Singapore-based luxury hotel group Shangri-La picked one of the highest points in Hangzhou as the location for its entry into China in 1984.

And since touching down more than 20 years ago, the group has expanded to 20 the hotels in China that it owns or manages, covering almost all major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

As China's economic development enters a new phase, marked by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 World Exposition in Shanghai, Shangri-La has embarked on an ambitious plan of building 17 hotels in the next three years.

"We are building more hotels in the big cities as well as in secondary cities around the country," says Kent Zhu, Shangri-La's vice-president for sales and marketing, China.

Shangri-La opened its first hotel in Singapore in 1971, now, more than three decades later, the company employs more than 24,000 staff at more than 49 hotels. The group boasts over 22,000 rooms, located around major leisure and business centres in 12 countries and regions including Singapore, China, Japan, and the United States.

But "China has always been Shangri-La's focus," insists Zhu.

Shangri-La has over 9,000 of its rooms and 20 of its 49 properties in China.

Aside from its three hotels in Beijing, Shangri-La holds a more than 90 per cent share in its Chinese hotels.

"The Shangri-La Hotel Hangzhou set a successful example, and its business performance has been very satisfying, giving us impetus to open more hotels here," says Zhu who refused to reveal details including Shangri-La revenues and profits.

Following the debut of its first hotel in China, between 1986 and 1990, the company opened three hotels in Beijing. Dramatic expansion occurred in the latter half of the 1990s, when Shangri-La opened nine hotels in China between 1996 and 1999.

Shangri-La's local growth has closely followed the country's economic development, with many of the group's properties built in or near China's economic development zones, such as Shenzhen, Shanghai, Qingdao and Dalian.

China is one of the world's fastest growing and most important economies, with a population of more than 1.3 billion.

"The world increasingly looks towards China as a leisure and business destination, especially with the approach of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Outbound travel is growing tremendously and the country is Shangri-La's most significant market. Our hotels are well placed to cater to travellers' needs," says Zhu.

In late October, the group launched its "China Sales Mission" with the slogan "Find Your Way to Shangri-La." The sales and promotional event showcased its 20 properties in China.

"We hope to show thanks to those concerned with Shangri-La's development and our supporters including corporate clients, organizers and travel agents around China," says Zhu. "We would like to share with them our latest developments especially the new projects in China."

By the end of 2008, the group is expected to have set up 29 new hotels including city, resort and traders complexes around the world. Of those, 17 are in China, accounting for 59 per cent of the company's new developments.

"We are pumping hundreds of millions of yuan into the properties here. This again shows our strong commitment and focus on the Chinese market," says Zhu, "and we will focus more on China's second and even third-tier cities."

The 17 new hotels will mainly be located in cities such as Ningbo, Wenzhou and Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang Province and Dongguan in South China's Guangdong Province.

The group even plans to set up three City Hotels in Baotou, Manzhouli and Hohhot in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

"As the region has enormous potential for tourism and business travel, establishment of five-star hotels is an urgent need," says Zhu.

After establishment of the 17 properties, Shangri-La Group will become the leading international five-star luxury hotel group in terms of the number of properties it owns and operates.

But it is quality, not quantity, which Zhu stresses.

"It's meticulous attention to detail and unstintingly high levels of service that have made 'Shangri-La Hospitality' a by-word for excellence around the world," says Zhu. "We especially would like to and have been trying all efforts to bring the 'Shangri-La Hospitality from Caring People' philosophy into China."

And, just like anywhere else in the world, staff are a key factor.

"In China staffing has become a more and more critical factor in driving industrial development especially in the hospitality industry," says Zhu.

Last December Shangri-La launched its own academy, a centralized employee training centre, close to Beijing.

"The establishment of the Academy demonstrates Shangri-La's long-term dedication to China and its hospitality industry," says Zhu.

Learners undergo 12 weeks of classroom training in culinary arts, food and beverage service, front office organization or housekeeping operations, followed by 24 weeks of on-the-job training at Shangri-La hotels in China, Singapore, and as far away as Dubai.

The goal of the Academy is to speed and intensify employee development in pace with the group's rapid growth in China, says Zhu.

The group's China expansion from 20 to 37 sites by 2008 requires its current workforce to grow by nearly 9,000 employees from its original 10,000. A fifth of the new jobs will be at managerial levels.

"The Academy is one of the most important and effective channels to train and groom future Shangri-La management," claims Zhu.

"We believe the best way to inculcate Shangri-La's unique culture and hospitality is through training. The Academy creates opportunities for potential employees to join us, grow with us and one day become pillars of strength of the company."

Apart from the expansion factor, "customers today have expectations that are more diverse, less predictable and may even appear illogical," says Zhou Fuyou, principal of the Academy. "With an increasingly internationalized clientele, the hospitality worker is faced with more complex and discerning customers to please,"

The Academy's training programmes provide a networking forum for future exchanges and co-operation between Shangri-La employees across the country.

The programme was initially designed only for Shangri-La staff, and up to July, the Academy had trained more than 500 employees from the group's various properties around China. Since August, however, the Academy has been offering public enrolment, 120 members of the public have signed up.

Public programmes are designed to train potential hospitality professionals at the foundation level and offer a structured career path. It is anticipated that 500 public students will be trained by 2008.

Today, most of Shangri-La China's employees are from the nation's technical schools such as tourist schools, universities and colleges. However, their English abilities are still unsatisfactory, according to Zhu.

As more and more foreign investors come to China to do business, the ability to speak English becomes increasingly important for those in the hospitality industry. "We will do more to improve this," Zhu promises.

(China Daily 12/19/2005 page3)