Shanghai Hospitality Leaders tackle HR issues
For the first time in China, the popular Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Asia Pacific conference series, ‘ASIA CONNECT’ was held in Shanghai. In late June, delegates including General Managers, Directors of Marketing and Sales and Human Resource directors from leading hotels in Shanghai gathered to address several challenging issues such as ‘Managing Well in the Face of HR and Other Employee Issues’, ‘Keeping Your Balance in an Over Supply Market’ and ‘Destination Branding’. Speakers at the event brought to attention a looming buyers market, called on leaders to attract future consumers by confronting conventional marketing wisdom, addressed human resource challenges and stated the need for co-operation with tourism leaders drive leisure business and to bring back the old romance of Shanghai
The content for the conference was derived from a HSMAI Asia Pacific-IBHS industry survey, ‘What Keeps You Up at Nights?’ which in May 2007 polled opinion from Shanghai’s hoteliers. Key findings from the survey were presented at the conference by William Hall GM, Hotel Equatorial Shanghai and Chairman of IBHS. “The purpose of this survey was to gain a better understanding of what the key concerns are for hospitality professionals in Shanghai”, said Hall. “From the survey responses, three common themes were apparent: ‘manpower challenges’; the ‘changing competitive landscape’ due to Shanghai’s huge increase in new room supply for 2006- 2009; and the need for a ‘creative destination marketing campaign’ to generate new demand and repeat visits to our city.”
The event was organized in partnership with the International Branded Hotels of Shanghai (IBHS). Michael Meade, Senior VP, Sales & Marketing for Jin Jiang Int’l Hotel Management Company Ltd and a founding board member of HSMAI Asia Pacific emphasized in his welcome speech that, “HSMAI’s key role is to provide resources to support hospitality sales and marketing professionals at all levels if their career and by hosting Asia Connect in Shanghai together with IBHS, we have created a forum where industry issues can be addressed and opportunities explored.”
Buyers Market Looming
Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHA, the President and CEO of HSMAI, delivered the keynote presentation ‘Preparing for Your New Competitive Landscape’. Gilbert presented recent statistics gathered from sources including UNWTO and Hotel Benchmark - Smith Travel Research on the market performance of hotels in key Asia Pacific cities that seem to indicate that Shanghai is losing tourism arrivals within China and to other destination markets such as Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mumbai. To qualify this observation, Gilbert highlighted global tourism trends in terms of the growth in occupancy (OCC) and in average rate (ADR) for the full year 2006 as compared to 2005. According to the HotelBenchmark, Beijing registered a growth of 10% in ADR, while Shanghai’s ADR was almost unchanged and its OCC declined by 2.7%.
Gilbert envisages a buyers market is looming for Shanghai. He offered delegates ten ways to prepare for it, including: build the best team in the market; perfect your strategic planning process; plan by marketing segment; be a leader; and notably “Everybody Sell - Sales & Marketing is a Discipline, not a Department.
Confront Conventional Marketing Wisdom
Yeoh Siew Hoon, Founder of SHY Ventures and WIRED in Travel (WIT), challenged the conference participants to think outside of conventional wisdom. “There are some who believe that the climate change issue will also affect the way people travel and how they will choose their destinations and hotels. We need to help our customers make informed choices by being informed ourselves.
Yeoh touched on the need be in tune with societal issues and emphasized that savvy marketing professionals could appeal to this cause-sensitive market with the right message and value proposition.
To illustrate how lifestyle trends and new consumer behaviour should impact the direction and focus of hospitality marketing and sales effort, Yeoh said, “Our future depends on being wired to the future consumer in every sense of the word - wired to their changing needs and desires and wired to them through all communication channels. We have to think of ways to engage these digital natives who live in virtual worlds, play video games and spend more time on social networking sites like MySpace, YouTube and Facebook than in school halls.
Bring Back the Old Romance of Shanghai
Michael Meade moderated a panel discussion on ‘Supply & Demand in Shanghai’. The panelists were William Hall, General Manager of the Hotel Equatorial Shanghai, Robert Gilbert, President & CEO of HSMAI and John Northen, General Manager of the Renaissance Shanghai Zhongshan Park. Each panelist shared their views on ways to cope in a buyer’s market and ideas on creating new demand for ‘Destination - Shanghai’. The panel explored ways to increase the market “Pie in Shanghai”. Particularly, a cooperative approach between the hospitality industry and tourism authorities was seen as an essential need to drive demand in the leisure and MICE markets. Hotels consider it a priority increase their weekend and “Golden Holiday” leisure business.
Commenting on the salient points of the session, Meade said, ‘the discussion was timely and drew a lot of attention from and interaction with the audience. It’s easy to understand the concern among hotel operators, when Shanghai will see another 45 new international branded hotels opening between 2006 and 2009, while the current pace of demand sits at less than half the rate of supply growth.
John Northen added the comment, “We need to be proactive in addressing these issues and think ‘Big Picture’. Shanghai needs to create a persona that captures the essence of a desirable destination. We need to bring ‘Romance’ into the picture.” The audience agreed that the allure of Shanghai was somehow missing and that by bringing back some of the fond memories of ‘Old Shanghai’ could make her shine once again. Â
Build the Best Team in the Market
Battle for the Best’, the final session of the day, was moderated by Christine Toguchi, Managing Director - HSMAI Asia Pacific and MacroVision Network Pte Ltd. The session panelists were Angeli Kwauk, Director of Human Resources - Grand Hyatt Shanghai, Lawrence Lee, Sr. Vice President, Human Resources - Jin Jiang International Hotel Management Co. Ltd., Lucas Peng, Managing Director- IFH Asia Pacific and Andrew Chan, General Manager of TMS Asia Pacific. While some questioned the link between HR and Marketing, it soon became apparent in this discussion that marketing played a key role at various stages from talent acquisition, employee engagement through to retention and development.
Lawrence Lee of Jin Jiang Hotels said, “I believe strongly in HR Marketing. In HR, there is a constant need to achieve the 3 C’s - Communicate, Connect, Convince. When we are able to do this effectively, we can see better results.” Agreeing with Lee’s comments, Angeli Kwauk said that the underlying principles of marketing and sales are applicable in HR management and development. Starting out in Sales before moving into a HR role, proved to be useful in today’s marketplace for Angeli.
Lucas Peng of IFH Asia Pacific reflected on when he was first recruited by Hyatt during his early years in the hospitality industry. “Hyatt was regarded as one of the best organizations to join and once on board, I was immersed in the organization’s culture, which involved spending time in all areas of the hotel, not just s
In addressing the concerns over the huge talent crunch and the problems associated with staff retention, the group stressed the need to better understand what motivates and inspires people to want to stay with an organization. Furthermore, there was a need to know more about the new generation of employable people called, ‘Gen Y’. Andrew Chan of TMS Asia Pacific said, “Gen Y people are typically below the age of 30. This generation is not simply looking for a job and a boss - they want a mentor and a career.” All agreed that employees are like customers, the most valuable ones are the hardest to find and the most difficult to keep.Â
Moving Forward
HSMAI with IBHS intend to explore the formation of a Shanghai-based HSMAI China chapter to assist in market development and to address the issues raised at Asia Connect - Shanghai
Asia Connect Singapore will be held on Oct. 5 at the M Hotel and Asia Connect Macau will be staged at the new Venetian Macau on Oct. 10, 2007. Visit www.hsmaiasia.org for information on Asia Connect 2007
Special thanks to a dedicated board of directors, marketing partners (IBHS), chapter sponsors, Abacus International Pte Ltd, SynXis, Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC), event sponsors, IFH Asia Pacific and TMS Asia Pacific, Asia Connect and other HSMAI initiatives are now available in the Asia Pacific Region.Â
About the IBHS
The IBHS (International Branded Hotels of Shanghai) unites the best 4 and 5 star international hotels in Shanghai with 56 hotels and over 24,000 guest rooms. The IBHS is a division of the Shanghai Hotel Industry Association. Meeting on a regular basis since 1993 with initially 9 member hotels, the IBHS has been able to exchange ideas and network not only amongst themselves but also with key agencies such as Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administrative Commission and International bodies like the ICCA - International Congress & Convention Association.
For more information on IBHS, please visit: www.cometoshanghai.com
About HSMAI:
Founded in 1927, The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International ‘HSMAI’ is a global organization of sales and marketing professionals representing all segments of the hospitality industry. With a strong focus on education, HSMAI has become the industry champion in identifying and communicating trends in the hospitality industry while operating as a leading voice for both hospitality and sales and marketing management disciplines, as well as connecting its members with customers.
Today with over 7000 members from 35 countries and 60 chapters worldwide and the establishment of the HSMAI Asia Pacific Regional Chapter (www.hsmaiasia.com ), HSMAI now offers members and global partners a unique opportunity to Connect, Learn and Network with other hospitality professionals from around the region and the world.
For more information on HSMAI, please visit: www.hsmai.org
