Hotels Need To Think Of The Client's Point Of View In China

Juan Du is the sourcing manager of Schering-Plough (China) Ltd. Du is responsible for the sourcing of the company's non-production products, including meetings, business travel, advertisements, and administration-related items.

What are your criteria in choosing to sign with a hotel? Does the hotel brand play a key role in your decision making?
We mainly see three things in choosing to sign with a hotel. As the hotels are usually used for business purposes, the first point we will consider is the hotel's hardware and software facilities and see whether the service is good. Second, we will consider the location of the hotel. Business clients prefer hotels located in the downtown area because this is convenient for them. Our third consideration is price. We finally choose a hotel based on a comparison of different hotels, mainly their cost performance. The brand of a hotel really weighs a lot, as a reputable hotel brand often satisfies both our internal and external clients.

Based on your experience, which types of hotel, in terms of location and style, would you recommend?
This depends on the purpose of the event. For annual employee meetings or incentive travel, I'd like to recommend hotels that are personal and leisure-oriented. For example, Hilton Sanya Resort & Spa features a strong sense of design and I like it very much. For hotels that are used for business or business travel, I will recommend those that are located in the city center and have a strong commercial atmosphere. However, whatever the style of a hotel, good hardware and software are always a must.

Which domestic hotels have you chosen for your events?
Due to the great number meetings we hold, we have basically used hotels from all the major hotel management groups, but comparatively speaking, we chose the hotels of Starwood Hotels & Resorts more often than others. We' ve used Starwood hotels such as Le Royal Méridien Shanghai and Sheraton Suzhou Hotel and Towers. We' ve also used Pudong Shangri-La Shanghai and Shangri-la Kerry Centre Hotel from the Shangri-la Group, JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai at Tomorrow Square of Marriot Group, Hilton Sanya Resort & Spa from the Hilton Group and The Ritz-Carlton Sanya. Of course, we will use other hotels — such as Gloria Plaza Hotel Beijing and New Century Grand Hotel Hangzhou from New Century Hotels and Resorts — based on different demands of the meetings (the people who will attend the meeting and the class of the meeting).

Which hotels have impressed you most and why?
Two hotels have impressed me most. One of them is The Ritz-Carlton Sanya. This hotel offers very meticulous service and pays great attention to details. You do not have to worry if you hold your event at a hotel that consistently provides you excellent service in every department from sales to meeting teams. The other hotel is New Century Grand Hotel Hangzhou. We held an employee meeting at the hotel this year with about 700 attendees. The hotel is very satisfactory from the point of view of hardware facilities, meeting reception and food arrangements. In addition, its price is also competitive with a high cost performance. What' s best of all is that the hotel can compete with an international hotel. This hotel has deeply impressed me with the high service level it represents among Chinese hotels.

What kinds of regular events does your company hold each year? Where do you hold these events?
Basically, we hold activities all over China. Our larger events include the annual meeting, employee incentive travel and distributor conferences, product symposia and new product releases. We mostly hold these events in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu.

Through which channels do you select hotels or venues for your company events?
We often use a meeting agent or travel agency to manage our meeting and business travel. The travel agencies we cooperated with include Shanghai Linjiang Travel Agency and China Comfort Group M.I.C.E. Service. We certainly will contact hotels directly by ourselves and conduct an inspection to the hotels before using them.

What problems have you encountered in using hotel products and services? What suggestions do you have for hotels?
There are not many hotels to choose for large scale meetings such as the annual meeting that involve a lot of people (usually up to 1,000). My suggestion to the hotels is they should think like the clients or put themselves in the clients shoes when offering meeting services to them, think about them and provide a better service to them.

At present, companies in China are affected by the global economic depression, how does your company balance the quality and price in choosing hotels under this situation? Which option do you prefer, continuing to use the professional service of international five-star hotels which may involve a higher payment, or to shift to local five-star hotels for cost considerations?
This will depends on the kind of meeting. For example, for a new product release meeting to which medical companies often attach great importance, we will choose international five-star hotels to ensure quality, while for ordinary products symposia or internal sales meetings we will use local five-star hotels or even three or four-star hotels due cost considerations. By the way, the price of some five star hotels is quite flexible at the moment.

What do you think of the “MICE Directory” column on China Hospitality News? As a professional booker, what do you think we should add to the column to make it more professional and accurate to the readers?
This column offers detailed information that is very useful to meeting planners. I think it could look more intuitive to organizers of large meetings if you can provide such details as the total number of meeting facilities, e.g. projectors, microphones, flip charts, white boards, and the LM of projectors.

China Hospitality News is committed to offering the most comprehensive report on China's tourism industry with the aim of providing the latest industry news to buyers both at home and abroad. How do you think of our products? Which columns are you interested in most and why?
I appreciate you very much for providing such useful and up-to-date information for me and having the magazine delivered to us in a timely manner. Each time after I receive the magazine, I will read it thoroughly and show it to my associates. I am concerned with the Travel column and Hotel column as well as the Booker Opinion column.

Can you please recommend some travel destinations, both in and out of China, to our readers?
For me Jiuzhaigou in autumn is most beautiful destination. If you go to Italy, I suggest that you make Rome the last stop of your trip, for after experiencing the fashion of Milan, the romance of Venice and the ancient history of Rome, you must want to drop a coin into the Wishing Pool before you leave the country to realize your dream of re-visiting the country in the future.

What are your hobbies and which type of traveling do you like?
I like traveling, food and reading. Usually I will choose FIT for traveling.