Starting younger, aiming higher
In other hotel groups, young, vibrant managers in their 30s and 40s are leading the way in pioneering markets.
At the Baotou Shangri-La, Steven Zhang is the general manager, one of a small number in a largely expatriate management level.
Zhang, originally from Nanjing, is leading a team of mostly local managers in carving out a niche in an emerging market. As the first-tier cities get more crowded, hotel groups such as Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts are planting their footprints in second- and third-tier cities where foreign staff are harder to come by, and more local conditions dictate the market.
Zhang keeps a tighter rein on his staff than an expat manager would, but his management style is close to the ground and his staff, down to drivers and bellhops, respect him for that. It is also because they can understand and relate to a Chinese manager better, as one of the hotel chauffeurs tell us.
Also in Inner Mongolia, Leslie Wang is a Shanghainese in his 40s given the task of managing a Shangri-La Hotel in the border tourist town of Manzhouli. His challenge is how to keep a luxury hotel viable in a city with a rural population of only 40,000 and where the central heating starts in September and is needed until almost June or July.
His answer is to work with local tourist authorities and coax them into co-organizing events such as snow and ice-carving festivals, and getting luxury auto brands to bring in car shows to his city.
His advantage is being Chinese, and knowing which way the red tape winds.
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