Hotel's boss has no reservations about city

In the opulent presidential suite, Riaz Mahmood seats himself comfortably in a corner of the couch and sips coffee from a ceramic cup.

Gently and slowly, Mahmood, hotel manager of Raffles Beijing, said working in the hotel industry was not his first choice.

"I've been in this industry for more than 20 years now. It was not my family's first choice. I was meant to be an accountant."