Horwath HTL Pacific Asia Appoints John Pates as Director, Data & Technology
Singapore, August 2026 – Horwath HTL Pacific Asia welcomes John Pates as Director, Data & Technology, Pacific Asia, effective 1 August 2026, significantly expanding the firm’s capability in agentic AI development, data engineering, and operational automation for hotel owners, asset managers and operators across the region.
Pates joins Horwath HTL Pacific Asia with a track record of leading data and technology initiatives across Southeast Asia’s most complex service-driven organisations. He previously served as Head of Data Analytics at Singapore Press Holdings, where he led the Group’s Data Centre of Excellence, supporting decision-making, performance visibility and financial oversight across content, subscriptions, advertising and operations. He has also held senior data and technology leadership roles at PropertyGuru Group and ExpressVPN.
In his new role, Pates works directly inside hotel operations as a forward-deployed engineer, building agentic AI and automation solutions within the systems that hotels are running. His expertise spans four service lines: back-office workflow automation, internal knowledge assistants, data consolidation and pipelines, and analytics with plain-language reporting. The work is designed to sit in the gaps between existing hotel systems — linking PMS, POS, CRM and finance infrastructure.
Pates also joins Ho-Strangas in co-leading The Tech Edit LAB: Generative AI for Hospitality Leaders, Horwath HTL Pacific Asia’s workshop series designed to equip hotel owners, asset managers and operators with the practical frameworks and hands-on capability to adopt AI responsibly and effectively. Launched in May 2026, the series addresses the gap between AI awareness and implementation — moving participants from understanding what AI can do, to building and deploying it within their own operations. Together, Ho-Strangas and Pates bring complementary expertise to the programme: strategy, governance, and technology advisory on one side; data engineering, agentic AI development and operational deployment on the other.
Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas, Director and Technology Practice Lead, Horwath HTL Pacific Asia, said:
“The hospitality industry has moved past the question of whether AI and data matter. The challenge that many hotels grapple with now is the having the capability to act on the opportunities. John brings exactly that: the ability to go inside a hotel’s operation, work with the people who own the workflows and build solutions that work within the hotel systems. His appointment is a direct extension of what we have been building with The Tech Edit LAB – education is the foundation, but implementation is where the value is realised. We are very excited to have him on the team to create and add value for our clients in Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure.”
John Pates, Director, Data & Technology, Horwath HTL Pacific Asia, said:
“As exciting as it is to see AI and data solutions being rapidly deployed across major hotel systems and independent technology providers, it is in the gaps between and within these systems that I’m most excited to guide our clients. There is enormous value to be gained in helping individuals and teams make the most of new technologies in their daily work, facilitating the flow of data across people and systems, and building agile, customised solutions around how people and businesses actually work.
Work that once took a team a week can now take just an afternoon, and the small jobs that never made it onto anyone’s roadmap can finally get built. The gains do not have to come from big, top-down programmes. Many come from a revenue manager or sales executive who has the right tools, the knowledge to use them, and a small workflow built around the realities of their own job.
Horwath HTL’s wealth of understanding and experience within the realm of hospitality makes them perfectly placed to empower hotels with the know-how and tools to take advantage of a unique inflection point in human civilization. For me, the opportunity to bring my experience in data and AI into that environment, and to help translate these rapidly emerging capabilities into something genuinely useful for the hospitality industry, is what makes joining Horwath so exciting. ”
Horwath HTL Pacific Asia’s technology practice advises hotel owners, asset managers, operators, and investors across the region on technology strategy, AI adoption, data infrastructure, and digital transformation.
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At Horwath HTL, our focus is one hundred percent on hospitality, tourism and leisure consulting. Our services cover every aspect of hospitality real estate, tourism and leisure development. Our clients choose us because we have earned a reputation for impartial advice that will often mean the difference between failure and success. Each project we help is different, so we need all of the experience we have gained over our 100-year history. We are a global brand with over 50 offices in over 40 countries who have successfully carried out over 50,000 assignments for private and public clients.
We are part of the Crowe Global network, a top 10 accounting and financial services network. We are the number one choice for companies and financial institutions looking to invest and develop in the industry.
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If you have any questions, please contact Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas, Director, at syho@horwathhtl.com