Booking Hotels In China For Diplomatic Clients

Aynur Wang is the assistant to the administrative consul of The Embassy of the Republic of South Africa in China. She is mainly responsible for liaison with hotels, assisting diplomats arranging venues and related issues for major events like the National Day celebration and booking hotels and making payment for visiting delegations and diplomats.

What are your standards for choosing hotels and MICE destinations?
Our first consideration will be the location of the hotel. Usually, hotels which are close to our office are our premier choice. For big celebrations and events that involve constant communication with hotels, choosing a hotel near to the office will save both time and money, particularly in cities which have crowded traffic such as Beijing.

Second, we will consider the service level and the degree of bilateral understanding degree. It is easy to learn the service level of a hotel as there are a variety of channels to do so. Through our cooperation with a hotel, it is more likely that we will re-use a hotel that works harmoniously with us.

Besides, we will give priority to top-class brand hotels and newly opened hotels. Top class hotels usually provide advanced facilities and high service standard, while newly opened hotels have price advantages. What' s more, to create a good name with customers, newly opened hotels will adopt higher and flexible service standards.

What kind of location and style of hotel is worthy of recommendation?
For big celebrations of diplomatic delegations, I recommend hotels near to the office to facilitate the communication with the hotel. Since most of our guests are from the field of diplomacy whose working places are close to ours, it will help them save on travel costs by choosing a hotel near to all of us.

In addition, hotels whose staff work strenuously and create a relaxing atmosphere for customers to make them feel at home are worthy of recommendation.

When booking a domestic hotel, we will choose selected hotels or hotels with which we' ve established sound cooperation relations, such as China World Hotel, Diaoyutai Hotel Beijing, Sheraton Changsha Hotel, Garden Hotel Guangzhou, and Sheraton Xi' an Hotel.

Which hotels have impressed you most and why?
The staff at Sheraton Changsha Hotel are very polite and they will greet customers warmly upon their arrival at the hotel in a very natural manner. What' s more, each time during our stay in the hotel, they can help us solve delicate problems very quickly and make each of our stay in the hotel pleasant.

What problems have you encountered in using hotel products and service? What suggestions do you have for hotels?
A problem we encounter with hotels is the charging of incidental fees. Guests need to pay incidental fees except for the room rate and laundry themselves, but hotels often ask us to guarantee the payment of these fees. There are many people in each group and in our agreement with the hotel we indicate that the incidental fees will be paid by the guests. Therefore, the hotels should charge the guests for any incidental fees or costs incurred as a result of the guests' damage to hotel facilities based on the agreement.

What do you think of the relationship between travel and fashion? Which domestic hotels do you think are fashionable in terms of facilities?
Nowadays, for many Chinese, travel is a way of being fashionable. For myself, travel is the best way to relax. Since I like hotels beside the sea, Sheraton Sanya Resort is a fashionable place to me. Located at one of the best sites of Yalong Bay, Sheraton Sanya Resort features very big and beautiful gardens (compared with surrounding hotels and resorts) as well as excellent spa services.

Le Méridien Shimei Bay Beach Resort & Spa in Hainan has spacious rooms. Its rooms with swimming pools offer great convenience and comfort. The hotel' s hot line is also extraordinarily smooth!

Through which channels do you select hotels or venues for your events?
We do this via different channels: recommendations from hotel professionals, talks with hotel' s sales people and feedback of our colleagues and leaders on the hotels as well as the comparison of price and service among different hotels before finally choosing the one we want to use.

How do you think of China Hospitality News and its websites? Which column are you interested in most and why?
China Hospitality News and its websites offer the latest and most comprehensive travel related news. The interviews with hotel managers are wonderful and can be valuable reference for tourism professionals. I am interested in all the columns as I like them all.

Can you please recommend some travel destinations, both in and out of China, for our readers?
For domestic travelers, I recommend Hainan Island for there are excellent sands, sea and air as well as beautiful hotels and resorts.

For those who want to travel abroad, I think Cape Town in South Africa is a good choice as it features exotic flavor with a beautiful and safe environment in addition to developed economy and mature and convenient tourism.

What are your hobbies? What type of travel are you fond of?
My hobby is reading, traveling ten thousand miles while reading ten thousand books.

I like FIT with an itinerary arranged by myself and hotel and air tickets booked via travel agencies.