Christophe Lajus began work as General Manager of the Holiday Inn Resort Yalong Bay Sanya in 2002. Coming from France, he has over 19 years of hospitality experience in Europe, the Caribbean and Asian countries. Having worked in Chengdu, Wuhan, and now Sanya, Christophe is considered one of the top hoteliers in China.
Christophe recently spent some of his valuable time answering questions from the editors of China Hospitality News. What follows are some of his remarks on China's booming travel sector and how he views growth within the industry.
How long have you worked in Asia and China?
I have worked in Asia for more than 10 years. I worked for a number of companies inclusive of the luxury hotel brand Banyan Tree where I opened the Banyan Tree Bintan, a very beautiful and exclusive resort, on the Indonesian island of Bintan next to Singapore.
I started to work in the China hospitality industry in early 1999 as the General Manager of two 4 star hotels–Chengdu Huayang Garden City Hotel and then the Holiday Inn Wuhan Tian. Later I came here to the 5 star Holiday Inn Resort Yalong Bay Sanya.
What changes have you seen in the travel industry in the city since you took on your position?
Sanya's growing tourism popularity has attracted more and more people especially for the good publicity of Miss World Pageant. The competition became stronger and stronger with more international hotel brands coming to Sanya, especially in the Yalong Bay area .
How do you see the hospitality industry developing in the city within the next five years?
Sanya has successfully hosted several international and national events such as the Miss World, the Sanya Triathlon, and the Model Contest. The government puts many efforts to promote Sanya as a leisure destination and to create a better environment. The Sanya tourism market will become more prosperous and mature in the future.
I believe that the hotels' development in Sanya and Yalong Bay is too fast at this time, as the other necessary tourism elements such as number of flights, airport size, entertainment, local craft and attractions are not being developed at the same speed. We see too much difference in terms of arrivals in Sanya between low and high season. I believe that this will improve in the 2 to 3 years to come with more activities being developed.
In your hotel, what is the breakdown between business and leisure travelers?
About 30% of our guests come to our hotel for business purpose and 70% for leisure and recreation.
What advantages to do you see your hotel having in the market?
Our advantages in comparison to our competitors are many.
First: the location–we are right on the beach.
Second: Best sea view room in Yalong Bay.
Third: due to our intensive ongoing training, our staff are very friendly and helpful with a better level of English than other hotels next to us.
Fourth: the outdoor activities–a daily staff performance and BBQ at the pool or on the beach is very special.
Fifth: the lobby location is very relaxing and overlooking the beach and sea.
Sixth: we are one of the only hotels with an executive floor on the bay!
Seventh: for a 5 star hotel and its location we offer the best value for money.
What difficulties are you facing in the market?
In comparison to other resort destinations like Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, we could have more cooperation , exchange of ideas and coordination between hotels and also with the tourism authorities. The availability of qualified employees is also a challenge.
How do your local staff and expatriates work together as a team?
The 5 core values of the Intercontinental Hotels Group are: integrity, trust, respect, one team and service. We apply these values strictly for all staff–local and expatriate. I think the result is positive and satisfactory.
What kind of a training program do you operate to ensure consistency of staff competency and service level?
We have identified and made succession plans for key staff. Regular daily trainings at different levels are in place to ensure the service standard.
Also the company focus in Asia-Pacific is this year, more than ever, on staff development and to emphasize on people strengths, rather than finding weaknesses. This to ensure a high level of competency and service level.
What use does your hotel make of recent high-tech developments (for example wireless Internet access)?
Our public areas are equipped with wireless Internet access. We also have in a number of rooms computers and Internet access availability.
What is the current breakdown of recruitment between expatriates, local expatriates, and local staff? How do you expect this to change in the next few years?
Now we have only 3 expatriates (French, Finnish and American) and 24 key employees from outside main cities in China–over 95% are the local staff.
How do you view your competition in your city?
Yalong Bay area is considered as a destination by itself. Having more good standard hotels around us is healthy and we welcome any newcomer. It helps develop the destination in China and Asia, and it also makes us realize that we should always initiate new ideas to improve our product and service level if we want to be better than the hotel next to us.
What do you think differentiates you from the competition?
Our ongoing action in our daily work. We always want to change something in our hotel. If today we have a guest staying 4 nights and next month this guest returns to us, he/she will notice something new in the hotel arrangement. We change our lobby decoration monthly, our food promotion frequently, our outdoor activities regularly.
We also listen to our customer feedback to improve our performance all the time. In the past 12 months we have added a Beautiful Beach bar that we call Coco Bar, a Beach Spa, BBQ dinner on the Beach every weekend and now we are completing our meeting renovation facilities in May.
We focus 100% on guest satisfaction. All the managers were explained in detail the meaning and concept of the word "RESORT" because in China there is not too many examples of resorts. Then the expectation of a potential guest coming on holiday in terms of service level. Then they carry the same concept to their staff on a daily basis. With a better understanding of how to work and what to focus on we have a better result.
Our recruitment arrangement: No new staff will be employed before being interviewed by myself. I pay special attention to the front line staff where the look, attitude, ability to answer questions, ability to speak a little English and overall body language are key indicators to be successful in the job.
Also I believe that most of the time we hire people for the wrong job and the applicants do not understand fully the expectation of the employer before taking the job. So I have outlined clearly a number of key information listed on a A4 page for every new staff to read and understand clearly before accepting the new job. Finally we have 5 full days of orientation with an oral test done by 2 managers for any new employee before working in their own section.
What kind of loyalty program do you have in place? What advantages do you see from running such a program? Is the program specific just to your city and, if so, do you see it developing in other cities also?
Our Intercontinental Hotels group company has the fastest growing priority club enrolments in Asia pacific compared with other international companies. The loyalty program is dynamic and not specific to a city. Additional benefits are added regularly to the program. Good benefits equal good results!