Guests and event attendees making their way to Resorts World Sentosa could be forgiven for overlooking the hard work of Luke Teo, assistant director of transport management, and his team of more than 100 employees. After all, the resort, set on a 121-acre island south of downtown Singapore, is home to theme parks, six luxury hotels, a destination spa and some of the city-state’s most stunning event spaces. A parking lot is not where visitors expect to find the excitement.

But for Teo, the destination’s transport offerings are key to the success of every other element of a guest’s experience. His department is often the first and last that visitors encounter on the island, whether by limo or on foot. “To me, guest experience begins at the moment they first enter the resort,” he says. “Transportation is critical. Whether it’s welcoming visitors in and out or traveling to different parts of our property, it’s our responsibility to make sure they get to where they want to go.”

Overseeing one of the largest car parks in Singapore presents challenges. Resorts World Sentosa welcomes more than 20 million guests annually, and a constant flow of buses, cars, taxis and more are picking up, dropping off or searching for the ideal parking space throughout the destination’s more than 3,800 lots. He has to assist passenger-coach bay arrivals and ensure that chartered buses and VIP limo services run like clockwork. With no shortage of large groups coming in — whether for events at the 64,583-square-foot Resorts World Ballroom, 1,000-capacity Coliseum concert venue resort, or one of the dozens of other meeting and function spaces throughout the resort — it can quickly become a daunting logistical puzzle.

But where such complex challenges might be daunting to others, they energize Teo. His job is not about transit, he says; it’s about people. He reminds his team to “put yourself into the customer’s shoes, and try to make their travel experience better.”

In a recent episode, Teo realized that a number of guests were having trouble navigating the resort’s lots. They would read the directions on Resorts World Sentosa’s website, even study the property map but still get stumped about which direction their car should go as they actually got onto the island. Rather than getting frustrated with the guest’s confusion, Teo developed a new way to help make arrivals as clear as possible: He created video guides.

Teo volunteered his car and mounted a camera on the hood to shoot the video. His team developed QR codes that guests could easily download and view just by snapping on their Android and iPhone. These QR codes can also be used on print advertisements or billboards and search results made available online.

“The videos have been very well received,” says Teo. “Since implementation, many guests complimented us for leveraging social media and mobile technology to provide user-friendly information on driving directions to the resort.”

Teo has been with Resorts World Sentosa for almost nine years, just after it opened, and was first drawn by its size and novelty. With so many hotels, restaurants and other attractions, he realized it would be a people-facing job: “There are opportunities to serve thousands of guests every day,” he says.  Sheer passion has fueled his continuous self-improvement at his work, adds Teo, who notes that the organization goes “from strength to strength,” adding new attractions or finding new ways to appeal to visitors and groups.

Teo’s people skills have come into play in unexpected ways. For example, while overseeing a recent event, he was approached by a distraught mother whose 8-year-old son had gone missing. The boy had been standing right next to her but had wandered off when her attention was pulled away for just a few moments. She had frantically called and searched for him, but as the  minutes passed, she also grew more desperate as the property’s vast parking garages became a daunting labyrinth. Teo, knowing Resorts World Sentosa’s parking areas better than almost anyone, immediately jumped into action, not only helping her search, but putting out an alert to his team to ask that they look for the child. The whole crew jumped into action, and it didn’t take long before the boy was located and his mother’s fears were laid to rest.

“One of the team members found a boy who fit the description and was wandering alone in the vicinity,” says Teo who recounted that it was a heartwarming moment in the job when the boy was reunited with his mother.

While tracking down a missing child is far from a typical occurrence, his responsiveness and delight in helping a guest solve a problem is all in a day’s work for Teo, who says connecting people and bringing guests joy are what drives him every day. It’s a philosophy Teo works to encourage in the transport team — what is known in Singapore as kampung spirit, which translates to “village” or “community” — whether that’s through welcoming a VIP guest or helping a group navigate the resort safely and get the most of their stay.

“I’m happy to say that this kampung spirit lives up to its name across all ranks, and I see it exhibited by all team members throughout the resort,” Teo says. Staff members are asked to do one kind thing every day, he notes, whether it relates to the work itself or simply in their personal life.

“I feel proud doing what I’m doing every day. Resorts World Sentosa has been supportive in grooming me to become what I am,” says Teo. “We are trying our best to ensure the travel experience is enhanced for all of our guests and making sure it runs like clockwork.”