SITTING on the edge of a cozy sofa, Patrick Low, a well-groomed Malaysian hotelier, glances at the fancy ceiling of the Futian Shangri-La, Shenzhen lobby where he served as general manager and the group’s South China area manager. Now he strives to operate it as a city manager would, because, in his words, a hotel is not merely a place for accommodation and relaxation, it is a “vertical city” that requires wholehearted investment.

“A hotel is a vertical city, whatever you can find in a city you can find in the hotel. To me a city is like a horizontal platform while in a hotel the society operates vertically in the building. It is a city within a hotel. What we have to do is to make sure every resident enjoys a quality life,” Low said.

A man with 28 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Low relocated to Futian CBD in 2014 after working as the vice president for sales and marketing in northern China for Shangri-La Hotel Group.

Upon his arrival, Low made changes to the hotel by further involving the local community and stressing more staff training and detail management.

 

 

To Low, one of the essences of the Shangri-La Group’s corporate culture is giving back. He initiated “Breast Awareness Day” on Oct. 25, which was a part of the hotel’s Pink October event. Low said he would join the hotel’s most popular event “Ride for Hope” next year to help promote the idea of healthy living.

“The best way to make a contribution to the society is to contribute, bring awareness and participate. Our philosophy is that good hospitality comes from caring people,” Low said.

“During my stay in Shenzhen I have learned that breast cancer has become the number one killer disease among Shenzhen women. The situation has become very alarming. To fight alongside local patients, we talked to Shenzhen Pink Ribbon Breast Care Center and other local partners to raise awareness.”

Besides organizing charity affairs, Low and his team also worked with Luohu’s Dongying School, which mainly offers education to students from families of immigrant workers. “We invest and participate in students’ education and development. We also help build the infrastructure of the school, providing them with a learning environment and other sustainable programs,” he added.

 

 

To continue supporting the development of the city and reach his goal of making the hotel the first choice for guests, Low and his team members have to stay fresh and resourceful, which can be hard to achieve.

“To be successful in today’s complex and ever-changing business environment, Shangri-La launched Strategy Leadership and Emerging Leader’s program,” Low said. “It provides our colleagues with the mindset, skill and behaviors to succeed as Shangri-La leaders, and to be competitive in the market,” Low said.

“To unleash the potential of our colleagues and create an environment where our colleagues may achieve career goal, Shangri-La Academy was established in 2014 and has been rebranded as Shangri-La Global Academy in 2016, to speed up and intensify our colleagues’ development, and provide creative and effective solutions to address evolving organizational needs.”

“For instance, when we hire people, we look at attitude and train on skill methodology. Internal applicants will be given first priority. All applicants are feeling motivated to join Shangri-La throughout the exceptional recruitment experience. Having a good attitude, you are more open to learn. An open mindset allows you to be flexible, and by doing more you will leave your comfort zone,” he added.

Low said staff members go through a “six leadership competence” training. They have transformed learning development from the classroom to self learning.

“We encourage our colleagues to be empowered, so they don’t have to be followed or supervised. In fact, we do not have supervisors, instead, we have service leaders,” he explained.

Low motivates his staff to challenge themselves and participate in whatever interests them. They aim to explore their potential, which strengthens the whole team. Not long ago, the hotel was named the best business hotel in Shenzhen by the Business Travel Asia Pacific Awards — an Oscar-like award for the hospitality industry — for the fifth consecutive year.

“All of our achievements are the result of our detail-oriented working style,” said Low, who pays close attention to every-day details.

“Detail defines my work as the minimum requirement. When I pay attention to the detail I’m actually thinking from the guests’ shoes. It makes me concerned about whether a guest notices differences in the lights, the flowers or the music when stepping in the hotel. Those are the minimum detail requirements.”

In order to ensure that the operation of the “vertical city” is on the right track, Low also leads his team in taking innovative measures, such as offering door-to-door food and beverage service and allowing some guests to have free portable Wi-Fi.

“Just like the way the civil servants improve their services for the citizens, we look at the needs of the people in the hotel and local community. We make adjustments according to their needs and make sure our ‘citizens’ live a balanced life and can enjoy their time both on weekdays and weekends,” he said.

The complexity and arduousness of managing a small “city” may exceed Low’s expectation, but what he has done and is doing has surely been rewarding, much like what he sees beyond the ceiling — a sharing society.