Interview: Shangri-La Vice President Of Sales And Marketing Marina Kleiman

Hong Kong – Luxury hotel company Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is expanding rapidly in China, with more than a dozen hotels expected to open within the next few years. It also is gaining ground outside of the Asia/Pacific region, with properties under development in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Marina Kleiman, Shangri-La's vice president of sales and marketing, recently spoke here with Business Travel News lodging editor Michael B. Baker about Shangri-La's growth strategy and how expanding corporate travel within China will affect the company in the coming years.

What business trends are you seeing this year?

We see a positive trend this year, from meeting with our top banking and finance clients. Many things were delayed, like [initial public offerings], in previous years; you see a huge IPO rush now, so this will create more travel. Definitely we see a recovery. We're always looking for new business sources and to develop new clients, because there is a rate of attrition in very mature accounts. You cannot rely on existing business only, so from the corporate sector, we're looking for opportunities, and we have very energized and strategic teams located all over the world. We have seen growth in group business. In the first two months of this year, it's low double-digit growth, while transient programs are in single-digit growth.

Have you been adding to your sales team?

We have the same regional offices, but we have larger teams and more focused teams. In Dubai, we have more staff, and now more in India. We also have a very strong staff and a satellite office in New Delhi. In the U.S., so many people have home offices because it's so spread out. New York is our key office, and we have people working in so many different states. We continue adding where our needs are. If a travel manager has to deal with somebody who barks and doesn't answer emails, it doesn't matter how great your hotel is. The relationship starts from the moment we meet with our clients. This international team's task really is to make sure the experience starts from the moment we visit the offices. We never go empty-handed. We have the latest collateral and presentation updates to make sure we meet the clients' expectations. The service doesn't begin when you check into a five-star hotel; it's when we step into your office.

What's your growth outlook?

We plan to have 100 hotels by 2015. We see huge potential for our openings in London, Nanjing and Tianjin. London is very important to us, because it's our third property in Europe, so corporate buyers based in Europe can understand the brand and experience it instead of having feedback from their travel managers in the region. We have announced Rome is in the pipeline. Nanjing and Tianjin are very important secondary and tertiary cities in China that support our primary market, and the price is almost at the same level. Corporate travel continues to be project-driven, so if it's a specific project or a city that has a key industry, you will have a huge influx of business because of the practice and projects they have there.

With China's business travel spending projected to outpace the United States within a few years, how big a role does Chinese corporate travel play for you?

In the United States, we don't have so much exposure, in terms of having the property at your doorstep—we have properties in Toronto and Vancouver—but in this part of the world, our recognition is high. China is where we have almost 50 percent of our hotel inventory. Shangri-La is considered an Asian brand and known as a home away from home. That's why Shangri-La is so relevant to Asian travelers, because they know we have Mandarin-speaking staff and they can have congee for breakfast and all the basic things they need. We welcome all of our guests with hot tea, which is very Asian. We have fresh fruit in the rooms, and if you're a Golden Circle member you have amenity choices, like cookies and milk in the evening.

To what level is Chinese business travel managed?

China, to be honest, is still in the infancy stages of using travel tools. Even the [request-for-proposals] tools are mostly manually negotiated on Excel sheets, and then it's loaded into the Lanyon system in the New York office. Different regions negotiate locally, and then we summarize all bids into Lanyon. In many cases, travel managers may not have access to Lanyon themselves.

What's the outlook for your headquarters city?

Hong Kong is the New York of Asia. It's very cosmopolitan. It has everything. It's very safe, and things are very practical. Space is the only limitation we have. It's still very relevant in terms of being the finance center of Asia. China is taking more of a relevant position, and Shanghai has been a big center as well, but in Hong Kong, you cannot have enough great hotels because it is the stopover, and the taxation is very low, so everything makes sense to have business based here.

What do corporate travelers demand from your hotels?

They want connectivity—complimentary high-speed Internet. We give that. Despite the recovery, companies have learned to save in travel. Once you learn to cut fat, you don't go back to taking the whole buffet table. Complimentary Internet is a huge savings, because nobody travels with one gadget anymore, and when you go to hotels that don't have it, if you have three or four devices, you would need to pay for each one.

What about the buyers?

One of the key questions is about our [corporate social responsibility] initiatives and how these translate in what we do, how we operate and how we grow the communities in which we serve. We are very CSR-focused, so we have the answers to a huge number of questions. Even some finance clients are asking about our supply chain—not just what we do but whom we do business with. It really matters, especially for the people traveling, to whom it's important to have a moral and emotional connection with where they go. That's a huge adjustment as well, to make sure they understand. We always did a lot of CSR, but we never shared so much of what we are doing. Asian hospitality is usually very humble. Also, when we negotiate our pricing in this part of the world, it's so reasonable in terms of what you get for what you pay. It's a huge difference from Europe.

What are the features of a Traders property versus a Shangri-La property?

Traders is our four-star brand of the group, which is about getting the basics right. It's a vibrant brand. Traders in Kuala Lumpur is out of this world. At the Petronas Towers, we have a bar with a pool on the rooftop that is to die for. Some are more "wow" than others, but all of them are perfectly fine. At Traders the English level is great, it's neat, it's clean, there's complimentary high-speed Internet, there's fitness equipment and always a good location at a great price.