ON THE WEB
HOTELSMAG . COM
THE GOSTELOW REPORT
DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SWIRE GM
hotelsm . ag / SwireGM
The Swire-managed Temple House in Chengdu , China , just celebrated its second birthday and was simultaneously awarded Travel + Leisure ’ s Best City Hotel in Asia . But , like many properties in China , the 100- room hotel suffers from high labor turnover and a not truly Englishproficient workforce . Enter the hotel ’ s GM Kurt Macher , who has taken a unique stance on English proficiency . Instead of formal lessons , his team , apart from the eight expats , have ongoing role-play initiatives . Servers , for instance , hold cards that colleagues then have to repeat , correctly , i . e . “ Would you like some more coffee ?” He has evolved the art gallery into a showplace for modern Chengdu art , while the library , filled with 2,000 hardbacks , Chinese and English , gets used for TED-type Temple House sessions .
THE NEWS
MARRIOTT / ALIBABA AND THE EXPLODING CHINESE CONSUMER
hotelsm . ag / MarriottAlibaba With China ’ s online travel market valued at almost US $ 87 billion and growing , Marriott International has laid its hand on the table via a new joint venture with Alibaba Group Holding . Alibaba ' s travel service platform , Fliggy ( formerly Alitrip ), will immediately manage Marriott ’ s storefront there , and in the future , Alibaba will manage Marriott ’ s websites and mobile apps in Chinese language . The JV also serves another function : linking the two company ’ s loyalty programs , creating other cross-promotional opportunities and supporting Marriott hotels globally with content , programs and promotions customized just for the Chinese traveler .
THE BLOG
AMAZON HOTELS ?
hotelsm . ag / AmazonHotels Amazon just put in a US $ 13.7 billion bid to acquire high-end supermarket chain Whole Foods , raising concerns that the company ’ s expanding breadth is quickly morphing it into a monopoly . With its massive stock of consumer data , Amazon has a track record of being a paradigm-shifting force for any market it enters . So , asks HOTELS blogger Daniel Lesser , what ’ s to stop it from tackling hotels ?
4 hotelsmag . com October 2017