This article was originally published in the Brand Finance Hotels 50 2025 report, Brand Finance Singapore 100 2025 report and Brand Finance ASEAN 500 2025 report.
Millennium Hotels ranks as Southeast Asia’s premier hotels brand this year, with its brand value at USD421 million. The brand has strengthened its relevance through digital innovation, personalised guest experiences, and a reinvigorated loyalty programme that reflects the evolving needs of modern travellers.
Interview with Saurabh Prakash
Saurabh Prakash
Interim Chief Operating Officer & Chief Commercial Officer,
Millennium Hotels and Resorts
In 2024, you introduced ‘AVA’, an AI-powered voice assistant, across six properties. How has this technology shaped the guest experience, and where do you see AI adding the most value in hospitality moving forward?
AVA’ acts as a personal guide for guests, providing instant access to hotel information, streamlining service requests, and offering on-demand recommendations through voice command. This marks our entry into smart room technology, enabling more intuitive, contactless stays while preserving a human touch ‘AVA’ is currently available in our six Singapore hotels, M Social Hotel Phuket and M Social Resort Penang. We have also launched ‘Ask Millie’, an AI-powered chatbot on our website to enhance the booking experience. It offers real-time answers, personalised recommendations, and helps with booking management, giving guests 24/7 support even before they arrive.
We are using technology not just to work smarter, but to make every guest experience more personal and seamless. From AI-driven recommendations to smart rooms and easy digital services, it is all about removing friction. Looking ahead, we see
AI playing a bigger role in creating truly personalised stays, letting our teams focus on the moments that matter while tech takes care of the rest.
All six of your Singapore properties earned GSTC certification last year. How are you building on that success to embed sustainability more deeply across your global portfolio?
Sustainability is at the heart of how we operate, and achieving the GSTC certification across our six Singapore properties was an important milestone and a key step forward. In 2024, our Singapore hotels recycled nearly 100,000 kg of food waste into
greywater, significantly reducing the burden on incineration and landfills. We also saved over 3,100 meals by selling surplus food through a social enterprise app, giving new purpose to nearly 500 kg of excess.
As we set even more ambitious targets in 2025 and beyond, we are scaling up efforts to cut food waste, starting with AI-powered vision recognition at M Social Hotel Singapore to track and analyse what gets thrown away. This helps us manage waste more effectively and make smarter decisions. We are also taking steps such as sustainable procurement, smaller buffet plates, and switching to plated service where possible to avoid overproduction. Our kitchens use pre-cut and pre-cooked ingredients,
making the most of whole foods from head to tail and leaf to root, and design menus around versatile ingredients used across different dishes. Meals are also prepared based on reservations and expected guest numbers to reduce waste before it happens.
Globally, our hotels in the United Kingdom are also making strides, recycling approximately 180,000 kg of food waste into biofertilisers, helping prevent nearly 126 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Over 1,000 employees have already been trained in proper waste separation to maximise recyclability.
Across all our markets, we recognise that sustainable practices must be tailored to local needs, but our overarching goal is clear: to champion responsible hospitality and work toward zero food waste. As we celebrate 30 years of Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR), we are using this milestone to reaffirm our commitment to environmental stewardship and creating a lasting, positive impact on our planet.
Interview with Carolyn Wishnowski
Carolyn Wishnowski
Vice President Global Branding, Marketing & Loyalty,
Millennium Hotels and Resorts
Millennium Hotels and Resorts climbed three places in the rankings this year, with a 5% rise in brand value. What do you think has been the key to sustaining momentum in a still-recovering travel landscape?
Our steady climb in brand value reflects MHRs’ ability to stay relevant, agile, and deeply attuned to the evolving needs of today’s traveller. In a post-pandemic landscape marked by cautious optimism and shifting expectations, we have embraced a people-first and purpose-driven approach, underpinned by five core pillars that guide our strategy: digital innovation, sustainability, wellness,
personalised guest experiences, and F&B innovation.
These pillars guide everything we do, from using smart technology to improve the guest journey to creating space and programmes that support wellbeing, sustainability, and culinary innovation. They help us meet evolving traveller needs with confidence, offering experiences that are modern, thoughtful, and meaningful. By staying focused on what matters most to our guests and weaving those values into our service, brand, and global portfolio, we have kept our momentum and built a strong foundation for long-term growth in a fast-changing industry.
Your loyalty programme, ‘MyMillennium’, received top industry recognition last year. How are you evolving the programme to meet the changing needs of travellers in a post-pandemic era?
The world has changed, and so has the way people travel. With the relaunch of ‘MyMillennium’ in 2024, we’ve made loyalty rewards more flexible and fulfilling for modern travellers. Members now enjoy tiered benefits, more ways to earn and redeem ‘MyPoints’, and personalised perks based on their preferences and behaviour. Travellers today are not just looking for rewards; they want experiences that reflect their interests, whether they are travelling for business, leisure, or a mix of both.
We have also introduced Culinary Compass, a campaign that gamifies the dining journey by encouraging members to explore our diverse collection of restaurants across Singapore. Each new visit earns a stamp and unlocks perks like dining vouchers, status upgrades, and exclusive Chef’s Table experiences. It is a fun, engaging way to keep things fresh and build loyalty beyond hotel stays.
Our vision for ‘MyMillennium’ is to build a loyalty programme that goes beyond transactions, recognising individuality and encouraging meaningful connections at every touchpoint. Whether it is through exclusive offers, experiential rewards, or lifestyle-driven campaigns like Culinary Compass, we aim to make every interaction with Millennium Hotels and Resorts more rewarding, personal, and memorable.
