Making the right moves

The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong stays ahead of the game through its consistent service, Xu Junqian reports.

As helmsman of China's most profitable hotel, Rainer Burkle, the general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, said his biggest challenge is the city's weather.

The German hotelier, who has been running the property since it opened five years ago and previously managed the Portman Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai for two years, has become accustomed to Shanghai's "plum rain season", characterized by intermittent drizzle and suffocating humidity in late June and through July.

The China Hotel and Tourism Conference, organized by the Howard Hotel Consultancy, recognized the property as the most profitable hotel in the country in 2014, and it was elected the "Best Hotel in the World" by readers of Conde Nast Traveller in 2011.

Unusual torrential rains this year, which flooded the city overnight and resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights, cost the 285-room property almost 4 percent of its occupancy rate over three days.

"There is nothing you can do," Burkle said prior to the hotel's five-year-anniversary party on June 18.

Apart from weather-related issues, Burkle, who has 39 years' experience in the hospitality industry, has few complaints, as he said he is running "not a hotel, but an iconic destination".

Occupying the top 18 floors of the Shanghai IFC Tower, the hotel boasts China's highest outdoor bar and restaurant, Shanghai's second-largest presidential suite after the Mandarin Oriental Pudong and one of the lowest turnover rates of employees in China's hotel industry.

Burkle refers to a lifelong interest in tennis to explain how he keeps both guests and investors satisfied.

"The ball is our guest, and the scoreboard is the profit. When you focus on the right balls and make the right moves, the scoreboard grows itself," he said.

He defines those "right moves" as design, consistency of service offered and competent staff members, whom Ritz-Carlton refers to as "the ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen".

"It's a package that, if losing any one of them, the hotel would be handicapped," said Burkle, who has also served as vice-president of Ritz-Carlton Chinese mainland, overseeing 11 properties in cities including Chengdu, Guangzhou and Beijing.

There are two Ritz-Carlton hotels in Shanghai but Burkle sees little competition or conflict between the two, which are located on both sides of the city's Huangpu River. While the Pudong outlet boasts the best river view in the modern financial district, the Puxi property shines in the historical center of Shanghai, he said.

Burkle said improved infrastructure in the city, such as the 1.47-million-square-meter National Exhibition and Convention Center newly built in Hongqiao, and a Disneyland currently under construction, are making Shanghai globally known, competing with its neighboring cities of Tokyo or Singapore to attract business visitors and tourists.

However, competition is prevalent within Lujiazui, known as the Wall Street of Shanghai and where the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong is located. Less than 3 km away, the Shangri-La has earned a reputation as the prototypical five-star Shanghai hotel for being the first in the city as early as the 1990s, while the Park Hyatt appeals to both locals and tourists as the highest hotel in the tallest building in the country.

"A competitor can be anybody, standing just next door, or the ones that are reaching into the luxury world," said Burkle.

He defined luxury, in hotel terms, as "space and time". While the right facilities and design of a hotel can maximize the space allowed for each guest, the services provided and staff members help guests enjoy every minute.

The Ritz-Carlton brand, founded by Swiss hotelier Csar Ritz at the end of the 19th century, redefined luxury accommodation by introducing private bathrooms in each guest room and fresh flowers for decorations.

Burkle started his career as an apprentice in a small restaurant in his hometown of Baden-Baden in Germany, where he said his early sense of the service industry was fostered. Before joining the Ritz-Carlton in 1992, he held food and beverage positions in luxury hotels in London.

Having served in a variety of roles, including as a waiter, bartender and front desk receptionist, before making his way to management level, Burkle said it is as important to have practical experience as to be academically trained, although the industry is now more sophisticated than when he entered.

What lured him from the kitchen to hotel management was the chance to interact with people of all types.

"I don't think there are many professions that have that access. Everybody in some ways wants to be an hotelier," he said.

Contact the writer through xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/04/2015 page10)