Warm touch attracts guests
By Shi Yingying (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-24 09:53
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Clockwise from top are the Sheraton Shanghai Hongqiao Hotel, Hanano Japanese Restaurant and the fitness center of the hotel. Provided to China Daily
The Shanghai Hongqiao Hotel delivers a sense of home and a hands-on approach to the general manager. Shi Yingying reports
Toned with vibrant and bold colors, exquisite and radical designs, along with its location in commercial Hongqiao district, the Sheraton Shanghai Hongqiao Hotel is becoming the place to stay for a new generation of businesspeople.
Pampering begins as you arrive at the hotel's front doors, with a warmhearted "good morning" and smiles from the doorman. The hotel shifts away from the dark and heavy colors of most five-star hotels in town with its light, colorful and airy lobby that serves to put guests in an upbeat mood.
"Look around. It's a completely different style from most of other hotels - it's more European," says General Manager Thomas Mueller. "When you see our guestrooms and compare them to our competitors', they are warmer and deliver a strong sense of home. It is your home away from home."
Instead of a fruit basket in the guest rooms, there are a couple of bright-yellow rubber ducks sitting on the edge of bathtub, carrying a sign "take me
home".
"The ducks have always been in our hotel, and the guests like them," Mueller says. "Even loyal guests who have been coming here for 20 years still take them home. Some must have a collection of around 150."
The Sheraton Hongqiao takes good care of the special needs of business travelers.
"Sheraton guests want to be connected, to always be in touch," Mueller says. "So we have set up our public areas with free connection to the world."
Apart from WiFi, the needs of business travelers, who compose 80 to 85 percent of the hotel's total guests, the Sheraton also satisfies MICE objectives with 1,508 square meters of flexible event space.
With Expo 2010 Shanghai on the horizon and the hotel's ideal location in Hongqiao district, a big demand for MICE business is predicted during and after the six months of Expo.
The Sheraton Hongqiao is equipped with the latest audiovisual facilities and large meeting spaces, including a grand ballroom, which can accommodate 800 people, and 10 smaller rooms.
Part of Mueller's day includes sitting in the lobby from 8 am to 9 am so he can interact personally with hotel guests, greeting them and answering their queries. "It is so the guests can see me and associates can see me. A hands-on approach is my philosophy to running a hotel," says Mueller.
"I don't need to be hiding in my office. I am there to share the good news with my guests and if there's a problem, I can fix it on the spot.
"Ten years ago, I had a secretary, but now I don't need one because I answer the phone myself," he continues. "The phone calls come through the operators and they don't ask you who you are or why you want to talk to the general manager. They just put you through."