Mr. Hans Loontiens - General Manager of Renaissance Harbour View Hotel Hong Kong

Mainland tourists to perk up HK's Lunar New Year trade, lured by shopping, feasting and iconic tourist draws

The Chinese Lunar New Year is a subdued time for hotels on the Chinese mainland. Business grinds to a halt as employees make their annual exodus back to hometowns in distant provinces. Meanwhile, fewer tourists and corporate travelers are visiting major Chinese cities during the Golden Week holiday.

But the situation couldn't be more different in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. Hotels are operating at peak capacity, says Hans Loontiens, the new general manager of the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel Hong Kong. He recently relocated to Hong Kong from Beijing where he managed the Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel.

Mainland tourists are poised to flood the city, seeking luxury shopping, sumptuous cuisine and iconic tourist attractions - such as the Lunar New Year fireworks, one of the world's most spectacular firework displays, erupting over the Victoria Harbour skyline.

"In Beijing during the Lunar New Year, in the hotel business, you're almost empty. And the cold weather is not great for tourists. But here, the Chinese (mainlander) will come shopping, so the business is very strong," Loontiens says.

He is speaking from the exclusive club lounge on the second-to-highest floor of the 42-story five-star hotel, towering above the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on the Wanchai waterfront. In only a week's time, the lounge's panoramic harbor view will provide one of the best vantages for Hong Kong's explosive welcome to the Year of the Snake.

Loontiens is a veteran hotelier with extensive experience across China and worldwide. He moved to Shanghai to study Chinese in 1984. "I went to China because my father was living there. I had just finished high school, and my dad said to me, 'China is the future'. In '84, not many people thought China was the future. They just thought that the door was open. But my dad was right," he says.

After a stint as a diplomat for the Belgian consulate in China, Loontiens began working at the Shanghai Hilton International. He has since held hotel management positions in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan and the US. Before his job at the Renaissance in Beijing, he ran the Renaissance Tianjin TEDA Convention Centre Hotel.

"I've been in China on and off for 20 years. And the mainland market is the fastest growing segment. I speak Mandarin. So it really helps to welcome the guests and have a conversation with them in their mother tongue. And most of the time they're very surprised."

Along with Mandarin, English, Dutch and French fluency, the Belgian national can also understand Shanghainese, thanks to his mother-in-law. Now he hopes to pick up a bit of Cantonese, too.

Renaissance operates more than 150 properties across 34 countries. No matter the location, the Marriott-owned luxury lifestyles brand strives to emphasize local experiences. In Hong Kong, the focus becomes evident at the Dynasty Restaurant, the hotel's lavish Cantonese restaurant, where the acclaimed char siu (Cantonese for barbeque pork), a favorite Hong Kong dish, is given luxurious treatment.

Loontiens recalls a similar focus on local culture while working with the Renaissance in Beijing. The Beijing hotel's posh, contemporary Fat Duck restaurant has received accolades for its Peking duck; like Hong Kong's beloved barbeque pork, the dish has triggered tough competition among chefs throughout the city.

"What we do now at the Renaissance that differentiates us from other hotels is discovery. Travelers come here while on their business trips, but they like to discover the city. In Hong Kong, that doesn't mean that you send them to Victoria Peak because everybody knows that. Our navigators - that's what we call our concierges - are always coming up with really new places to see," he says. "It's very good for me I've been to Hong Kong many times on holidays, and I've gone to the traditional sites. Now I'm looking forward to seeing the city through the eyes of our navigators who were born and grew up here."

He says the Renaissance hotels worldwide promote young, up-and-coming artists and musicians at special RLife LIVE events, which help guests "to discover the new talent in town". The next Hong Kong RLife event will be a singles' Valentine's Day party featuring local musical group Buskic. The band is gaining popularity for its performances in local bars and impromptu busking on Hong Kong streets.

The fast approaching Lunar New Year will bring with it a host of special events at the hotel. A lion dance will celebrate the first day of the holiday while Dynasty will be serving poon choi (the special reunion dinner "plate of abundance"), a bowl piled with heaps of seafood, meat, vegetables and assorted delicacies. Meanwhile, Scala, the Italian restaurant on the 11th floor, will offer a fireworks dinner special with an ideal view of the explosive harbor front display.

Loontiens says Renaissance Harbour View Hotel's local staff is instrumental in providing guests with special, localized experiences. A big part of his job is making sure the staff stays motivated and inspired.

"My management philosophy is quite simple: It's all about people. The hardware could differ at hotels. For example, maybe the carpet is better here than the one next door. But that's not why people come," he says. "You have to remember that people stay in hotels because they can't stay at home, for business trips or for tourism or whatever reason. At the end of the day you have to look at guests' needs. They have to be comfortable. All the rest is bells and whistles to make it nice. They need a good nice sleep to wake up to be ready to go."

As he peers out of the window, he can see ferries lackadaisically crossing the harbor. Across the horizon, a mass of skyscrapers stretch in either direction. Automobile traffic far below on the ground appears like lines of ants flowing in a gentle procession. The hustle and bustle of everyday Hong Kong is comfortably removed while easily accessible. "Sure, a view like this only helps," he admits with a smile.

(HK Edition 02/08/2013 page1)