Marriott's leading ladies

As international hotel chains localize their management in China, there are still very few females at the very top. At least, they are still rare enough to hit the headlines, as Liu Weifeng and Li Fusheng find out.

Despite the rapid expansion of international hotel groups in China, the hospitality industry is still a world with few female general managers. One exception is within the ranks of the Marriott hotel group.

The hotel chain from the United States has distinguished itself by having three Chinese ladies in Beijing alone.

Pan Xiaoying heads the Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel. Peng Zhuangsheng is at the helm of the Beijing Marriott Hotel City Wall, and Wang Dong is the boss at Beijing Marriott Hotel Northeast.

All three ladies say the Marriott group adopts a "genderless" approach when it comes to promotion.

"I don't think we girls are either privileged or underprivileged when the group is assessing our performance," says Pan.

Her words are echoed by Peng, who adds that everyone at the Marriott has opportunities as long as he or she is doing a good job regardless of gender, color and region.

All three ladies held different posts before they were promoted to head their respective hotels.

Pan was in charge of rooms. Peng was a sales manager. And Wang had extensive experience in the finance department.

Although they were on different paths, their roads did converge at one point. They are all loyally committed to the brand, and all have worked in the group for at least 15 years - a rare achievement in an industry which has recorded explosive growth in the last two decades in the country, generating tempting offers from other hotels eager to tap on experience.

"Loyalty is based on several things, and one important factor is whether the job makes me happy, assured and motivated," says Wang.

"Marriott makes us feel trusted and it offers opportunities that come one after another."