American architect and former Disney executive Wing T Chao will receive the Pioneer Award from The International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC) for services to entertainment design.

The annual award, established in 1996, recognises an individual “who has made an outstanding contribution, achievement and or improvement in the hospitality industry”.

Chao worked for Disney for 37 years from 1972, with his roles including vice chair of development for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts in the Asia Pacific, and executive vice president in charge of masterplanning, architecture and design at the company’s Imagineering division.

Before his retirement in 2009, he oversaw the design and development of worldwide businesses worth over US$12bn (€10.3bn, £9.1bn), including theme parks, 100,000 new and renovated resort hotel rooms, 200 restaurants, three million square feet (914,400sq m) of entertainment venues, four Disney cruise ships, and several convention and exhibition centres at resorts in California, Florida, Hawaii, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong.

“ISHC celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2018, and we wanted to honour an individual known for innovation in hospitality,” said Pioneer Award chair Stephen Hennis. “Wing T Chao, without a doubt, has had an incredible career and brought to life inconceivable ideas through his work at Disney that will impact generations to come.”

Chao will receive the award on 24 January 2018 at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) 2018 at the JW Marriott and Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, his old company have several high-value resorts, theme parks and hotel in the pipeline. It has recently announced plans for an NBA Experience at its Disney Springs leisure district in Orlando, Florida; two Star Wars lands at Disneyland California and Disney World in Orlando; and a six-year expansion of Disneyland Hong Kong worth HK$10.9bn (US$1.39bn, €1.18bn, £1.05bn).