With hundreds of thousands of employees, many Chinese state-owned enterprises have opened their own hotels over the years to accomodate their staff when they travel around the nation. In a similar vein, the Guangzhou Municipal Government has helped finance the Guangzhou Hotel in Beijing to be a home away from home for visiting Guangzhou dignitaries to China's capital city.

Ma Tao is the General Manager of the Guangzhou Hotel in Beijing. He entered the hospitality industry in 1983 as a food and beverage manager at the Beijing Great Wall Hotel. In order to obtain international hotel management skills, he then went to Hong Kong and received a certificate for hotel management from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in Hong Kong. He joined Scitech Group in 1991 and was General Manager successively at the Scitech Hotel, Scitech Plaza and Scitech Club. He then started to work in the Guangzhou Hotel in 1999.

How long is the history of Guangzhou Hotel in Beijing and how has it grown since you took over?
Guangzhou Hotel in Beijing has a history of seven years since its opening on November 26, 1999. I have seen and witnessed its construction at the beginning and its development over the years. Guangzhou Hotel in Beijing has made great achievements in economic benefits, social benefits and the construction of company culture since 1999.

With a developing experience of seven years, we have had our own advantages in marketing, management, operation, personnel and corporate culture in the condition of taking part in the market competition. Guangzhou Hotel in Beijing has now become more mature than when I came here.

How have visitor arrivals changed since you worked in Guangzhou Hotel, and how do you expect the demographics to change over the next few years, and why?
The room occupation rate, market proportion, brand reorganization and the value of intangible asset have all seen an obvious boost since the opening of Guangzhou Hotel in Beijing. The room occupation rate, in particular, has been gradually increased from year to year. The annual average occupation rate in our hotel has reached and is maintained above 80%, which comes out top among the hotels of the same level in Beijing, especially among the hotels of other regions open in Beijing.

Guangzhou Hotel in Beijing is the window of Guangzhou in Beijing. Our spirit is to bring forth the feature of culture of the South Ridges and showcase the charm of Guangzhou. All the details in planning, and demographics should be guided by this spirit, and also be creative and its characteristic to be recognized by the market. I expect the demographics of our hotel to mainly be business people and become the first choice of business travelers to Beijing.

What sort of support have you received from the local government for your hotel operations?
The marketing orientation of our hotel is to rely on the Guangzhou Municipal Government to showcase the features of Guangdong, and to submit to the overall situation of reception to create more economic benefits. Our slogan is to create an atmosphere of "I have a family in Beijing!" and serve Guangzhou and the whole society. As a business hotel invested in by the Guangzhou Government, our hotel has received support from the officials in Guangzhou and Guangdong province. Both the municipal and provincial leaders are accommodated in the Guangzhou Hotel in Beijing, which brings us considerable economic and social benefits.

The market is getting crowded in Beijing. How are you making your hotel stand out from the crowd?
Different periods and different situations determine a different development strategy. For the developing environment, over a dozen of top-end hotels will be successively built and put into use before the opening of 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, which will make the competition more severe and bring a big challenge to us. However, I believe that with seven years' experience, we have our own operational advantages such as the good geographical location, the strong support by the government and our excellent corporate culture.

How do you think of Beijing in comparison to other cities in China, and what advantages do you think Beijing has in terms of holding activities?
I was born in Beijing and am a native of Beijing. I like Beijing for its absolutely distinct seasons and its plentiful and compatible spirit of gathering all sides of culture. Beijing has obvious advantages for MICE activities. As the capital of China, Beijing is the center of information and culture exchange and the bridge that connects the Eastern and Western cultures. The infrastructures including traveling facilities are all perfect and should be made full use of. Holding the 2008 Olympic Games, in particular, is the pride of Beijing and all the Chinese people. The hospitality in Beijing should seize this opportunity to show China and publicize China to the world.