Peninsula Yangon: Managing Reputation Through a Heritage Restoration

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels group, owner of the Peninsula brand, partnered with a local conglomerate to create a Peninsula hotel in one of Yangon's most significant heritage buildings. Heritage restoration in Yangon is closely watched by conservationists, the public, the media and government.

A long construction period creates a long window for concern: about the building's fabric, the partners involved and the pace of progress. The project needed a structured process to manage news, reputation and relationships before problems emerged rather than after.

Ruder Finn Era started by mapping the project's stakeholders, from heritage bodies and government to media and the neighbouring community, and defined how each group should be engaged and kept informed.

The team helped establish reputation management functions for the project and maintained relationships with key media on its behalf, so that questions about the restoration were answered by informed sources with accurate detail.

Transparency was built in as a tool. A dedicated Facebook page carried regular public progress reports on the restoration, giving stakeholders and the public a reliable view of the work and reducing the space for speculation.