Managing Marriott's Family Values In Sanya

Karl Hudson, the general manager of Sanya Marriott Resort & Spa, has over 21 years of comprehensive international hotel experience covering Antarctica, Japan, Australia, China and Philippines. He first worked in China in 1999 in the Shenyang Marriott.

How do you differentiate your hotel from others in the same marketplace? What is your strategic plan for achieving your target RevPAR?
Our resort is differentiated from our competitors by our extensive MICE facilities, our commitment to the local culture, and our family values. We have a wide ranging choice of MICE venues. In addition to our Grand Ballroom and breakout rooms, we have an extensive selection of outdoor event spaces that are ideal for enjoying the benefits of Sanya's sunny climate. We are also special because we actively promote the local island culture, which is evident from the special selection of Hainan dishes available in our restaurants to the 'Lu Ho' greeting offered to all guests by our associates. Marriott International is a corporation based on family values, with constant improvements to our extensive facilities such as our recently renovated state of the art Clubhouse, we standout because our property is the most family friendly Resort in Sanya. Our strategic plan is to continue to build on our strengths. We are an international Resort and therefore are continuing to promote our property overseas. We regularly attend travel shows in Europe, Russia, and Asia, as well as China to ensure that Sanya Marriott Resort & Spa is a recognized name throughout the global travel industry.

What does Marriott Sanya do to make sure that the quality of service is the same as other Marriott properties around the world?
We adhere to Marriott International's commitment to service. Every morning in every Marriott property throughout the world, including ours, during the morning briefing every associate reads the 'Spirit To Serve' guidelines so that the core values of Marriott are reinforced in our everyday actions. We not only employ the best people, but we also ensure that associates at all levels have access to regular training so that they can continue to grow and develop. We help the best people to become better. We follow the training calendar given to us by Marriott Headquarters, which ensures that all associates receive the same high standard of training. We maintain a high quality of service not only by recruiting and training high quality people, but by valuing those people so that they in turn value the Resort. By taking care of our employees, our employees can then take care of our guests. When you stay with us, you stay with the Marriott family and receive the quality service that Marriott is famous for.

Marriot Sanya has an excellent location, what do you expect the percentage composition of your guests to be?
We are a multi-function resort that caters to guests from all sections of the travel market. MICE business and family groups are the most two important sections at Sanya Marriott Resort & Spa. We also have more domestic guests than international guests, although the Russian and Japanese markets make up a significant part of our business. We are actively promoting both the domestic market and international market. We offer packages that are designed to suit domestic guests such as our “stay three days / two nights family” package. Previously this was only available for longer stays but we recognize an increasing preference for clients from the major mainland cities to stay with us for weekend breaks. Our family package provides excellent value for money and meets the needs of short stay domestic guests. For the international market we are also offering similar value packages and promotions. We aim to continue catering to all sections of the travel market by providing the best service and value.

What are your plans for Internet marketing and online promotion of your hotel?
Keeping our Resort in line with Marriott standards, our primary Internet marketing plan is to focus on the major travel websites that are approved by Marriott International and receive the vast majority of worldwide traffic. We will also increasingly advertise on popular domestic based Chinese websites to ensure maximum visibility of our resort within the growing online community.

What difficulties do you expect to encounter as a result of the international financial crisis?
The financial crisis presents us with opportunities, not difficulties. It gives us the chance to make sure that we are offering the best value possible. We have created several packages like our family, wedding shooting, and golf packages, which are tailor made to meet the needs of our clients. As these packages include accommodation as well as several other benefits, like complimentary breakfast in our restaurants or complimentary airport transfers, guests get the best value for their money. Our guests are able to relax and enjoy the real resort experience!

At present, many large hotels are focusing on business development in the MICE sector, what special expansion plans does Marriott Sanya have for targeting the MICE market?
We believe that it is essential to build face to face personal relationships with our MICE clients before, during, and after the event. To that end our resort has a dedicated event sales team as well an event service team. This means that clients are ensured professional support throughout the duration of their event. With a huge flexibility in terms of the type of set up that we can offer, ranging from state of the art digital presentations in our Grand Ballroom to beachside BBQs, we know that we can offer MICE groups a unique event experience. However, the key difference that makes Sanya Marriott Resort & Spa an ideal place for MICE groups is our commitment to service and support. When companies hold events with us they know that they will receive a friendly, dedicated and professional service, ensuring that their event is perfect.

What corporate social responsibility programs does the Marriott Sanya have?
Marriott International is committed to an unlimited number of corporate responsibility programs ranging from a commitment to operate 'green' hotels to protection of the rainforests in South America. Our resort specifically is engaged in all aspects of local island life, we help conserve the island's precious water resources with the use of our 'Green Water System' which ensures that all the water from our numerous swimming pools and fountains is recycled. It is filtered and used to water our tropical gardens! From beach clean up programs to sponsoring sports events, Sanya Marriott Resort & Spa is proud to support and promote our local community.