Keeping elite company
By Liu Weifeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-05 09:39
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General Manager of the Beijing clubhouse of Hong Kong Jockey Club makes sure he keeps a steady hand on the pulse of its privileged members. Liu Weifeng reports
Veteran hotelier Tony Tang offers his guests more than just a place to stay. He provides them with a lifelong platform to develop their social networking and lifestyle.
While the general manager of Beijing Hong Kong Jockey Club Clubhouse, may not fit the typical description of a hotelier, he has been working in the hospitality industry for two decades. He took up the clubhouse assignment in April, 2006, after working with the Shangri-la hotel chain for 16 years.
Entering the lobby of the clubhouse, one is struck by how quiet it is - all cell phones are required to be put on silent mode - and its grand decor. Media reports have even used the term "invisible luxury" to describe the clubhouse.
While the interiors are clearly designed with member privacy in mind, the beautiful faade makes a grand first impression.
It reportedly took 40 craftsmen three months to paint the golden decorative dots on the traditional Chinese-style roof of this Forbidden City-like building.
Tang is clearly excited to talk about the charity wine dinners he has organized in the clubhouse in the past two years and Friday's third annual charity banquet.
"The clubhouse represents a way of life", the 42 year old says, adding that it celebrates a life that combines social responsibility with being wealthy.
Born into a family of musicians, the Libra man always seeks out the beautiful things in life. Playing the piano, tasting wines and managing a top clubhouse is what he most enjoys doing.
In partnership with the prestigious wine maker Chateau Margaux from France, the clubhouse raised 1.17 million yuan ($170,000) in 2008 by auctioning wine to its club members. The money was donated to victims of the devastating earthquake that hit Sichuan province.
It raised 3.47 million yuan in 2009 to help handicapped children in China's poverty-stricken areas. More than 4,000 children in Sichuan province alone received medical treatment thanks to this initiative.
At the third annual charity night, a bottle of Chateau Margaux 1909 and 1919, and other wines and art works were auctioned under the hammer of Sotheby's.
The clubhouse's public relations manager Chris Chen says the charity wine dinner was a one-of-a-kind event in terms of the auctioned wine and art works, auction agency, participants and organizers.
Unlike hotels which open their doors to the general public, a clubhouse is open only to its members.
Selections are based on strict criteria that include the applicants' assets, status, reputation, social standing, educational background, and tastes.
Members receive tailor-made service. "We know who is left-handed, for example, and our members' preferences in food and other things," Tang says.
He admits he feels more pressure from trying to provide better service to the club's members than from its general performance.
"How to maximize each member's satisfaction is the biggest challenge for me," Tang says.
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Tony Tang, general manager of Beijing Hong Kong Jockey Club Clubhouse |
Currently, the Beijing clubhouse has more than 400 Chinese mainland members, while the Hong Kong Jockey Club has over 20,000 members. They travel more than six times between Hong Kong and Beijing every year.
"We originally hoped to build a "home away from home" club for these people from Hong Kong, besides catering to Beijing's elite," Tang says.
The Beijing clubhouse is the only branch of the Hong Kong Jockey Club outside Hong Kong. Its members in Hong Kong reflect their status, reputation and sense of social responsibility.
It is one of the largest charity organization, taxpayer and employer in Hong Kong, and has been contributing nearly 10 percent of the total tax in Hong Kong for years. In 2009, it paid HK$10.5 billion taxation to the SAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) government.
According to Tang, the Beijing clubhouse, although it is not a professional charity organization, "We still want to do something more meaningful and significant, both as a clubhouse and for our distinguished members".