Asia’s elderly risk getting sicker for longer. Hotelier Allen Law wants to ‘bridge the gap’ between lifespan and healthspan

Yet long lifespans come with a drawback: An extended period of ill-health or disability. Singapore’s average health span—the length of time where someone is deemed to be in good health—is 75 years, as noted by the country’s prime minister in a speech on Sunday. That’s a gap of almost a decade, which can strain both families and public healthcare institutions.

Allen Law, founder of the Park Hotel Group, sees an opportunity in trying to “bridge the gap” between lifespan and healthspan. “We have a vision zero: Zero gap between your health span and life span, and we literally pass away in a healthy state.” Law admits the goal may “never be achieved, but it’s something we should work towards.”

Law plans to open a longevity and lifestyle medical center, titled “Morrow”, in the fourth quarter of this year, in the same building as his Grand Park City Hall hotel, in Singapore. He said the center will function as a one-stop center for those interested in improving their health and wellness, providing access to medical professionals, physiotherapists, dieticians, and wellness coaches all under one roof.

“If you look at these services today in Singapore, you’ll have to go to five, six or seven locations,” Law said.

The longevity business

Allen Law is the third generation of Hong Kong’s Law family. His grandfather, Law Ting Pong, started the family’s textile business; his father, Law Kar Po, expanded into real estate. Allen Law became a hotelier by accident, when his family bought the Park Hotel brand in 2003, amid the SARS crisis. Law Kar Po, Allen’s father, has a net worth of around $7.7 billion, according to Forbes.

Law suggested that this practice of having new generations branch out into new sectors is part of the Law’s “family philosophy” that one family member should take care of one business unit.

“Generations have grown and family members has grown as well. If you stick with the same family philosophy, in theory, we actually need more business units,” Law explained, adding that it “keeps the family dynamic clear so we don’t get into a fight.”

The Park Hotel Group currently runs seven hotels spread across Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, the Maldives, and mainland China. 

Like many hospitality groups, the Park Hotel Group was affected during the COVID pandemic when governments enacted harsh travel restrictions, and the company had to divest some assets in 2021. Earlier this month, Singapore’s High Court found Law to have breached his fiduciary duties and prejudiced the interest of creditors while navigating his company through the financial challenges stemming from the COVID pandemic. 

“When his company was in financial peril, he transferred its viable assets and businesses (effectively) to himself at a gross undervalue and manipulated the books of the company to eliminate receivables owed by him and his entities, leaving the creditors with nothing,” wrote Justice Hri Kumar Nair. According to court documents, Law must repay 10.1 million Singapore dollars ($7.86 million) in cash payments and 22.3 million Singapore dollars ($17.36 million) in receivables. The judgment can still be appealed.

When asked about the judgment, Law said it was an “unfortunate case” related to the COVID pandemic and the company was evaluating the judgments. He declined to comment further.

AI and longevity

Law sees longevity as one of the two biggest business opportunities over the next decade, citing the rapid advancement in AI applications and post-COVID lifestyle changes.

In addition to his longevity endeavor, Law also backs Seveno Capital, an investment fund that owns several other health and wellness businesses, including fitness chains. 

For Morrow, Law wants to target people in the upper half of Singapore’s household income distribution; he hopes AI will allow him to cater to those in the city-state’s middle and upper-middle class, as opposed to just the very wealthy, by allowing wellness professionals to cater to more clients in the same period of time.

Morrow clients will receive a diagnostic assessment that measures the gap between their current and optimal health status. Those results are used to design a personalized plan, with technology including wearables and AI applications delivering real-time lifestyle advice.

After Singapore, Law thinks Hong Kong could likely be the next location for a second Morrow clinic as the city shares many similarities in terms of population age, income, and density with Singapore.

Law is unsure that Morrow will be able to expand its business to cover the bottom half of the income distribution at this point in time, but he hopes governments will put more resources behind preventive care, spurred by the region’s aging population. 

“There’s a need to start the change now, but some of these legacy infrastructure and framework of the governments can be slow to change; that’s why you see the private sector moving in first,” he said.