-Exclusive interview with Mr. Martin Lee, Assistant General Manager of Poly Commercial Real Estate Investment Management Co. Ltd And Deputy General Manager of Poly Hotel Management Co. Ltd.

——专访保利商业地产投资管理有限公司助理总经理及保利酒店管理有限公司常务副总经理李国华先生

Interview: Cherry Li Chinese Version: Feng Xiaochu English Version: Vicky Photos by: InterContinental Foshan

In China, Poly Group, along with other three leading real estate groups, are metaphorized as four guardian warriors in the industry and is applauded as a pioneer in the development of China’s high-end residence sector and commercial real estate. The unexpected rapid growth of Poly’s hotel business has brought itself to the spotlight and the franchised hotels under Poly’s management are all ranked national Top 5. In this month, Mr. Martin Lee boarded on the flight to Shanghai to attend The 10th Hotel Starlight Awards Presentation Ceremony where we found an excellent opportunity to invite him to have an exclusive talk with us. Let’s start to explore the minds of this extraordinary hotel tycoon.

With more than 30 years experience in the management of branded hotel, Martin, the Executive Deputy General Manager of Poly Hotel Management Co., Ltd and Assistant General Manager of Poly Commercial Real Estate Investment and Management Co., Ltd., launched his career in 1986. Being China’s first generation of international hotel General Manager, his enthusiastic working attitude, brilliant talent in operation management led his way to be assigned as GMs of various international branded hotels in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Martin has been dedicated in standardizing the details of the establishment of international convention center, preparation process of hotel opening and the supervision of operation management. With that thought on mind, he set up an all-round professional hotel management system, introduced some of the best hotel management practices ever since he joined Group in 2011. Needless to say, his efforts were proved to bring remarkable achievements.

Currently, Poly Hotel Management owns 8 international hotels and 1 conference center, including InterContinental Foshan, Crowne Plaza Chengdu Panda Garden, Crowne Plaza Hailing Island, Crowne Plaza Chongqing New North Zone, Holiday Inn Guangzhou Science City, Crowne Plaza Guangzhou Zengcheng, Aloft Chengdu Shixiang Lake, Poly Hotel Guangzhou and Dalian International Conference Center. The projects under construction are up to 25, located in 19 cities such as Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanchang, Tibet, Sanya, and Changchun, etc. As a leader in asset management, the hotel management has become an important sector in Poly Real Estate. Poly’s self-branded hotel is expected to unveil its mysterious mask in this year.

‘Poly Hotel Management Company and Poly Owning Company are to be considered as a whole.’ Martin pointed out. – Poly Hotel Management Company has made a breakthrough in the relationship between owning company and Management Company. We cannot help wondering that how Martin, a veteran hotel leader, achieves a win-win cooperation with different hotel brands. Here is an example that best answers our question; there opened a new hotel in Chengdu, where the Crowne Plaza Chengdu Panda Garden had operated for nearly three years, the Aloft Chengdu Shixiang Lake. If it had not been for the mutual owning company, the two hotels would have been competitors or at least would not welcome each other. However, with Poly Hotel Management as the bridge linking the two management company there sparked some kind of chemistry. Both of the hotels are geographically different and involving with different hotel themes, one being business type and the other being resort-oriented. Nevertheless, it does not stop them from sharing clients’ resources. Simply put, the two management teams can exchange their staff to assist with logistic, coordination and purchase. As a matter of fact, the two management teams are glad to see their clients patronize both of the hotels. When Chengdu Aloft just opened, the owning company and management company had made concerted effort to provide emergency aid to facilitate the operation, substantially reducing the costs of Human capital. They also applied such practice during hotels’ peak and low seasons. To hotel management team, maximizing the revenue, controlling the cost to a reasonable extent are the priorities. Such cooperation of three sides has proved to be effective in this regard and it’s almost unimaginable in the past.

Poly is determined to be a good owning company and to summarize what characteristics a good owning company should possess; Martin adopted two words to express his understanding; Profession and Discretion. Martin has over 30 years working experience in hotel management, the first generation of professional hotel General manager after China’s opening-up and reform, and had made contribution to many international branded hotels. From his perspective, all those famous international branded hotels do have some features of consistent system, good regulation and perfect SOP. But a Precise SOP does not necessarily consummate a nice hotel. Martin does not shy away the topic of the conflict between owning company and Management Company that widely exists in China’s hotel industry. Martin elaborated on and gave us his analysis; He pointed out that some large size real estate companies that represent Poly to have a trial in hotel industries are entitled to undertake the role of cultivating a professional hotel service system. He believed that “lack of supervision “and “acting on the opposite of what hotel requires” are common causes that trigger the conflict between the two. If both the owning company and Management Company consider each other as interfering, then it will affect the efficiency and the prospect of hotel operation. ‘I have lots of representatives and hotel GMs. They stand up for their own benefits but I think that’s all justified. But our hotel management company shall stick to one principle that when it comes to address the relationship between the two, they shall consider what solution would best serve the hotel’s interest. In other words, the owning company’s representative doesn’t need to fight for the owner and the hotel GM should learn to make a bit of compromise.’ As the coach of Poly Group, what Martin pursues is a professional hotel owning Management Company. ‘I always joke with some of the GMs of InterContinental, asking them who they belong to, InterContinental or Poly. And why would an InterContinental GM always deals with Poly? ‘Martin said. ‘Technically speaking, you are a hotel GM who shall be responsible for hotel and once you are responsible for hotel, you are responsible for InterContinental and hence being responsible for Poly.’ he added. ‘I think that is a more harmonious way of conducting our cooperation.’

Martin is loaded with astonishingly tight working schedule. Ever since he joined Poly, he has been involved in almost every stage of the operation- land inspection, selection of Management Company, project operation, representatives’ management. After the hotel opening, he would work like a non-stop engine that has to go through every thing down to the last detail. Right now, there are altogether 30 projects underway. Martin is crowned “The coach “by those in the industry not only for his devotion and commitment to his career but also for the charisma he shows in managing the talents.

‘Would more local talents join in the management team of China’s hotel industry in the future?’ We asked Martin and he is quite positive on that. As a senior hotel management leader who starts from scratch, Martin has exuded a deep sentiment when we talked about China’s hotel industry. “China’s high-end hotel industry blossomed in the wake of the implementation of opening-up and reform policy. We followed the overseas hotel system and gradually learned from our mistakes. Mature hotel leaders like us are over 40 so we have been in this industry for quite a long time so you could see lots of them in positions of VP of Greater China. China’s hotel talents have received acknowledgement from all sides. Most of them have received international hotel education and training. Also, they are endowed with natural cultural ideology. We have so many of them and I think they will be effectively dimensional in approaching and solving problems and will maintain and uphold hotels value and image.

When it comes to some specifics regarding talent management, Martin mentioned two key words ‘Profession’ and ‘Ethics’, which has always been his standard of training and employing people. For me, a person’s virtue comes first, abilities come second. Because you can do nothing with regard to people’s virtue but you can always unleash his potential. A person with very good virtue, moderately good abilities, and an aspiring attitude that knows how to adapt and to progress is bound to be successful and can be entrusted. Talents are the most important assets. Confronted with many problems in human resources management, Martin never constrains new people with old discipline. Instead, he would adjust the training structure, making utmost effort to provide opportunities in technique training, position circulation and some realistic career plan. If people are the ambassadors of my brands, what I tend to do is take them with me to upgrade, promote, maintain and realize our value .I have been in this industry for nearly 30 years so I feel I am obliged to do some progressive work in this respect.

Martin was full of joy when he reminisce his cooperation experience with various hotel brands and admitted it’s a mixed feeling of pain and joy but he thinks that things are getting better. He initiated a Poly hotel management development program that aims to train new staff (born in a much more modern generation) that have strong characters and grew up in the “honey jar”. He insists that the company shall treat them like the kids of our own, leading them to learn and grow in a more amicable fashion. For some new representatives who just dabble in the industry and are quite unsure of the direction, Mr. Martin Lee is also willing to share his experience with them. As you can probably tell, “The Coach” title matches him perfectly. As the development of China’s domestic hotels has mushroomed, we would love to see Poly hotel Management team snatch the title of “The Coach” just like its leader does.

保利地产集团作为中国地产的四大金刚之一，是毋庸置疑的高端住宅和商业地产的领军企业，但是人们可能想不到，保利旗下疾速发展中的酒店业务，已经快步迈入了国内排名前五的阵营。本月，恰逢保利商业地产投资管理有限公司助理总经理及保利酒店管理有限公司常务副总经理总经理李国华飞抵上海参加第十届中国酒店星光奖颁奖典礼，我们与他进行了一次愉快的访谈，和业主的深入交流，对于我们来说，也是一份难得的机缘。

李国华先生, 拥有近30年的星级酒店管理经验, 现任保利商业地产投资管理有限公司助理总经理及保利酒店管理有限公司常务副总经理。 从1986年， 李国华开启了酒店职业的生涯，成为第一代职业酒店资深经理人。他对工作积极热情, 以出色的运营才能， 先后在广州、深圳等地的国际星级酒店担任总经理一职。 自2011年加入保利酒店管理有限公司以来， 李国华一直坚持全方位构建专业化酒店管理系统，并以国际化卓越管理理念贯穿各大高端星级酒店及国际会议中心的项目定位、开业筹备及运营监督管理工作当中，并获得了显著的成就。

目前，保利酒店管理有限公司共运营八家酒店和一家国际会议中心，包括佛山保利洲际酒店、成都保利公园皇冠假日酒店、海陵岛保利皇冠假日酒店、重庆保利花园皇冠假日酒店、广州科学城保利假日酒店、广州增城保利皇冠假日酒店、石象湖雅乐轩酒店、广州保利山庄酒店和大连国际会议中心；正在筹建的星级酒店项目多达30个，遍布广州、成都、重庆、南昌、西藏、三亚、长春等19个城市。作为投资管理的佼佼者，酒店已逐渐成为保利地产发展的一个重要板块。保利酒店管理有限公司的自主管理品牌也将在今年揭开神秘面纱。

“即是业主公司，又是管理公司”——可以说，保利酒店管理有限公司的存在，突破了传统而单一的业主与管理方的业态关系。由这样一位经验丰厚的专业酒店人带领的酒店业主方，是如何与不同的酒店品牌达到完美的合作呢？李先生开始就给了我们一个非常有说明力的实例。在成都，成都保利公园皇冠假日酒店已经营业了近三年时间，今年，又新开了一间石象湖雅乐轩酒店，“如果没有保利这个共同业主的存在，这两间酒店毫无疑问会产生竞争关系，起码是不会往来的，但现在有保利酒店管理公司做出一个嫁接，两个管理公司，一个业主，产生了很好的化学反应——这两家分别是商务和度假型酒店，地理位置不同，但他们之间的客群是可以融合的，有了保利这个共同的业主在其中参与，轻松的实现了人员之间的相互调配、支持、采购，形成了良好的合作氛围，两家管理公司也很乐于见到客户之间的融合。当成都雅乐轩开业的时候，业主和管理公司两方都做出了应急支持，甚至两家酒店在淡旺季有差别的时段，员工也可以在两间酒店之间借调，大大节约了人力资本的消耗。对于管理方来说，他们希望的收益最大化，成本控制到最合理，对于这样的酒店间协作他们也认可了效果，在三方的沟通与尝试之下，达成了在过去的陈规中或许是不可想象的合作。

保利正在努力成为一个好的业主，李先生用Professional和Reasonable两个词来概括他对“好业主”的理解。李先生本人有三十年的酒店从业经历，是改革开放以后中国第一代酒店职业经理人，在国际品牌酒店管理企业也有过长时间的工作经验，他认为，所有的国际知名酒店管理品牌确实都有着完善的体系，良好的制度，严谨的SOP，但并不是拿着一个好的SOP，就能做出一个好的酒店。对于目前国内酒店行业中存在的业主与管理方的矛盾，他并不讳言，从业主角度出发，他分析了矛盾的源头，并认为以保利为代表的涉足酒店行业的大型房产企业，有必要担任起推进本土酒店专业素养的角色。他认为“疏于监督”和“不按照酒店行规行事”是两种容易造成业主与管理方之间龃龉矛盾的很普遍的业主类型，将自己与管理方设定于对立的两个阵营，更容易损伤酒店运营的效率和前景：“我有这么多的业主代表，也有那么多的总经理，我常和他们说，业主代表代表业主方的利益，总经理代表管理方的意愿，这都是天经地义的，但是我们的酒店管理公司，在处理双方关系时的要求是——一切事务都以单体酒店的利益为最高，这时业主代表不一定非得为业主寸土必争，总经理也不一定非得为管理方当仁不让。”作为保利酒店管理的“总教头”，李先生认为他所追求去打造的，是专业的酒店业主管理公司。“我经常和合作的洲际总经理开玩笑，我说你是洲际人，但是一天到晚跟保利打交道，那你到底是洲际人还是保利人？其实严格上来说，你就是一个酒店人，所以你只要负责，你就对酒店负责。你对酒店负责，就是对洲际负责，对保利负责，这样的合作就是和谐的。”

加入保利之后，李国华一直保持着惊人的工作量，从前期的看地拿地，到后期的甄选管理公司、项目的筹备运营，以及业主代表的派出管理，开业经营后更是要像永动机一样运行，从A到Z，都是他的工作任务，眼下，正在进行中的总项目量就有30个。除了诚心诚意去做一个专业而遵循规则惯例的业主，李先生之所以被称为行业“总教头”，必然还有他在人才培养上的过人魅力。

“未来中国的酒店是否会由更多本土人才来管理？”李先生回答这个问题时，几乎是肯定的。作为一个从最基层做起的老牌酒店人，说起中国酒店行业，他流露出了深刻的感情，“中国的高端酒店业，是跟着对外开放的脚步同步开放的，我们也是跟着国外的酒店体系，不断地学习成长起来的，现在这批年龄在四十岁以上的人，已经是成熟的管理者，可能做单体酒店也已经很长时间了，我们可以看到，目前有很多国际酒店管理公司的中华区VP等职务已经由他们来担当，中国的酒店人才得到各方的肯定。他们大多即接受过国际化的酒店教育与培训，又具有文化思维上的天然优势，多年来中国储备的这么多的酒店人才，他们将会是真正具有高效拓展和维系品牌形象的一批酒店人。”

在谈起具体的人才培养上，李先生再次用到了“专业”和“讲道理”这两个词——“以道理服人，以专业树人”是他概况的一条用人观，“对于用人的话，我一直坚信一个原则：能力可以培养，人品不可培养。对我来说，无论何时，用人的话，都是人品第一，能力第二。”他认为，相对好的能力，很好的人品，以及懂得随时改进的一颗进取心，必然能成就一个优秀的人才，值得委以重任。人是最重要的，面对新一代年轻的酒店工作者带来的人才管理的诸多新问题，他不是以老框架去约束新人，而是因人制宜，通过主动做出人力资源架构调整，尽力为年轻人提供有吸引力的技能训练、岗位流转以及实际的职业未来。“假如人是品牌，那我要带着他们一起做的，就是更新、提升、维护，实现最大价值。我做这个行业将近三十年，我有义务为这个行业做一些推动性的工作。”

李先生笑言这么多年来，和各大管理品牌的沟通与合作，可以说是痛并快乐着，但是现在正是渐入佳境；面对一批一批在蜜罐里长大又个性强烈的新新员工，则是专门设立了保利酒店管理发展计划，像帮扶自己的孩子们一样，帮助他们快乐成长，累积有益经验；而对于更多心怀疑惑，初入酒店行业的业主企业，李先生更是一次次不吝赐教，分享经验。“总教头”这个名号对于他来说确实是实至名归，我们也祝福保利酒店管理有限公司，能在中国本土酒店发展的新浪潮中，同样收获“总教头”的美名。