Traditional hotels often force guests to pay for luxury features they simply do not use. Recognising this gap, Benny Ong and his co-founders launched KiN Hotel Group in 2023. Coming from diverse backgrounds in technology, marketing, and real estate, they viewed their complete lack of hospitality experience as a massive competitive advantage. By treating operations as a blank canvas and avoiding legacy corporate structures, they implemented a philosophy of "value engineering” - stripping away expensive grand lobbies and converting underutilised rooms into practical, modern spaces like modular mini-gyms.



This lean, technology-driven approach quickly proved highly successful. Their first proof of concept in Vietnam saw average room rates jump from $45 USD to over $100 USD per night while maintaining an impressive 90 percent occupancy rate. Rather than buying buildings or relying heavily on traditional management contracts, KiN Hotel Group operates an asset-light model focused on long-term leases and rapid refurbishments. By dealing directly with vendors, they can completely turn over a property in just eight weeks, allowing them to target a return on equity within three to four years.



Benny joins us to discuss the operational realities of scaling an independent hotel brand with a target of adding up to 2,000 rooms annually. They explore the strategic thinking behind their recent RM19.8 million, 20-year lease for Kuala Lumpur's Maya Hotel, how they plan to heavily integrate artificial intelligence to offset rising labour costs, and their ambitious roadmap toward a potential public listing by 2030 as they expand aggressively across Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and China.

Traditional hotels often force guests to pay for luxury features they simply do not use. Recognising this gap, Benny Ong and his co-founders launched KiN Hotel Group in 2023. Coming from diverse backgrounds in technology, marketing, and real estate, they viewed their complete lack of hospitality experience as a massive competitive advantage. By treating operations as a blank canvas and avoiding legacy corporate structures, they implemented a philosophy of "value engineering” - stripping away expensive grand lobbies and converting underutilised rooms into practical, modern spaces like modular mini-gyms.This lean, technology-driven approach quickly proved highly successful. Their first proof of concept in Vietnam saw average room rates jump from $45 USD to over $100 USD per night while maintaining an impressive 90 percent occupancy rate. Rather than buying buildings or relying heavily on traditional management contracts, KiN Hotel Group operates an asset-light model focused on long-term leases and rapid refurbishments. By dealing directly with vendors, they can completely turn over a property in just eight weeks, allowing them to target a return on equity within three to four years.Benny joins us to discuss the operational realities of scaling an independent hotel brand with a target of adding up to 2,000 rooms annually. They explore the strategic thinking behind their recent RM19.8 million, 20-year lease for Kuala Lumpur's Maya Hotel, how they plan to heavily integrate artificial intelligence to offset rising labour costs, and their ambitious roadmap toward a potential public listing by 2030 as they expand aggressively across Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and China.

The flagship entrepreneurship show on BFM, featuring personal business stories from early stage start-ups, all the way to billionaire octogenarians in Malaysia and abroad. Notable guests include Martin Cooper (father of the mobile phone), Julian Assange (founder of WikiLeaks), Ralph Henry Baer (father of video games), Tony Buzan (Mindmap Guru), Isaac Tigrett (Hard Rock Cafe founder), Robert Kiyosaki (Financial Guru), Nick Vujicic (motivational speaker) and more. Tap into this valuable resource of shared experiences for the SME industry, which also touches on news, issues and trends affecting the business community and beyond.

Open For Business

Discover fresh concepts, tackle obstacles, and unleash growth - Open For Business is the dynamic show where BFM engages with entrepreneurs, business leaders, and industry trailblazers, igniting inspiration, sparking success, and exploring new business models.