Having a ball with the Roaring Twenties

Dorian Rommel, general manager of the Shangri-La Hotel Dalian, is proud of the grand charity ball the hotel hosted on Dec 4.

It attracted nearly 700 guests, nearly half of whom are senior executives of foreign-invested enterprises in Dalian, and raised about 350,000 yuan ($54,390) for three local charity organizations.

The ball had a Great Gatsby theme with attendees dressed 1920s high-society style.

"People love to dress up," Rommel told China Daily. "And here in Dalian, there are not many social gatherings. We organized the Great Gatsby Winter Charity Ball so people could give back to the society and have fun."

Shangri-La Hotel Dalian initiated its annual winter charity ball in 2009, and since then it has become one of the key social events in the northeastern coastal city, raising more than 300,000 yuan each year for good causes.

This year, it was held in partnership with the International Club of Dalian and the Northeast China Chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce.

It also received strong support from both domestic and foreign enterprises, including Xiamen Airlines, Vitup Health Care Holdings Inc, Volkswagen New Mobility Services Consulting (Beijing), Fidelity Business Services (Dalian), Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Le Belier (Dalian) Foundry, and Intel Semiconductor (Dalian) Ltd.

In addition to big events like the charity balls, Rommel said Shangri-La Hotel Dalian also does "a lot of little things to help" others.

Recently, the hotel donated more than 20,000 yuan to help an employee in Shangri-La Hotel, Shenzhen.

Located in the central business district of Dalian, Shangri-La has been an important presence in the city for 18 years.

"Just look around the lobby. We have so many guests come here to do business, you can hardly find a chair to sit in."

Rommel attributes the hotel's success to the staff.

"Good staff make a good hotel," he said. "When the employees are happy, the guests can feel it. Here they are well treated and they can grow; we have good training."

Rommel entered the hotel sector when he was 16 years old.

"I've been a chef, a waiter, almost every job you can imagine in a hotel during the past 25 years. It seems that I've been on the road all my life," he said.

Born in Monaco, the German hotelier has worked in seven countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and Singapore.

In 2011, he arrived in China and started to work in Yinchuan in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

Two and half a year ago, he moved to Dalian.

"I have very positive feelings about China. It has brought a lot of excitement to me. It's a place of opportunities," he said.

"More importantly, I met my wife here," he added.

zhangxiaomin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/12/2015 page10)