When Sonia Cheng became chief executive of Hong Kong-based Rosewood Hotel Group, she had a particular type of traveler in mind: herself.

Cheng was 30 at the time when one of her family's businesses, New World Hospitality Group, bought Rosewood from its Texan owner for $229.5 million in 2011, and appointed her CEO. She wanted to turn it into a brand that would appeal to affluent younger consumers. Having grown up in her family's hotel business — the Chengs are worth an estimated $22.5 billion, according to Forbes — she had traveled a lot and started her career as an investment banker in New York and Hong Kong.

"When I look at Rosewood, I see myself as a target customer. So, that makes it quite easy to kind of craft the experiences, because I would be looking at the lens of the millennial travelers," she told CNBC's "The Brave Ones."

When Rosewood took over management of the historic Hotel de Crillon in Paris in 2013, it spent four years renovating it, turning its Michelin-starred Les Ambassadeurs restaurant into a bar. At Rosewood Beijing, Cheng opened a Chinese hot pot restaurant, giving a traditional dish a high-end twist, aiming to "draw the crowd to the destination," she said.