加载中…
北京港澳中心瑞士酒店– 风生水起迎奥运
(2008-01-31 16:35:10)
标签：
杂谈 |
– 风生水起迎奥运
-专访港澳中心有限公司常务董事/总经理徐锦祉及酒店总经理皮亚迪
lSwissôte
Beijing: In Top Gear for the 2008 Beijing Olympics
--A Talk with Mr. Stephen C.T.
Hsu, Executive Director/General Manager of Hong Kong Macau Center
Limited, and Mr. Eric Piatti, General Manager of
Swissôtel Beijing
Year 2008 is a red, red China
year, a year during which the whole world’s attention is focused
on Beijing for the sake of the five lovely Fuwas, official mascots
of the Beijing Olympic Games. It is just natural that we place
certain emphasis on hotels in the Capital City, and
Swissôtel Beijing is chosen as the cover of our
first issue in the lunar year.
Before we take up the
interview, as a rule, we have done a comprehensive survey among the
readers and hotel customers for their opinions and questions
concerning hotels in the hope of expediting communication between
the hospitality industry and consumers. We would like to thank IBM,
Honeywell, Amway, OBIS, DELL, Rockwell, McKinsey&Company,
Budweiser, American Chamber of Commerce and other companies and
organizations for their enthusiastic responses.
The revamped
Swissôtel Beijing is a stunning view. While we
admire the European elegance that marks the entire building, we
also feel completely convinced by the fact that the renovation took
but fifty-one days, a short period which has not only built a
miracle, but also secured a bright future.
The Flow Lounge & Bar,
Grand Ballroom on the second floor and Café Swiss are the
highlights of the redecoration, which is a harmonious union of
traditional elements and contemporary influences. As a member of
the prestigious Swissôtel family which is best
known for its outstanding quality, Swissôtel
Beijing boasts a unique personality that helps attract hundreds and
thousands of customers. The designs, from color scheme and choice
of materials to the wise application of various factors, are the
brainchild of the owner, the management and the designer. A
seemingly trivial detail is in essence the fruit of
deliberations.
The name of Mr. Stephen C.T.
Hsu—Executive Director of Hong Kong Macau Center
Limited—reverberates like thunder in the hospitality trade. As the
commander of Hong Kong Macau Center Limited who represents the
owner’s interests, Mr. Hsu keeps a low profile and seldom received
media interviews. We thus feel much honored that he has gladly
accepted our invitation as the representative of the first Beijing
hotel to be featured in our magazine in 2008.
Beaming with evident pride
throughout the interview, Mr. Hsu talked about the newly
refurbished Swissôtel Beijing, “I always
emphasize the consistency of style. That is why we have
commissioned but one designer to handle all the design work. The
so-called luxury hotel should be able to make guests feel warm and
comfortable in the first place, so the efficient use of function
space and careful selection of materials are of vital importance.
Adjectives like big and grand are not synonymous with luxury;
neither is extravagant and awe-inspiring with warm and comfortable.
It is warmth that we run after. We look at everything from our
customer’s perspective in the hope that we can make for a warm
atmosphere. Both the designer and the operator have paid attention
to the smallest details to ensure the remodeled
Swissôtel Beijing can be a fine piece of art
and pleasant to an appreciating eye.”
Credit for the successful
renovation goes to Mr. Hsu, whose quick and resolute decision on
the design planning has laid a solid foundation, as well as to the
hotel’s Engineering Department. He pointed out, “One of the
habitual mistakes many hotels would make in the planning phase is
that only a selected few is entitled to making decisions instead of
involvement of all departments. In Swissôtel
Beijing, however, every department—Sales or Front Office—engaged
actively in the redecoration in an effort to ensure the smooth
progress of construction and to protect the hotel’s
benefits.”
On the day right after the
renovation had been completed, Swissôtel
Beijing played host to the Chefs de Mission Seminar for the 2008
Beijing Paralympics which involved more than two hundred
participants from over ninety countries and regions. It’s worth
noting that 2008, to Swissôtel Beijing, is the
Year of Olympics in its real sense, since the hotel will not only
accommodate the media staff with the European Broadcast Union
during the sporting event, but also serve as the headquarters of
the Beijing Paralympics in September. Swissôtel
Beijing takes advantage of its good infrastructure and makes
special preparations such as changes in hardware—width of a door,
angle of a mirror and height of a shower, among other things—to
secure successful accommodation. On one hand, the hotel must
consider practical needs of the physically disabled athletes from
all aspects, rearranging everything to make it fit for their use.
On the other, it should not go so far as to offend average guests.
The special equipment is, in short, user-friendly, people-oriented
and impressive.
Eric Piatti echoed Mr. Hsu in
his observation about the application of no-obstacle facilities,
saying that these special devices would also benefit those who have
difficulty getting about in the future. Guests who usually stay at
a hotel for two to three weeks take it very seriously to find a
sweet home in where they live temporarily;
Swissôtel Beijing has a good number of such
guests.
Having been with
Swissôtel for fifteen years, Mr. Piatti is the
present general manager of Swissôtel Beijing.
Prior to this position, he had served various posts in
Swissôtel properties throughout Europe and in
Thailand. He observed, “In order to leave a good first impression,
we have renovated the Lobby, Grand Ballroom and some public space
to make them look more elegant. Customers have so far responded
warmly. Some of them would probably be unable to spot the changes
when they first step in, as the architectural style is the same as
it was, in general. However, if they pay a little more attention,
they would find that we’ve rearranged many details for
improvement.”
“The renovation makes our
hotel one step higher in every respect. With the further
development of Beijing, Swissôtel Beijing would
be even better in the years to come, we believe, considering our
strategic location, convenient traffic and a full range of
necessities in everyday life, such as supermarket and post office,
among other things, which are essential to both long-term guests
and first-time patrons as well as tourists and business
travelers,” added the general manager.
Both gentlemen placed heavy
emphasis on “people”, hotel staff in this case, which is the
essence of the hospitality trade. Mr. Hsu remarked, “People is the
most valuable asset of a hotel; that’s why we have spent a lot of
money and effort on our staff. A hotel general manager should not
only be clear about the staff with every department, bearing in
mind their general background and performance, which is a
painstaking effort, but be forward-looking and able to foresee
their future paths, as well.”
Mr. Piatti went on to say, “We
offer various training programs to our staff, which enable them to
handle more challenges in work and cope with transfers. Our staff,
in the mean time, attend a variety of training classes while
they’re off work in an attempt to improve themselves.”
Swissôtel Beijing team is applauded by the
respondents to our survey for its stability and consistent
service.
As the name
Swissôtel Beijing Hong Kong Macau Center may
evoke ambiguous impressions in people who first hear it—Some will
only remember the Hong Kong Macau Center, others
Swissôtel Beijing.—Mr. Hsu furnished an
explanation to the readers, saying that the hotel is so named to
fit promotions in and outside China:’Swissôtel
is a historic hotel brand and embodiment of cultural management.
Like other Swiss brands, it is best known for quality and
consistency, and is less inclined to expand widely and quickly. Its
brand recognition in the international world makes it suitable for
promotions targeting overseas travelers. We adopted the Hong Kong
Macau Center for a similar reason, as it is an established brand
and enjoys a bigger fame in domestic market. We combine
Swissôtel Beijing and Hong Kong Macau Center so
that our hotel can be recognized by consumers both in and outside
China. After all, first-time patrons can only judge a hotel by its
location and brand, while repeat guests have the experiences
allowing them to take service into account.’
In addition to the Executive
Director/General Manager of Hong Kong Macau Center, Mr. Hsu serves
concurrently as the Vice Chairman of China Tourist Hotels
Association and that of Beijing Tourism Industry Association as
well as the Hotel Branch Chairman of Beijing Tourism Industry
Association. You can imagine how busy he is! Yet, it is these
positions that enable him to have a deeper understanding of several
problems arising during the development of Beijing’s hotel
industry and the trend of development. He remarked on the scarcity
of human resources, “We cannot deny that China’s hospitality
trade has suffered from talent shortage in recent years, which is
due in part to the surge of hotels, and in part to a somewhat
biased opinion on the service industry which should account for why
there are less young people in China willing to work with hotels. I
think this situation will change in three years, when talented
young folks are expected to join us in large
numbers.”
Beijing’s biggest target in
2008 is to host a successful Olympic Games. The influential
international sporting event offers a rare opportunity as well as a
major challenge to hotels in the Capital City, according to Mr.
Hsu. The renovation is meant to improve
Swissôtel Beijing so that it can entertain
guests from across China and the world with the best it can offer.
It is also meant for the post-Olympics business. He said in brevity
instead of using pompous words, “We expect a successful Olympics
which will enhance Beijing’s fame and popularity in the
international society, and accordingly boost China’s hotel
business and accelerate its development. We also hope the Beijing
Olympic Games will broaden our staff’s vision and improve their
ability to cope with urgent situations and handle properly large
occasions in the future.”
Swissôtel
Beijing now keeps one eye on the forthcoming Beijing Olympic Games
and the other on the hotel’s further development after the
Olympics, the latter being of even greater importance. According to
Mr. Hsu, it is inevitable that Beijing will embrace more
international hotel brands, given the city’s huge demand for hotel
rooms, and the Olympic Games is but a catalyst. It is safe to
conclude that three to five years after the Olympics will be a
comparatively stable period during which the number of hotels is
unlikely to increase substantially.
He harbors high expectations
for the future of Swissôtel Beijing, and for
that of the Capital City as well, “Beijing is China’s Capital and
the country’s political center. Its surging economy has speeded up
the growth of its hospitality industry. The city is not only a
tourist destination, but a booming market capable of attracting
outside investments. We plan to take a series of actions in the
following three years to gradually improve the layout of
Swissôtel Beijing, upgrading facilities, among
other things, to the extent that even small things like towels and
dinnerware should be in a unified style and consistent with
traditions. Meanwhile, I would also like to add more European, or
Swiss, to be specific, touches to the café, and retain the fine
Cantonese cuisine now available at the Chinese restaurant, making
small changes only in, for instance, the arrangement of the
restaurant and display of dishes, which is inspired by French
culinary traditions. Western customs will be adopted for making and
serving Chinese food, but the quality and service will remain the
same. We will try every means to maintain the fame of our already
famous banquet services. Last but certainly not the least, I hope
the management can be more mature.”
If Eric Piatti impressed us
with the gentility and refined manners of a European, C.T. Hsu won
our respect for his wisdom, humor and a leader’s
charisma—reliable and authoritative. Grand Hotels would like to,
on behalf of consumers who really care and trust
Swissôtel Beijing Hong Kong Macau Center, wish
the hotel a prosperous future.
喜欢
0
赠金笔