For a long time, Hilton Beijing was on the outskirts of Beijing's thriving business and commercial areas. But Beijing is growing, and now Hilton Beijing is in the center of where new embassies and office buildings are moving. This long-term vision has served Hilton well in China and continues to allow the hotel to cater to the needs of its growing guest list.

Originally from the United States, Vlad Reyes is the General Manager of the hotel and is leading Hilton Beijing to new, creative developments within the Beijing market.

How is Hilton Beijing positioning itself in the Beijing hotel market?
It is positioned as a deluxe business hotel, providing all services and facilities the affluent business traveler has come to expect. Hilton Beijing also provides a host of cutting-edge facilities, especially with the newly renovated 3rd Ring Food and Beverage concept that will make Hilton Beijing the place to see and be seen for the local community.

What sort of changes have you implemented since taking over in your new position?
As Hilton Beijing has been newly renovated and relaunched in July 2006, everything has changed. We are now a vibrant hotel with not just new guestrooms and event facilities, but with cutting-edge restaurants and bars. Our priorities are therefore in keeping with an extensive marketing campaign to re-launch the new hotel and to let as many people as possible know about the changes.

This is especially in regards to our new, central, three-level ringed atrium "The 3rd Ring". This includes Zeta Bar, Elements – Pan Asian Cusine Restaurant, One East on Third – Modern American Cuisine Restaurant, Tonic Lounge, Cafe Cino and Hilton Meetings. A number of special events and parties we organized over the past four months, targeted the various social circles in and around Beijing. Promotions included the Zeta Bar Grand Opening Feather Party, Halloween Party, and African Animal Party. All were successful and received positive reviews.

As we continue to build upon this initial success by organizing ever more special events we intend to build a new reputation for Hilton Beijing as "The Place to See and to be Seen."

What sort of qualities do you look for when hiring staff?
We look for people with personality and passion. Especially in PR and Marketing, communication skills are important too. Yet, our first criteria, is to look for people whom are committed and passionate. We will then provide the necessary training to equip them with the technical skills required.

How does Hilton train and retain its staff?
we train at Hilton Beijing, through our own training department as well as with assistance from our Area Office in Singapore and selected third parties to provide plenty of training opportunities for all team members on all levels.

Furthermore our Hilton University provides our team members access to a broad range of industry-related courses online whereby providing learning opportunities in all fields including but not limited to Management, Finance, Sales and Marketing, Operations and Human Resources.

The training department coordinates all training activities within our hotel. This is in line with our succession plan according to which our team members receive a personal development plan, part of which are the relevant training needs. Our Hilton International Elevator program seeks out individuals with high potential, whom are then put through 18 months of intensive training in different Hilton hotels and in different countries to allow them to grow into senior managerial positions within a short period of time.

What was the best advice you received when starting out in this industry?
The Hospitality industry is a different industry from other industries. The vibrant nature and the versatility of having to deal with so many different issues at the same time, makes time go by too fast. In marketing, as in other areas of the hotel industry, efficiency is key. To stay on top of it, close communication with other departments in the hotel and a common approach is necessary to achieve all of the pressing goals at hand.

Some of the best advice I received was to take it one step at a time but to keep the breaks in between as short as possible. To be and remain successful, we must never stop. If we do, we will lose out, so we must at all times move forward and explore the unexplored, try the new, and be different.

The area around Hilton Beijing is being built with many new embassies and offices. How is this affecting how Hilton plans its marketing?
Hilton Beijing has always maintained good relationship with all embassies. The move of several major embassies to within walking distance of our hotel, is of course welcome news for us. This development will further augment the position of Hilton Beijing as it will allow us to cater to the community of the Third Diplomatic District of Beijing from within close proximity.