Soon Mun can also be geared up with monetary experience, as he’s a member of the Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA).
As he returns as a decide for the TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards 2026 – Malaysia, Soon Mun shared his views on the alternatives that would strengthen the nation’s hospitality proposition, the significance of bettering service standards, and the way expertise can reshape resort operations.
How have altering traveller expectations affected the best way resort and hospitality tasks are developed in Malaysia?
Personalisation and tech have gotten extra vital. Guests more and more count on personalisation, seamless expertise integration, and robust environmental accountability relatively than simply conventional consolation.
What areas of Malaysia’s hospitality sector do you assume are nonetheless underdeveloped or have vital room for progress?
Wellness. Thailand and Indonesia, Malaysia’s speedy neighbours, are well-known for his or her spas and wellness choices, while Malaysia nonetheless lags far behind. Even Singapore has plans to drive wellness, with a large-scale social wellbeing infrastructure deliberate on a 4-hectare website subsequent to Gardens by the Bay and Marina Barrage. Slated to open in 2030, it would characteristic greater than 20 swimming pools and water options, in addition to over 70 wellness therapy rooms.
Which rising alternatives in Malaysia’s tourism and hospitality market do you assume companies ought to be getting ready for now?
In addition to wellness, Malaysia ought to capitalise on forest resorts that mix nature with wellness. Malaysia is thought for its rainforests, and the success of The Datai in Langkawi has confirmed that this growth alternative ought to be additional explored.
Malaysia is competing with a number of established tourism locations within the area. What can its hospitality trade do to face out?
Generally, the service stage in Malaysia will not be at a stage that’s acceptable. Malaysia is a hospitable nation and is thought for it. Elevating service high quality to a stage akin to Thailand and Indonesia would place Malaysia in a greater stead in a area that’s turning into extremely aggressive. In addition, resort homeowners ought to instil larger satisfaction of their merchandise by means of the next stage of upkeep.
How do you see AI and knowledge altering resort funding, planning, and operations over the subsequent 5 years?
AI is unstoppable. Hotels should undertake and embrace AI of their operations. Hotel administration corporations might be charging obligatory expertise charges, as some already do. However, it must be remembered that AI doesn’t substitute people, and the human issue nonetheless must be current in service supply. Budget and midscale lodges are more likely to have increased adoption of AI than luxurious lodges.
As a decide for the TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards 2026, what sorts of initiatives do you hope to see amongst this 12 months’s award entries?
I’d be hoping to see sustainability initiatives and a stronger concentrate on wellness amongst this 12 months’s award entries.
The submit Sen Soon Mun of Horwath HTL: Malaysia must raise service standards appeared first on Travel Daily Media.
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