厚积薄发 大展宏图
——与乌鲁木齐希尔顿酒店总经理曾金成先生畅谈希尔顿品牌的新疆首秀
2015年9月12日，全球知名品牌希尔顿酒店在乌鲁木齐开业，这是新疆自治区的第一家希尔顿酒店，而新疆的活力与热情也使得希尔顿收获了数目惊人的关注和新客户。就在酒店开幕仪式取得成功之际，我们即时邀请到了酒店总经理曾金成先生坐下对谈，聆听这位以酒店管理特别是独特培训风格闻名的酒店人聊一聊希尔顿的新征程。对于希尔顿来说，乌鲁木齐新店是品牌第一次进入新疆的重大决策，而对新加坡籍的总经理曾先生而言，这是他20多年来在中国任职的最远一站，两个“第一次”的碰撞使得此次新店开幕展露出格外的激情和更多故事。
乌鲁木齐希尔顿与中国—亚欧博览会主会场——新疆国际会展中心毗邻。酒店总建筑面7万平方米，共有客房383间，坐落于红光山中央商业区，坐拥红光山生态旅游公园，令人震撼的起伏风光，白雪皑皑的峰峦和一望无际的平原，新疆浓丽的自然景象为希尔顿酒店平添了十二分魅力。
刚刚履新的曾金成先生是一位极有个人魅力的酒店人，总是以热情的笑容和充沛的行动力感染着周围所有人。从事酒店行业29年，在中国拥有超过20年的工作经历，曾先生的酒店职业生涯开始于新加坡的WestinStamford and Plaza, 参与过新加坡、越南、吉隆坡等不同地区国际酒店的管理工作，尤其值得一提的是他所拥有的令人钦佩的酒店筹建履历，包括Saigon Prince Hotel Vietnam，北京香格里拉饭店和上海裕景大饭店等等。在国内高端酒店业内，曾先生最具名声的，还有“培训大师”这一角色，二十余年中，出色的人才培训课程让他收获了不计其数的后辈，很多曾先生门下出道的新人都渐入佳境，更有业已成为总经理的突出学生。“桃李满天下”，用在他身上再合适不过。
为客人提供高品质的服务，为员工打造精诚团结的团队，为业主管理卓越非凡的酒店——他始终坚信专业酒店人的成功必然要关注细节服务，更要有大局观念，勤奋且有技巧地工作。对于此次任命，曾先生表示，“会确保酒店向客户提供独树一帜的高水平服务，并致力于把独特的视角带入乌鲁木齐希尔顿酒店，我们相信以高质量的服务要求，对市场的敏锐把控，将推动酒店不断步入卓越。”
尽管乌鲁木齐由于政治与经贸往来繁荣，市内已有多家五星级酒店，但国际酒店品牌的入驻还处于起步阶段。作为全疆最豪华的酒店，同时也是国际品牌走进新疆的先锋，乌鲁木齐希尔顿有很多值得品味的地方。无论是装饰风格、客房设计，还是宴会、餐饮，都在为新疆首府设计着酒店业的新标杆。在基础设施上，酒店为客人提供精致华美的客房，大理石砌筑的卫生间、42寸液晶平板电视、华丽舒适的床具及无线网路全套配备。健身中心24小时运营，室内恒温游泳池、水疗及瑜伽馆也即将全面开放。酒店交通便捷，可以轻松抵达市中心亦或著名景点，距离新疆国际大巴扎仅有10公里，距离有小阿尔卑斯之称的天池风景区仅有80公里。
其次，酒店拥有先进的会议设施，3000平方米的超大全功能会议场地包含1550平方米的豪华宴会厅，该厅可容纳1000位贵宾并配有宽敞的落地窗休息区, 是乌鲁木齐五星级酒店中单体面积最大的宴会场所。另外9间高贵宽敞的多功能会议室可满足各类会议的要求，可针对客人的不同需求在会场与时尚餐厅进行转换，整个宴会部可承办不同规格、不同形式的宴会会议，满足不同客人的个性化使用需求。
说起餐饮部的设计与投入，曾先生更是如数家珍。乌鲁木齐希尔顿酒店设有4间不同风味的餐厅和2间风格迥异的酒吧。U咖啡是一个充满活力的全日餐厅，备有世界风味的自助餐和零点菜单，它拥有开放式的4个厨房档口，且包含一个精致的甜点刺身档口，便于自助餐的供应——“这个月的自助餐预订已经都排满了！”源自于美国的品牌文化令当地客人真实感受到了国际顶级酒店管理的魅力，希尔顿对西式美食及本地口味的精确拿捏也同时刺激着食客们争相奔赴，曾先生面对新疆客人对希尔顿的热情，直呼感谢。
曾先生亲自引导我们畅游了更多风格迥异的特色餐厅：华丽的御玺中餐厅以粤菜和中国北方菜为主打，拥有19个风格典雅的包间，餐厅整体装饰以古代工艺精美的雕版印刷术为设计理念；充满异域风情的丝路清真餐厅提供经典穆斯林西域美食——原生态的本地食材，沿袭千年的烹饪手法，他还尤其向我们推荐了这里的酒店自制酸奶；进入大堂吧，则仿佛穿越到了中亚，大气的圆形空间里饰有波光淋漓的彩色玻璃，软垫和美妙花纹的地毯，是客人享受希尔顿招牌下午茶和甜点的完美场所。在所有这些餐厅里，服务人员均穿着体现民族文化的制服，一扫沉闷，曾先生这样对我们介绍自己对酒店制服的设计初衷，“这里的服务行业原先很保守，都是黑和灰，新疆是一个非常热情的地方，虽然是第一次赴任这么远的城市，但我感到和这里有一种源于性格上的亲近，我希望将这种热情展现出来，首先就要发挥在衣着上，让我年轻的同事们漂亮起来，鲜艳而有个性的制服会让客人赏心悦目，也能让员工感到振奋。”
在营建新酒店的领域里，曾先生有着绝对丰富的经验，因此我们往往吃惊于他雷厉风行的高效率，也总是对大幕开启那一刻的完美击掌赞叹。在跟着他领略了这间可称得上美轮美奂的全新希尔顿之后，我们不禁发出疑问：春天落地新疆，从不到十个人的团队、所有软硬件从零开始，到金秋时节全城轰动的精彩亮相，这样的奇迹是如何被创造的？曾先生十分谦逊地表示，这是合作的力量，这份动力中既有同事们的共同努力，也有业主的放手支持。他说起自己同业主方的第一次会面，对方董事长亲自与他倒茶让茶，“您是客人，您先”，“这让我颇受感动”；而说起和新同事的相处，曾先生则露出了更为灿烂的笑容，他确实是执着地将培训视为自己工作中最珍爱的部分。
用心，是曾先生自己和员工共勉的要求。每次新员工报到，都至少会得到一场培训，大家聚集一起，听闻这位“酒店业教头”的职业指导，听他讲述关于“什么时候需要我们，什么时候个人会取得进步，我们如何迎来酒店的成功”的职业展望。对于自己的经营风格，曾先生将Hilton这个响亮的名字分离出Hospitality（服务），Integrity（真诚），Leadership（领导力），Teamwork（团队合作），Ownership（业主管理），Now（当下）六个紧紧相扣的环节，他同所有的员工解释每一个环节的意义，“我们需要在每一次的服务中，将这些希尔顿的内核精神传递给每一位客人”——那么怎样传递呢？在国内，他常被人问道“你们是五星么”这样的问题，而他会作答，“五星并不重要，重要的是我们有心”，对希尔顿员工来说，客人提出的每个问题，都应该立即解决，“用心的微笑会给客人美好的第一印象，任何细微处都用心对待则会让客人记住你的服务”。
珍视员工的潜力，鼓励年轻人发展个性，与此同时，曾先生作为“大家长”，时刻维护着整个酒店运营结构的稳固和始终如一的高标准服务。领导力是他极为强调的，对于每个部门的管理者他有着严格的要求，但却是用一个非常朴实的谚语来传达，“Monkey see，monkey do”这是他当年服兵役时的一句训导，如果用汉语来表达，“以身作则，上行下效”或许是合适的。年轻时在前厅和客房部的工作经验，让他深信完美的服务是酒店运营成功的最真实基础，在培训和日常工作中，他常常言传身教地和属下交流，他习惯于下达精准的任务，但同时也深谙年轻员工的困难和疑惑，对员工不同的诉求保持兼听则明的开放态度。他甚至不介意员工犯错，“发生在酒店和客人之间的很多情况都是突发的，一个新人既可能过于站在酒店的立场，也可能向客人过分妥协，他会感到两难，我鼓励他们向管理者求助，向我求助，我会以自己的经验给他明确的解决思路——即使他已经犯了不当的错误，但经过这一次和我们的交流，他可以最快地明白道理，也成长得更快。”他坦言本地的服务经营理念和希尔顿的标准有一些偏差，但充满感染力的曾先生已经用自己的诚恳和无私扶助推动团队走上了正轨。
选择在新疆自治区喜迎成立六十周年纪念之际宣布开业的乌鲁木齐希尔顿酒店，已经迅速融入了当地蒸蒸日上的发展朝气，接下来，第56届国际小姐中国大赛新疆赛区将在希尔顿展开各项赛程，也会有更多的希尔顿老朋友希望去往新疆这片迷人的土地一探究竟。希尔顿全球在中国新疆的首家酒店无疑是一块金字招牌，它著名的“微笑服务”、品牌倾心为客人营造的持之以恒的安心与宾至如归都满溢着亲切的号召力，而曾金成先生作为一位希尔顿开疆辟土的老将，也将他的丰富经验和满腔热忱毫无吝惜地全副带进了乌鲁木齐希尔顿，带到了充满异域风情的新疆，为古老西域注入了新鲜灵魂，我们无比期待在未来更长久的时光里，希尔顿将同乌鲁木齐一路同行，成为连绵丝路上昼夜通明的风景。
Great Ambition on Accumulated Strength
——Exclusive Interview with Mr. Richard Chan, General Manager of Hilton Urumqi
On September 12th, 2015, the first Hilton Hotel in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province has grandly opened. The vitality and ardor of the city has immediately won great interests and new clients for this global notable hotel brand. On the occasion of its successful opening, we were honored to have Mr. Richard Chan, General Manager of Hilton Urumqi to share Hilton’s new journey. The debut of Hilton Urumqi is a deliberate and significant decision for Hilton Group, and Richard, a Singaporean, has assumed his position farthest in China for the first time. He is well-known for hotel management, especially distinctive training style. All these have added more glamorous color for the exciting opening of Hilton Urumqi.
Contiguous to Xinjiang International Convention & Exhibition Center, the main venue of China-Eurasia Expo. With a total construction area of 70,000 square meters, the hotel has 383 guest rooms in the aggregate. Located in Hongguangshan CBD, it is surrounded by Hongguangshan Ecological Tourism Park. The heart-shaking undulating scenery, the snow-capped mountain and boundless flatland have enormously increased Hilton Urumqi’s charm.
Richard, a gentleman of personality charisma, has influenced people around with his warm smile and high efficiency. Devoting himself into the hotel industry for 29 years, he has accumulated related experience in China for over 20 years, starting from Westin Stamford and Plaza in Singapore, and participating in international hotel management work in different places such as Singapore, Vietnam and Kuala Lumpur. It is worth mentioning that he has an impressive hotel working resume, which includes Saigon Prince Hotel Vietnam, Shangri-La Hotel Beijing and the Eton Hotel Shanghai. In addition, Richard has earned his reputation as a training master in the domestic hotel industry. During his 20 years’ work, he has trained numerous hotel team member in which many of them have already become hotel leaders and some of them even hold the post of General Manager. “Having excellent students all over the world” can be best reflected in him.
Richard adheres to providing guests with high-quality services, building a team with absolute sincerity and managing an outstanding hotel for proprietor. He believes that the success of professional hotels lies in focusing on the details service, looking from the big picture and working diligently and skillfully. Concerning on his appointment, Richard says, “I will do my utmost to ensure the unique high-level service for the hotel guests, bringing brand new management idea to Hilton Urumqi. We believe the high-quality service requirement and accurate market positioning will drive the hotel to excellency.”
Although there are many five-star hotels in Urumqi due to its political, economy and trade prosperity, the marching in of the international hotel brands is still in initial stage. As the most luxurious hotel and the international brand pioneer in Xinjiang Province, Hilton Urumqi has lots of sparkling highlights to mention. No matter from the decoration style, guest room design, to banquet, catering, Hilton Urumqi is establishing a new benchmark in the Xinjiang’s hotel industry. The hotel offers exquisite and marvelous guest rooms with marble-decorated bathroom, 42-inch LCD TV, gorgeous and comfortable bed and a full set of wireless network equipment. The fitness center opens 24 hours, the indoor heated swimming pool as well as spa and yoga center will also be fully opened. The hotel is also accessible from all directions, which guests can easily reach the city center or famous sightseeing places, only 10 miles from Xinjiang International Bazaar and 80 miles from Heaven Lake also noted as Xinjiang Alps.
The hotel also boasts with advanced conference facilities including 3000-square-meter full-functional meeting venue. The venue contains a 1550-square-meter luxurious banquet hall equipped with floor-to-ceiling restroom which can receive 1000 VIP guests, It is the largest banquet venue of monomer area in all five-star hotels in Urumqi. There are another nine spacious multi-functional conference rooms meeting the needs of all kinds of requirement, transferring easily from venue to fashion canteen based on different guests’ demands. The whole banquet department can cater for all kinds of banquets and conferences to meet the personalized using needs of different clients.
When it comes to the design and investing efforts of the catering department, Richard eloquently introduced with great familiarity. Hilton Urumqi sets four distinctive restaurants and two stylistically different bars. U Cafe is a refreshing all-day dining restaurant served with exotic buffet and dish menu. With four open kitchen stalls and an exquisite dessert and sashimi stall, the food are very convenient to take in the restaurant. “The buffet has been fully booked this month! ” Richard said with proud. The brand culture originated from the U.S. has made the local guests experience the charm of international top-notch hotel and the perfect combination of western dishes and local taste has attracted guests coming all the way here. Concerning the keen fond of Hilton by Xinjiang guests, Richard expressed his sincere gratitude.
Richard introduced various featured restaurants in different styles of Hilton Urumqi. Magnificently decorated Yuxi Chinese restaurant has 19 stylish private rooms, mainly providing Cantonese and Northern China cuisine. The decoration design of the whole Chinese restaurant borrows the idea of woodblock printing, an ancient technique. The Silk Road provides classical Muslim delicacies, locally produced natural food cooked by traditional methods with a history of thousands of years. Richard strongly recommended the yogurt made by the hotel. When entering Lobby Bar, it feels like being in Central Asia, round-shape room furnished with colorful glass, along with soft mats and rugs with Persian patterns. It is a perfect place to enjoy famous Hilton afternoon tea and desserts. In all these restaurants, attendants all wear ethnic dress, injecting new vigor into the hotel. Richard introduced his initial design of the hotel uniform, “Previously, Xinjiang’s service industry was very conservative and attendant’s uniforms were only in black and grey. But Xinjiang people are very enthusiastic. Although this is the first time to Xinjiang, Urumqi. I could feel some connections to here. I want to present such passion through our uniforms. Bright customized uniforms not only create a visual pleasant image, but also boost the morale of our employees, making our young attendants look more beautiful.”
Richard has extensive experience in running new hotels. The most impressive and amazing thing about him is his high efficiency and excellent work. After looking around this perfect brand-new hotel, “how could he create such a miracle?” is a question. He only spent several months to launch this hotel in autumn and cause a sensation in the city from kicking off this project in spring with a small team, less than ten people. Richard said modestly, “this is an effort of all stakeholders, including our colleagues and property owners.” He was very touched by the courtesy of the property owner since when they firstly met, the President of the property owner even personally served tea for him. Besides, Richard is also very satisfied with his colleagues and pays close attention to employee training.
Dedication is a requirement of Richard for himself as well as his employees. He would personally train new employees and share his career vision with everyone, such as “when we are needed, when we could make progress and how we could make hotel success.” Richard explains his management style in the brand of HILTON (standing for Hospitality, Integrity, Leadership, Teamwork, Ownership and Now) to all employees. “We will pass Hilton core value onto each guest.” How to do it? In China, Richard frequently receives such questions, “Is your hotel a five-star hotel?” He would reply, “Five-star is not important. Wholehearted service is the most important.” Hilton employees shall immediately answer and solve each question raised by guests. “Wholehearted smile will leave a good impression on guests. Any subtle service will make your guests remember your service.”
Richard values employee’s potential and encourages personalized development. As a “team leader”, he always maintains the stability of hotel management structure and adopts consistent Hilton standard in hotel services. He always emphasizes leadership and poses higher requirements on the managers of each division. “Monkey see, Monkey do” is an instruction that he received in his military service. There are also similar expressions in Chinese. When his was young, he worked at the hotel hall and housekeeping department. From this experience, he believe that perfect service is a foundation for hotel success. In employee training and daily work, he always talks with employees openly and gives accurate instructions. He also understands troubles and confusions that young employees may encounter during their works. He is open for employee’s requests and tolerate employee’s mistakes. “New attendants may encounter many unexpected things in their work. They may not know how to deal with them, compromising or uncompromising? I encourage them to ask helps from managers or me. I will tell them how to solve such issues with my experience, even they had made mistakes. As such, new employees could make progress and grow quickly.” Richard frankly acknowledges that the local service management falls behind with Hilton’s standards. However, Richard helps the team to get on the track with his passion and selfless assistance.
Hilton Urumqi announces its opening on the occasion of celebrating the 60th anniversary of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, quickly integrating into local booming business environment. In the future, the 56thMiss Universe China pageant Xinjiang leg will be held at Hilton. Also, many Hilton’s old friends will visit Xinjiang province—this charming land. As the first Hilton hotel in Xinjiang province, Hilton Urumqi will provide its famous “smile service” and create a safe and convenient environment for guests. Mr. Richard Chan will bring his extensive experience and enthusiasm to Hilton Urumqi and Xinjiang province, injecting new vigor into this ancient and exotic land. Best wishes for Hilton Urumqi and may it a great success on the Silk Road.
