The Charge to Create World-Class Resort Experiences: Insights from Sands’ Chief Hospitality Officer Tane Picken

One of Sands’ guiding principles is to make strategic investments that ensure its resorts deliver world-class service and the most desirable offerings to attract high-value leisure and business travelers. Closely related is another guiding principle – embracing innovation and design excellence to enhance the guest experience.

As the company’s chief hospitality officer for Asia, Tane Picken is the steward for the on-property experience at Sands’ resorts in Singapore and Macao – and, therefore, responsible for turning these principles into action.

A hospitality industry veteran, Picken brings a wealth of experience to this role with operational expertise gleaned at more than 40 properties in locations across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He held a variety of leadership roles at Hilton and Shangri-La before joining Marina Bay Sands in 2021. Picken was elevated to chief hospitality officer overseeing hospitality functions for both Marina Bay Sands and Sands China in September 2025.

With delivering world-class service, the industry’s most desirable offerings and innovation in the guest experience as his mission, Picken breaks down Sands’ approach to setting its resorts apart and continually improving offerings to keep guests returning.

How are you working to ensure Sands resorts are known as the epitome of excellence and innovation?

“I currently oversee all of hospitality operations across our two regions, which encompass the entire customer journey beginning at pre-arrival and through their arrival and entire stay until departure. That’s everything from room accommodations for guests to their food and beverage experiences. It also includes their lifestyle – swimming pools, gym and spa, and everything around the lifestyle aspects of our resorts such as our museums and attractions. I’m also overseeing the customer experience in our meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) venues.

“That is a large body of experiences across many different customer sets. To be successful, we must break it down and dig into the details. For example, sometimes hospitality companies forget that we’re in the business of sleep. What does a guest need when they sleep? What are their requirements? What do they touch? What gives them an ultimate hotel experience above others?

“We answer questions like these in all areas of the business – accommodations, dining, experiences, venues – and we build templates to inform every facet of our development and execution. We have guidelines and visions for product development, room and building design, guest service, technology assets and more, and they all reach for standards above and beyond the norm.

“Everything that goes into these guidelines and standards are to satisfy our requirements for excellence and innovation and keep customers wanting to return for more. Using this, my role is to replicate excellence across our portfolio – to build the same guest journey in Macao and Singapore and transfer things we do well in one region to the other.”

How does Sands stay abreast of emerging tastes and trends to develop or evolve offerings?

“First, we have to understand what’s happening in the world – who’s building what, what’s the latest in the industry, and what are the latest amenities and experiences the customer is expecting?

“The second approach is getting data from our customers – knowing what’s happening with our customers and how we can make changes to improve their experience. We have millions of guests passing through our casinos, meeting facilities and other venues. So, we have a huge potential pool of people daily to give feedback about what they’re looking for, what makes them happy and what makes them come back. Our goal is to tap into that tremendous wealth of data and find ways to deliver on their wants and needs.

“The third aspect is how do we incorporate new developments in technology such as robotics and AI to help in productivity and execution, without damaging the culture, service and ethos of what we deliver.

“Finally, and maybe most critically, is the understanding that every hospitality company can build a product, but how can we be creative and unique in our delivery? How are we developing our service, our culture and our experiences to differentiate us and be better than everyone else.”

What are a few examples of the guest experience enhancements you’re working on?

“I spoke about hospitality companies forgetting about sleep – but, we’re definitely thinking about sleep and digging into the core basics because it’s truly a foundational experience for guests. We’ve come up with what we call a 99.9% sleep program, which addresses comfort, light and noise disturbance, and fixability for needs. What we’re trying to do is incorporate technology and innovation that gives our guests that 99.9% experience.

“Do we have the right technology in the mattresses? How can we reduce light bleeding into the room to avoid sleep disruption? So, we’re experimenting with ways to create total blackout. Also, how do we make our lighting smarter so that when you get up at night for the bathroom, what’s the right amount of lighting to bring you back without fully waking you? We’re tackling the basic fundamentals of a hotel room in ways that deliver innovative features to elevate the guest experience.

“We’re looking at similar details to create excellence through the incorporation of technology in our food and beverage venues, and we look at each restaurant differently. For some restaurants, more technology, such as using iPads for ordering and checkout, is important. In our higher-end, higher-touch restaurants, we’re bringing in technology that is more about sound, lighting, entertainment, or food and cocktail making. If you’re going to a five-star restaurant, you don’t want a robot clearing your table. But, can technology enhance the cocktail you’re getting or the way your food is prepared?

“In the MICE arena, it’s really all about innovation and technology, and we have two separate lenses that inform our development. First, what conveniences and benefits can we bring customers – for example, having the best coffee machines, tea and snacks available, very fast?

“We also look at technology for audio-visual equipment, for example the incorporation of virtual reality. We have a product that enables someone in the United States to be filmed and his 3D projection can be shown on stage in Singapore. In our MICE business, we’re extremely focused on adding convenience for customers and massive technology development.

“The other lens in MICE is increasing productivity in our operations, and we’re doing that by adding technology such as employing robotics for night cleaning.”

For a snapshot of Sands’ world-class integrated resorts, visit https://www.sands.com/properties/, and to learn about the company’s journey in becoming a global integrated resort leader, visit https://www.sands.com/company/our-story/.