About WATG
Who we are
From our dawning days in 1945 in Honolulu, we have pioneered hospitality, tourism, and destination design. Employee-owned since 2014, we remain an independent, global design firm working across Advisory, Master Planning, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Wimberly Interiors.
We are a team of creative, world-traveling professionals who have shaped more than 700 destinations across 170 countries, working from nine global offices. David Moore leads WATG as CEO, carrying forward a legacy across eight decades of hospitality design.
Pushing the boundaries of possibility while delivering enduring client success across the globe.
OUR CLIENTS
Tourism Master Plan at Giza Pyramids
We work with clients who value originality, collaboration, and the art of hospitality. They share our belief that modern luxury is experiential and authentic and that the foundation of long-term success is built with considered vision, innovative yet timeless design, and an unrelenting respect for local cultures and their natural environments.
Our creative instinct to honor the intrinsic beauty of each destination enables us to create moments of luxury hospitality like no one else.
Grounded in rigorous strategy and incomparable domain expertise, we create iconic, exhilarating, culturally significant destinations.
Our impact
Guest Delight & Fulfillment
At our best, WATG’s work leaves a lasting, joyful impression on those who encounter our spaces, enriching individual lives and generating positive guest satisfaction for our clients.
Enduring Prosperity for Clients
Distinct, timeless, strategically centered, and operationally sound. These qualities have been delivered consistently by WATG since our inception, resulting in destinations that are famous for perpetually high performance.
Resilient Local Communities
Authentic to place and empathetic to citizens, our destinations lift communities by bringing prominence to places and cultures and by stimulating economies through tourism and job creation.
Advancement of Hospitality Design
WATG has historically led design innovation that amplifies guest experience and client prosperity while influencing designers across the globe. We make it our responsibility to continually expand the art and craft of hospitality design.
Destinations that lift the spirit, grounded in deep domain knowledge, powered by data and technology, true to our cultural legacy.
Our legacy
For 80 years, we’ve held an unwavering commitment to design innovation and excellence.
WATG has historically led design innovation that amplifies guest experience and client prosperity. We make it our responsibility to continually expand the art and craft of hospitality design across a range of typologies.
1945 – Genesis
George ‘Pete’ Wimberly and Howard Cook form Wimberly and Cook in Honolulu, Hawaii.
1946 – Iconic
Work starts on the first hospitality project, renovation of the iconic Royal Hawaiian Resort, Waikiki.
1971 – WWAT&G
George Whisenand, Jerry Allison, Greg Tong and Don Goo join to create Wimberly Whisenand Allison Tong & Goo.
1978 – Asia
New frontiers as WWAT&G enters Asia with the Shangri-La Garden Wing in Singapore.
1979 – Aga Khan
Tanjong Jara in Malaysia is completed and awarded the Aga Khan Award for architecture.
1981 – California
With the first US mainland projects awarded, an office opens in Newport Beach, California.
1988 – WATG
The firm becomes known as Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo.
1990 – London
London office opens to begin designing destinations for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
1997 – Singapore
A new office in Singapore brings a fresh focus and expands WATG’s reach across Southeast Asia.
1999 – Jackpot
Las Vegas jackpot with the opening of the Venetian, The Mansion at MGM Grand, and the Palace Tower at Caesars Palace.
2005 – Emirates Palace
One of the most expensive hotels ever built, the Emirates Palace opens in Abu Dhabi.
2006 – Irvine
Four Southern California offices are integrated in Irvine, with WATG’s name atop the building.
2011 – Wimberly
Interior design services are branded as Wimberly Interiors with a new office in New York City.
2014
WATG becomes an employee owned business (EOB).
2018 – Shanghai
In the wake of over 40 successful years in China, WATG opens a full-service Shanghai office.
2020 – Singapore
Dave Moore is appointed CEO of WATG and Wimberly Interiors.
2023 – California
The Irvine office moves location to Flight at Tustin, Orange County’s first purpose-built creative office campus.
2024 – Dallas
The Dallas office opens serving clients in the eastern and sunbelt regions, as well as Central and South America.
2024 – WATG Acquires SOSH Architects
Specializing in architecture and interior design for the hospitality, gaming, and entertainment sectors, WATG and SOSH share a commitment to design excellence and a mutual dedication to optimizing operational performance, project delivery, and talent development.
Leadership
Ahmed Ibrahim
Associate Principal, Architecture
Alain De Villoutreys
Senior Designer
Alasdair Maclean
Associate Principal, Project & Cost Management
Ashley Scott
Global Practice Principal, Planning + Landscape
Bhavya Kukrety
Managing Director, Asia Pacific
Bryan Algeo
Managing Principal, Architecture
Chiara Calufetti-Lim
Principal
Chris Dunn
Studio Director, Planning & Landscape
Chris Ernst
Managing Principal, Architecture
Christine Chung
Senior Director, Client Services
Damien Follone
Associate Principal, Director, Wimberly F&B
Projects and Insights
- News
WATG and Wimberly Interiors in the Global Press: June 2026
- Design + Innovation
Ras El Hekma: Reshaping Tourism on Egypt’s North Coast
- China
HUALUXE Zhongshan City Center
- Inside WATG |
- News
WATG and Wimberly Interiors makes The Sunday Times Best Places to Work list, for the second year running.
- Strategy + Research
Maximizing Project Value Through Design
- News
WATG and Wimberly Interiors in the Global Press: May 2026
- Design + Innovation
Why Biodiversity is Now a Core Design Metric in Luxury Hospitality
- China
Hotel Indigo Hengqin, Zhuhai
- China
Red & Gold Lounge
- Latin America
Four Seasons Hotel & Residences Cartagena
- Project Stories
In Conversation: Jesper Bach Larsen, Opening General Manager of InterContinental Halong Bay Resort & Residences
- News