Singapore, 16 July 2025 – UOB is proud to announce that it is the Global Principal Partner of The MICHELIN Guide Hotels, the first time a Singapore company has partnered the distinguished ratings authority on an international scale. The Bank’s customers will soon be able to enjoy exclusive curated experiences and access to the best hotels around the world.
The partnership reinforces the Bank’s leadership position in delivering exclusive lifestyle privileges, across dining, entertainment and travel, putting Singapore and ASEAN forward as discerning purveyors of unique and exceptional experiences, aligned with The MICHELIN Guide Hotel Selection’s emphasis on excellence, quality, consistency, character, value and contribution to local culture.
UOB’s partnership with The MICHELIN Guide Hotels builds on the Bank’s existing collaboration with MICHELIN on the dining front, where it is the official Bank partner for The MICHELIN Guide restaurants in Malaysia and Thailand. The Bank is also a partner of renowned wine critic Robert Parker Wine Advocate1 in a world-first collaboration, offering customers in Singapore and Thailand exclusive access to highly-rated wines, curated wine-and-dine experiences and wine appreciation workshops.
With The MICHELIN Guide Hotels partnership, the Bank will now curate distinctive travel experiences for customers, centered around a “trilogy” of synergistic MICHELIN Guide experiences – encompassing wine appreciation, fine dining and luxury travel. Customers will get to enjoy a stay in a MICHELIN Key hotel, dine in MICHELIN-starred restaurants and visit exclusive wineries featured by Robert Parker Wine Advocate, some of which are not ordinarily open to the public.
“We are proud to be the inaugural partner of the MICHELIN Guide Hotels, as it will soon honour the most outstanding hotels around the world by unveiling its first-ever Global MICHELIN Key selection. This partnership is timely given the rise of the middle-class and affluent in the ASEAN region, who seek extraordinary escapades when they travel. As the Bank with the most comprehensive presence in the region, we are best positioned to serve the lifestyle desires of this aspiring consumer base,” said Jacquelyn Tan, Head, Group Personal Financial Services, UOB.
“Through our partnership with the world’s leading authority for dining and hospitality, we hope to raise the profile of Singapore and the region to the world while unlocking a world of privileges for our customers at the most exciting gastronomic and hotel destinations globally.”
Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the MICHELIN Guide stated, "As we take a new step forward in showcasing the crème de la crème of the MICHELIN Guide Hotels through our first-ever Global 2025 MICHELIN Key Selection, we are proud to team up with UOB. United by the same ambition to celebrate hospitality excellence and elevate travel experiences, this partnership will allow us to shine an even brighter light on properties carefully and independently selected by The MICHELIN Guide Inspectors, and to further inspire discerning travellers.”
A recent report2 highlighted ASEAN as an emerging travel powerhouse last year, driven by travellers from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand who outspent their peers from Asian giants mainland China and Japan. A Singapore traveller’s average annual travel spend in 2024 was US$10,619, almost double that of markets such as China (US$5,014) and Japan (US$4,529), while Malaysia and Thai counterparts also inched ahead, with spend at US$5,939 and US$5,548 respectively. UOB Mastercard holders across the region also clocked similar trends, with the travel-related3 spend from January 2025 to May 2025, registering the fastest growth at almost 20 per cent year-on-year, followed by dining and shopping. Similarly, Singapore cardholders ranked top in terms of travel-related spend for the period, followed by their Malaysia peers. For UOB VISA cardholders, cross-border card-present4 spend for its affluent-segment cards5 registered double-digit year-on-year growth in the 12 months ending May 2025, outpacing the rest of the cards in the Bank’s stable.
As the Principal Partner of The MICHELIN Guide Hotels, UOB customers from the affluent and emerging affluent segments across the region will get a one-year Plus membership from The MICHELIN Guide, which offers exclusive privileges such as free room upgrades, dining and spa credits, and airport transfers at over 1,000 hotels featured in The MICHELIN Guide, including MICHELIN Key hotels.
As Principal Partner, UOB will also present one of four brand-new Special Awards spotlighting excellence in specific areas of hospitality at the Global MICHELIN Key Selection’s launch ceremony in October 2025 in Paris, France.
1MICHELIN is a 100 per cent shareholder of Robert Parker Wine Advocate.
2Collinson International’s 2024 Travel Benefits and Customer Engagement Report
3Travel-related spend includes billings to travel-related entities such as airline tickets and hotel bookings.
4Card-present spend refers to transactions where physical cards are presented for payment.
5UOB VISA cards under the “affluent” segment include the UOB Visa Signature Card, UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card and UOB Reserve Card.
