As a child, he was kicked out of one of Macao’s finest hotels and vowed to take it over. Today, he’s the owner
Simon Sio grew up in humble surroundings in the heart of Macao, living in an old building directly across from what was then the city’s grandest accommodation, Pendle Hotel Central.
Opened in 1928, it became a prestigious gathering place for celebrities and diplomats in the following decades.
In the 1960s, young Sio would playfully sneak in – it was one of the few places in the former Portuguese colony with air conditioning, a vast, luxurious space compared to the old tenement buildings that surrounded it. But one day, he was thrown out.
"As a kid, I didn’t know better," Sio tells CNN. "I pointed at the hotel and swore I’d buy it someday.
Welcome!
