As global hotel marketing and representation organizations expand in China, the nation's hotels can promote their brands internationally through partnerships with these professional giants, a senior hotel management expert suggests.
"Chinese hotels should outsource their sales and marketing to professional organizations, and focus mainly on service improvement," said Gu Huimin, secretary-general of the Hotel Management Experts Special Committee under the Western Returned Scholars Association.
She made these remarks when asked about the impact of SRS-WORLDHOTELS' fast expansion in China.
SRS-WORLDHOTELS, a Frankfurt-based sales, marketing and distribution consortium for independent hotels and small hotel groups, has quickened its expansion pace in China recently.
The organization established a global sales office in Shanghai in February, which makes it the first global hotel representation company to open a permanent sales office on the Chinese mainland.
It plans to include five more Chinese hotels this year.
"We are accelerating our penetration in China, in response to increasing demand," Roland Jegge, the company's vice-president Asia-Pacific, told China Business Weekly last week.
Many multinationals are strengthening their foothold in China, establishing offices and factories in the country. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Shanghai Expo 2010 will also attract more business people to China.
Gu echoed him concerning the growing travel market in China. But she felt that there was more pressure for Chinese hotels to sharpen their competitiveness when the country opens up more.
"Because the travel market is an internationally integrated one. Chinese hotels must improve up to international standards to win over customers," she told China Business Weekly.
The situation for domestic hoteliers becomes more urgent when major international hotel groups like US-based Marriott, and Starwood, UK-based InterContinental and France-based Accor quicken their expansion in China.
Major international hotel groups have their broad reserve system and mature promotion models.
Statistics from the China Hotel Association shows that hotels of international giants account for less than 10 per cent of hotels above three stars in China, but their profits surpass 50 per cent of the total.
"China's small and independent hotels should focus on core business matters while outsourcing others, such as sales, marketing and even purchasing," Gu said.
In that way, she said, hotels can cut budgets and examine the needs of international customers with the help of their professional partners' worldwide networks.
That is exactly how Hotel Kunlun in downtown Beijing is benefiting as a member of the SRS-WORLDHOTELS consortium.
Mary Ma, the hotel's assistant director of sales and marketing, told China Business Weekly that Hotel Kunlun is gaining a reputation overseas with promotions launched jointly by the hotel itself and SRS-WORLDHOTELS.
"Hotel Kunlun is well-known in China and we have no problem getting business travellers from inside the country. But we want to get more travellers from overseas, and SRS-WORLDHOTELS' worldwide network can help us reduce efforts and budget costs to reach that goal," she said.
Hotel Kunlun joined the organization last March.
"Travellers who know SRS-WORLDHOTELS will also recognize its members, because we are very selective and only choose one hotel from many competitors in the vicinity," Jegge said.
As for what is left for Chinese hotel members to improve, he added: "Chinese hotels are contemporary and luxurious, but they need to improve their maintenance."
He added that Chinese hotels should get internationally trained and experienced staff and managers.
"They should focus on international business and provide services catering to different nationalities and cultures."
(Business Weekly 03/23/2004 page9)
