I have now worked in 4 hotels and have had my fair share of hospitality training. My first hotel was The Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City, which was a fabulous experience or at least until the end. However, the first two days of training were a brain-washing session (or at least that's what it seemed like at the time). I've come to determine that is what really breeds devout, loyal, and educated employees. My subsequent trainings at Ritz-Carlton were usually fairly informative and entertaining or at least they had good food and paid attention because I cared for the company as a whole.
My last couple of experiences at the Intercontinental and the Presidential Hotel, however, have been, well, how do you say, lacking at best. I realize part of this has to do with the fact that I'm working and therefore, training, in China. However, in the past three weeks, my "training" at each of these hotels has consisted of being taught how to set a Western dinner table. Not just salad fork, entree fork, entree knife, soup spoon, and desert fork/spoon at top (if even you serve 4 courses, but up to seven or eight course meals. I know not everyone knows this and especially the Chinese since they use chopsticks for everything, but I've been working in hospitality in the WEST for 6 years and was a debutante! I have to correct them most of the time and if they start talking menus, then I definitely have to correct them. So why again am I the one that is supposed to be being trained? Just let me teach it! Ok enough of a rant...
ZHONG GUO - THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
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Archives -- Class and While in Beijing
Aug 27, 2008
Aug 26, 2008
The End of the Olympics
So as everyone knows, the Olympics have ended. The closing ceremonies were Sunday night after the marathon. While I don't think the closing ceremonies were quite as spectacular as the opening ceremony, the closing presentation was still quite impressive.
After hoping everything would "get back to normal", it is sort of a let down. The city is now pretty quiet and everyone is kind of like well now what. This is especially true in my hotel and I would be the entire hotel industry. It's like a ghost town. Granted the Paraolympics are coming up, but I doubt they are going to bring the level of pizazz.
I went to two events during the 16 days: the preliminaries of Women's Diving and the finals of Women's Volleyball. For having not bought any tickets nor even try to purchase any tickets, I think I did pretty well. While I am thankful I was invited to go, I have to admit that I am just a College (well really CAROLINA!) basketball fan and I like/respect NFL football. Other sports just don't really get me all riled up. My friends here got really frustrated with me because I wouldn't go all crazy and cheer either at the events or watching them on TV. And for just about all of y'all, you know how much my mom and I can scream and holler when there's a UNC basketball game on. Speaking of which, football season has started and I'm super excited to start having FUNDAY Sunday in Beijing. They've just opened a new sports bar that has some 65 flat screen TVs. Oh wait, there is a time difference. Boo! No Funday Sunday. Grr...this whole 12 hour time difference is really getting annoying.
This is especially the case as some of you know I'm selling my condo. Trying to get things turned around in any sort of quick fashion is IMPOSSIBLE and super frustrating. Goods news though! I finally got an offer! I can't believe that after 10 years, I will no longer have a home in DC...not that I miss living there per se, but I will miss at least having the option to move back if I got some sort of weird political urge.
In terms of work, the new job is going well. It's a little slow moving, but then again, most everything is in China. It might take 2-3 days for something to get done in the US; it takes 5-7+ days in China.
Other than that, I made fried chicken tonight and it was super yummy! I've also started watching more TV/movies while I've been here. Well, it's not real TV/movies--it's TVs shows and movies I download. One might think I would get caught up on the "new" shows that I didn't have time to watch in MBA school like "Lost" or something. Oh no, not me, I've downloaded almost every episode of "You Can't Do That On Televsion", funny Nickelodeon show from the early eighties, "Hey Dude", another Nick show, and "Tom and Jerry", yep, the cartoon. Do you think my taste in TV says anything about my mentality and how I, obviously, do not want to grow up? Hmmm...ok off to watch the kids on "You Can't Do That On Televsion" get slimed!
After hoping everything would "get back to normal", it is sort of a let down. The city is now pretty quiet and everyone is kind of like well now what. This is especially true in my hotel and I would be the entire hotel industry. It's like a ghost town. Granted the Paraolympics are coming up, but I doubt they are going to bring the level of pizazz.
I went to two events during the 16 days: the preliminaries of Women's Diving and the finals of Women's Volleyball. For having not bought any tickets nor even try to purchase any tickets, I think I did pretty well. While I am thankful I was invited to go, I have to admit that I am just a College (well really CAROLINA!) basketball fan and I like/respect NFL football. Other sports just don't really get me all riled up. My friends here got really frustrated with me because I wouldn't go all crazy and cheer either at the events or watching them on TV. And for just about all of y'all, you know how much my mom and I can scream and holler when there's a UNC basketball game on. Speaking of which, football season has started and I'm super excited to start having FUNDAY Sunday in Beijing. They've just opened a new sports bar that has some 65 flat screen TVs. Oh wait, there is a time difference. Boo! No Funday Sunday. Grr...this whole 12 hour time difference is really getting annoying.
This is especially the case as some of you know I'm selling my condo. Trying to get things turned around in any sort of quick fashion is IMPOSSIBLE and super frustrating. Goods news though! I finally got an offer! I can't believe that after 10 years, I will no longer have a home in DC...not that I miss living there per se, but I will miss at least having the option to move back if I got some sort of weird political urge.
In terms of work, the new job is going well. It's a little slow moving, but then again, most everything is in China. It might take 2-3 days for something to get done in the US; it takes 5-7+ days in China.
Other than that, I made fried chicken tonight and it was super yummy! I've also started watching more TV/movies while I've been here. Well, it's not real TV/movies--it's TVs shows and movies I download. One might think I would get caught up on the "new" shows that I didn't have time to watch in MBA school like "Lost" or something. Oh no, not me, I've downloaded almost every episode of "You Can't Do That On Televsion", funny Nickelodeon show from the early eighties, "Hey Dude", another Nick show, and "Tom and Jerry", yep, the cartoon. Do you think my taste in TV says anything about my mentality and how I, obviously, do not want to grow up? Hmmm...ok off to watch the kids on "You Can't Do That On Televsion" get slimed!
Aug 21, 2008
rssHugger
Joined a RSS feeding service, rssHugger.com. I'm trying to boost traffic to my blog. They have this ranking mechanism designed to help drive people to your site. We'll see how it goes. Not to mention, I'd like to get the weird meat ads from Google off the site. I love some meat, but I don't want to advertise about it!
The new job is going great. I can drink coffee at my desk which we know makes me especially happy.
Will write more later...
Aug 14, 2008
The meat market
In other news, I made spaghetti tonight and on Sunday, I made spaghetti carbonara. I think I have almost cooked more here in china with a hot plate and 1 frying pan than I ever did in my Grandmaw's house on the farm. My excuse for not cooking there was there wasn't enough kitchen space and I didn't have enough time. The time thing--that was probably based on reality--work and MBA school. The lack of counter space though, honestly, have you seen the pics of my "kitchen" here in Beijing? I don't even have a counter.
What makes the spaghetti even more entertaining, however, is trying to buy ground beef in china. I've become more brave since I first arrived--that's for sure. So I know the words for beef, pork, and chicken or at least how to say them, but I am illiterate in china so doing anything especially grocery shopping can be hard. I gathered up the nerve and hoped the grocery people wouldn't pull a fast one on me and went to the meat counter where all of the ground stuff was. I asked if it was beef and they said no and showed me where the beef counter was across the way. So far, so good, except I don't know the word for ground beef, but I ask one of the ladies in Chinese, "do you have any of "that" kind of beef while pointing to the ground meat section on the other side of the store?" Miraculously, she some how understands what I’m talking about and then asks how much. To which I reply with cupped hands, I don't know this much. She starts to cut off a HUGE chunk of this tenderloin sitting in front of her and I say, "whoa whoa, it's just for me" and she cuts off a little less. So I think they have other types of ground stuff, she'll take it and put it in the grinded and I’ll be on my way. WRONG...she sits there for 15 minutes with a giant knife and hand chops, grinds, whatever the beef. So, of course, I also stand there for 15 minutes as the ONLY white person thinking of buying beef period much less ground (or at least that's what it looks like) and actually getting her make it for me. After she is done, she takes my freshly chopped beef and puts it in a plastic bag, loosely ties the top, and slaps a price tag on it. For the bargain price of $2, I got about 3/4 of a pound of freshly ground something.
Needless to say, I was a little nervous when I brought it out to cook it tonight. Fortunately, china, in the cities, believes in food coloring meat...so it's not grey but red like normal. I put it in the pan and brown it. Normally ground beef has some amount of fat. I tell you what not this stuff! It was almost entirely lean and it tasted pretty good too! It would have tasted just like what I and my mom make at home if I had been able to find real oregano and basil. The only kind of oregano they had was ground...not flakes. Weird. Now I’m never going to know, thank goodness, what type of meat I really, really got, but I’m so proud of myself for braving the grocery store's meat sections, cooking it, and eating it!
I might not be roughing it Africa style, but for those of you who know what a picky eater I USED to be, I think I’m doing AWESOME! Although to be fair, I ordered a beef noodle dish yesterday and it ended up having a little bit of beef and a lot of beef tendons (like the tough, fatty, icky stuff) and I didn't eat the tendons.
What makes the spaghetti even more entertaining, however, is trying to buy ground beef in china. I've become more brave since I first arrived--that's for sure. So I know the words for beef, pork, and chicken or at least how to say them, but I am illiterate in china so doing anything especially grocery shopping can be hard. I gathered up the nerve and hoped the grocery people wouldn't pull a fast one on me and went to the meat counter where all of the ground stuff was. I asked if it was beef and they said no and showed me where the beef counter was across the way. So far, so good, except I don't know the word for ground beef, but I ask one of the ladies in Chinese, "do you have any of "that" kind of beef while pointing to the ground meat section on the other side of the store?" Miraculously, she some how understands what I’m talking about and then asks how much. To which I reply with cupped hands, I don't know this much. She starts to cut off a HUGE chunk of this tenderloin sitting in front of her and I say, "whoa whoa, it's just for me" and she cuts off a little less. So I think they have other types of ground stuff, she'll take it and put it in the grinded and I’ll be on my way. WRONG...she sits there for 15 minutes with a giant knife and hand chops, grinds, whatever the beef. So, of course, I also stand there for 15 minutes as the ONLY white person thinking of buying beef period much less ground (or at least that's what it looks like) and actually getting her make it for me. After she is done, she takes my freshly chopped beef and puts it in a plastic bag, loosely ties the top, and slaps a price tag on it. For the bargain price of $2, I got about 3/4 of a pound of freshly ground something.
Needless to say, I was a little nervous when I brought it out to cook it tonight. Fortunately, china, in the cities, believes in food coloring meat...so it's not grey but red like normal. I put it in the pan and brown it. Normally ground beef has some amount of fat. I tell you what not this stuff! It was almost entirely lean and it tasted pretty good too! It would have tasted just like what I and my mom make at home if I had been able to find real oregano and basil. The only kind of oregano they had was ground...not flakes. Weird. Now I’m never going to know, thank goodness, what type of meat I really, really got, but I’m so proud of myself for braving the grocery store's meat sections, cooking it, and eating it!
I might not be roughing it Africa style, but for those of you who know what a picky eater I USED to be, I think I’m doing AWESOME! Although to be fair, I ordered a beef noodle dish yesterday and it ended up having a little bit of beef and a lot of beef tendons (like the tough, fatty, icky stuff) and I didn't eat the tendons.
Aug 13, 2008
I have a title - E-Commerce Manager!
I now have an official title of E-commerce manager. Don't I sound fancy? I had a meeting today with the Director of Sales and Marketing (DOSM) and a couple of the staff. I even know what I think I’ll be trying to do in a little over the next couple of months. It's a little overwhelming somewhat as it is basically what I did for 3 years at Ritz-Carlton (RCPC) minus the cold calling. For those not in hotels, this might not make much sense, but bear with me. A hotel's rates can be found, obviously, all over the internet and how they get there is through the global distribution system (GDS). There are several systems that comprise the GDS and each has to have rates loaded separately. Then you have negotiated rates with individual companies, etc. And they have to be loaded individually as well. As you can see if you have a lot of accounts, this can get exponentially bigger and bigger because you have to make sure it is right for each one. If it's not, then a person can book a different rate on a different site and this usually results in a loss of revenue (as sites will cut rates if you're not careful). Every hotel wants rate parity--the same rate across the board. All of this is really important especially when the hotel is super busy and you want to have to control of which rates are sold (yield management). Ok boring....
The main issue at this hotel is that none of the rates are the same and the revenue management team does not use yield management (i.e. someone could probably have booked a room at the presidential for 1 night for $100 during the Olympics when all rooms were supposed to be sold for 15 nights at a rate of $300). As you can see, this can get expensive if you don't practice yield management. A loss of $200 over 15 nights equals $3000 or 21000rmb. So my task is
The main issue at this hotel is that none of the rates are the same and the revenue management team does not use yield management (i.e. someone could probably have booked a room at the presidential for 1 night for $100 during the Olympics when all rooms were supposed to be sold for 15 nights at a rate of $300). As you can see, this can get expensive if you don't practice yield management. A loss of $200 over 15 nights equals $3000 or 21000rmb. So my task is
- To get all rates across the board the same (which is very time consuming because you have to look every site up)
- Teach someone on the team everything there is to know about requests for proposals (RFPs), rate loading, yield management, the gds, and account management
- Sort through the hotel's website contract which I think has been violated, then get a new vendor to take over the website -- side note, I’m in china, right? The Presidential's website is only available in English that’s right no Chinese version for a Chinese locally owned and operated hotel
- Establish an online booking mechanism
- Configure a useful database (which means combining a dozen excel files and the hotel's antiquated reservation/group booking software information) -- side note a lot of the staff doesn't even use the antiquated software meaning they don't book the business in the computer software and the contact information isn't there either
- Establish standard operating procedures for everything I do
- Try to teach the revenue team yield management and what makes sense to book and how to build/layer rates to meet revenue targets and not make customers angry
- Plus lots more I can't even think of
Aug 9, 2008
the opening ceremonies and a new J-O-B!
While I was not at the actual opening ceremonies at the crow's nest, I, of course, am in China and it was really so freaking amazing! I've never been a huge Olympics fan. I always liked them, of course, but I can't name the cities they've been in or who has won medals, etc. Frankly, what I remember from most of them is that the cities were never really prepared. Well, Beijing is prepared and totally did it up to the nines. Seeing the ceremonies on TV was probably better than being there because of all of the panoramic shots around the city. I've never seen so many fireworks. Then there were the visual wonders and performances. Whoever directed and orchestrated it all needs to be given a gold medal. I hope everyone watches it on TV or over the internet! Oh and just as a side not, a French guy asked the Chinese girl that was out with us to sit down during her national anthem and said everyone has one--why are you standing? What is that!!! Stupid French! In other news, I got a new job! No more standing the lobby for eight hours a day! I'll be working at the presidential hotel (www.thepresidentialhotel.com) as the marketing intern. The hotel is locally owned and operated, which might prove to have its own challenges. I'll be setting up all of their e-marketing and e-commerce, which should be challenging, but is actual work! I'm probably going to wonder in a couple of weeks why I thought being busy/stressed was better than being bored. This also means I won't have to wear crazy makeup and won't have to wear my hair in a bun--the whole heavily made-up marmish look was just too much. This also means I won't get to interact with the USA basketball ball team--I have proof too. Check out the pic! I'm on the nba.com site! Although after meeting all of them on Wednesday and Thursday, I have to say I’m not really impressed. Coach k just isn't nice and the rest of them weren't really either. Not that I needed further proof coach k was out to lunch--he is a dookie after all. Sorry for my duke friends. Although I will say that Sheldon Williams, even if he was a dookie, was super nice and I called him Deron. Oops. Still can't figure out why he's here though. He's not on the US team. All of the member's of the women's team were super super nice and good gracious, they are enormous. I know I’m close to being a midget, but these girls were out of control. They were the size of 2 of me! Still wondering why I’m the runt in the family...should I wonder if I was I adopted?
Also, apparently Russia and Georgia are fighting. Putin looked happy as a clam at the ceremonies. Does anyone else think that's weird?
Aug 7, 2008
I'm on the nba.com website!
Yep, that's right! I've got a picture (well kind of) with Michael Redd and I didn't even have to ask for it! Things have been picking up with the Olympics. Obviously, we've had some important people check into the hotel. Have met a few of them...most I didn't really have a clue who they were. I'm a college basketball fan! Go Tarheels! We all know WHO is coaching the USA team this year...and I’ll pull for the USA team but it's going to be hard pulling for Coach K....
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