How a Harvard MBA Became an Ai-First Hotelier

He grew up in the Cook Islands, left for business school, and planned on a career far from home—until a family visit collided with a national crisis. The government was broke, tourism was collapsing, and the prime minister asked him to help. Tata Crocombe wrote a recovery plan, stepped in as an accidental hotelier, and rebuilt from the ground up—stabilizing a flagship on Rarotonga and later growing a portfolio that now includes an acclaimed private-island resort on Aitutaki. Along the way, the destination rebounded from roughly 20,000 annual visitors to about 180,000, with ownership and hospitality rooted in the loca...