Well here I am in Hong Kong airport, and what an adventure it's been. Last night the whole of IHG Asia Pacific were out in force on the pirate ship, in full regalia...Arrrrr. I called it a night early though I have to admit. Lame I know but it all caught up with me. Today was a bit slower paced than usual, but meeting the chairman of owners in Asia Pacific was interesting.
He spoke about the fact that Beijing had witnessed a 10% drop in occupancy across its hotels in the run up to the Olympics and that things were only just getting back on track. He also said that, because of the current economic crisis, he was trying to negotiate an extension with IHG on the deadline they have been given of 2010 to refurbish all its old Holiday Inns across China. It was really interesting to see some of the discussions that go on between owners and their management operations.
Crossing the border back into China was also an interesting experience as they have a law which means only four people can be in a car that crosses back into Hong Kong, so David Jerome, head of Corporate Social Responsibility at IHG, had to get out and walk across the border. He took a wrong turning and ended up lost, looking desperately for a way out. When eventually he found Information they waved him away and there were several doors to choose from ("I didn't wanna pick the wrong one!") In the end he eventually decided to follow the pack of Chinese people heading through a particular door and made it back to the car unscathed. Pretty funny though.
And so that brings me to the end of my Chinese travel tales...Hope you've enjoyed sharing some of the discoveries and look out for a fuller piece on hotel development in China in the coming weeks in Caterer.
Xie Xie! (That's thank you!)
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