Presenting 2024 Hotelie Hall of Fame Story - Sonnie T.W. Lien ‘68

Sonnie Tiong Wah Lien was born in 1934, one of nine siblings in pre-independence Malaysian Singapore.

Due to the Second World War, Sonnie attended boarding schools in the People’s Republic of China, Penang, and later, Singapore.

Sonnie’s career in hospitality started in London when he determined that he could not take the sight of blood which scuppered his ambition to become a medical doctor.  At that time, he was working in a Chinese Restaurant with one of his brothers, Eddie.  Once he decided on a career in Hospitality, Sonnie enrolled in and graduated from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne in 1965 as one of the first Asian students to attend the program. His determination to succeed in the hospitality field drove him to attend Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.  He graduated from Cornell in 1968, deepening his academic record in hospitality.