Opened by co-founder Stephane de Montgros and managing director Simon Hansson Yu, the strongest applicants for 20 categories from Greater China were announced, including the Unsung Heroes and Rising Stars (students) categories.
The Hotelier Awards annual awards, which celebrate staff who go the extra mile to make hotel stays memorable, celebrated their Greater China semi-final earlier this week on July 16. The live-streamed industry evening featured champagne, canapés and spectacular views at the newly opened Popinjays at The Murray, Hong Kong.
Opened by co-founder Stephane de Montgros and managing director Simon Hansson Yu, the strongest applicants for 20 categories from Greater China were announced, including the Unsung Heroes and Rising Stars (students) categories.
The very first Hotelier Awards were focused on Greater China and held in Shanghai five years ago. Since then Asia hoteliers were added with the two locations hosted on the same night, the last two years in Macau.
“This year the development is that the Asia awards are hosted separately from the Greater China awards,” said de Montgros, who held the Asia semi-finals in Bangkok and the Asia finals in Singapore.
“Tonight we are very targeted on Greater China. It is such a big market with so many openings they need their own competition. The growth is so substantial there is a massive lack of talent. The Hotelier Awards tell the stories of those who have had a beautiful career in the industry and we want to tell their stories to inspire the next generation to join the hotel industry.”
The finals will take place in Shanghai, October 30, at the St Regis Jingan at the same time as the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM).
In attendance were a number of the judges, who work respectively with JLL-Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants, HOK, CieCAS and the China Tourism Academy, as well as previous winners and sponsors.
While most categories featured five finalists, there were eight in the star category of general managers: Kurt Macher of The Temple House and Phil Smith of Fairmont, both in Chengdu; Blandine Cressard of Residence G and Nicholas Tse of JW Marriot Bao’an, both in Shenzhen; Michael Schmitt of the Conrad Xiamen; Bernhard Wimmer of Midtown Shangri-La in Hangzhou; and Richard Hatter of Hotel ICON and Thomas Hoeborn of the Conrad, both in Hong Kong.
Unsung Hero finalists included a staff dormitory supervisor, graphic designer, doorman, stewarding manager and executive floor manager, while Rising Star finalists spanned students from Les Roches Jin Jiang, Blue Mountain Suzhou and Beijing Hospitality Institute.
“It has been inspiring,” said managing director of Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel and The St Regis Macao, previous General Manager of the Year Greater China award winner and current judge Janet McNab, of the Rising Stars category.
“It’s not always about the numbers, it’s also about these young people we leave an impression on. Their stories talked about their experiences in hotels leading to why they want to be in the industry. It’s so important to give them the foundation for being better leaders in the future. They may be coming up in a different world to the one I did, but the fundamentals of hospitality still resonate with them.”
Coming up in the future, the awards will expand to include South Asia, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, while in 2020 the awards will expand into the USA with a new brand name.