In recent days, Philipp Graf von Hardenberg, executive chairman and president of THANYAPURA Sport & Health Resorts and Hotels was invited to attend the “2021 Anhui Development Forum of International Cultural & Creative Industries and the opening ceremony of Huangshan Tourism Festival”. This event was jointly organized by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Anhui Province, Huangshan Municipal People’s Government and Sino-International Entrepreneurs Federation, and it was grandly held in Huangshan City. Leading Hospitality and Service Companies participated in the dialogues: Reimagining the Tourism Industry. The guests talked about the new trend of tourism, the localization of overseas brands, and how to revitalize the hotel industry in the post epidemic era.
1. People serving people: The original intention of the hotel industry
Digitization is a hot topic in the world today. Both the epidemic and the development of science and technology have promoted the application of digitization in all areas of life, which is inevitable and positive. In Philipp’s view, while digitizing, the technology shouldn’t take away from the human touch in our business. The hospitality industry lives from humans serving humans. In any case, technology with a human touch is really important. Digitization should not and will not completely replace interpersonal communication between guest and employees. With the help of technology, we should think about how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the interaction between guests and employees by digitally optimizing services and communication, strengthen relationships and exchanging information.
2. Become a localized hotel brand
“THANYAPURA wants to become Chinese THANYAPURA Sports & Health Resorts and Hotels, not THANYAPURA operations in China.” This is the voice of THANYAPURA. No matter where the hotel brand comes from, localizing its services and facilities is the foundation for a successful business. It is particularly important to establish an experienced local professional team, clarify the details of services and facilities, better integrate into local culture and traditions, maintain its brand uniqueness and soul, and reflect the internal spirit and value of the brand.
3. Revitalizing the hotel and tourism industry in the post epidemic era
After the epidemic, the performance of hotels has generally declined. To be able to revitalize the hotel industry in the post epidemic era, Philipp added: “In this situation, the hotel and managers need to keep employees motivated at all times and treat employees fairly. For the guests, it’s all about how we create an environment where guests feel safe. We should give guests the feeling that we really care about their health and wellbeing and get really prepared in all aspects of our operations rather than just provide some masks.”
4. Always focus on Sustainable Development
THANYAPURA it has written “sustainability” into its genes since the birth of the brand. For example, as early as five years ago, the THANYAPURA Sports and Health Resort in Phuket has joined the “Phuket plastic elimination plan”, eliminating bottled water and other plastic products to minimize damage to the environment.
As Huangshan is being built into a world-class eco-tourism destination, Philipp shared his suggestions: Very often you experience, that the urge of bring new businesses into a region destroyed the nature people are coming for. We should not excessively pursue speed and efficiency and destroy the ecological environment because of the development of new undertakings. As enterprises and managers, we should make the corporate culture and ecological environment coexist.”
