《大酒店》五月封面故事：逆风而行 向阳而生 --专访上海环球港凯悦酒店总经理唐沢雨寧女士

<Grand Hotels> May Issue Cover Story:

Marching against the Wind towards the Sun

-- Exclusive Interview with Ms. Amane Karazawa, General Manager of Hyatt Regency Shanghai Global Harbor

逆风而行 向阳而生

——专访上海环球港凯悦酒店总经理唐沢雨寧女士

The month of May presents us with clear blue sky and marshmallow-like clouds. Green shoots have climbed on trees to hear birds sing. The frigid winter has feared us, but the spring still arrived in time. At this cheering moment, Grand Hotels Media toured to Hyatt Regency Shanghai Global Harbor for an exclusive interview with its General Manager, Ms. Amane Karazawa.

Ms. Karazawa was appointed as the General Manager of Hyatt Regency Shanghai Global Harbor on October 16, 2019, fully in charge of hotel management and operations. “I was thrilled to start a new journey with this vigorous and innovative family,” Ms. Karazawa commented on her appointment. Since 2004, when Ms. Karazawa began her career in the hospitality industry, she has celebrated her 17th anniversary in her beloved field, while years of experience has bestowed her confidence and strength to manage every link of hotel operations.

Hyatt Regency Shanghai Global Harbor, the first Hyatt Regency hotel in Putuo District, Shanghai, is strategically located alongside the Global Harbor, merely a 30-minute drive from either Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport, High-speed Train Station, or the National Exhibition & Convention Center. The hotel has a direct entrance to Jinshajiang Road Station for Metro Line 3, 4 and 13, where guests can conveniently transport to multiple commercial districts and tourist sights. The forty-nine floor Shanghai Global Harbor, where the hotel is located, is the largest shopping and leisure complexes in Shanghai, a major landmark in the Puxi area, witnessing tremendous visitor and capital flows. The superior geographical location serves as part of the core competitiveness of the hotel, especially during the pandemic, when Global Harbor has helped attracted most of the hotel guests. “Under the current circumstance, it is unlikely that our hotel can attract a large number of business travelers. Meanwhile, our advantages do not stand out comparing to resorts in suburban areas. Thus, leveraging the advantage of our geographical location, I would like to position our hotel as a destination for ‘mini-vacations in the city,’ attracting guests from neighborhoods and suburbs with one-stop services of food, beverage, entertainment and accommodation. Global Harbor has maintained normal operation recently, so we leverage its traffic to improve occupancy rate, while guests can enjoy convenient services, creating a win-win situation for all three parties,” Ms. Karazawa explained.

Since the beginning of 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, all walks of life have been suffering a major attack. The hotel sector is as well encountering unprecedented challenges. Yet the downturn in the industry has not shaded the brightness of Hyatt Regency Shanghai Global Harbor. For internal management, the hotel has positioned the safety and health of guests and employees as top priority, demonstrating its professionalism. For external business operation, the hotel proactively explores business channels in segmented markets in the face of a tightened market, retaining competitiveness in the market with innovative marketing modes. Acute in market observation, Ms. Karazawa found that live-streaming in hotels is on the rise amid the pandemic, yet the contents lack of diversity. Ms. Karazawa took a unique approach to host the live-streaming shows in person, showcasing sincerity and consideration and closing the gap between the hotel and its guests. The “General Manager’s first live-streaming show” enjoyed great popularity and helped the hotel attract a lot of attention. In addition, the hit of the TV series I Will Find You a Better Home helped hotel promotion. The General Manager promptly introduced the afternoon tea menu that appeared in the TV series. “The TV series I Will Find You a Better Home has scenes filmed in our hotel. I’ve been coordinating our promotion activities with the broadcast to maximize the efficiency,” said Ms. Karazawa. Her comments have indicated that every tactic of her marketing strategies was given deep thoughts and has paid back with immediate results. During the interview, Ms. Karazawa impressed us with her concept of “directing flows”. “When the market was stable, the hotel has a sufficient guest flow for operation, so there was no need to spend extra time on attracting additional traffic. However, under the current circumstance of a tightened market, the hotel is losing its original guest flow, and therefore we have to direct extra flows from other markets to make up for the gap,” Ms. Karazawa explained. The cross-border cooperation between Hyatt Regency Shanghai Global Harbor and teamLab Borderless Shanghai is an implementation of the “directing flows” concept. 

Amid the pandemic, guests value not only comfortable hotel rooms and excellent facilities but also a sense of security. In consideration of guests’ concerns, the hotel has launched a series of protective measures. Guests entering the hotel will have their body temperature measured and green codes of registered body condition checked. Public areas in the hotel are disinfected every two hours to ensure cleanliness and safety. Air conditionals in each room operate independently, and windows are installed in all rooms for efficient ventilation. For catering services, protective measures are strengthened for the hotel buffet to reduce contacts between guests, and diners’ contact information is registered for follow-up. In terms of conferences, Hyatt Regency Shanghai Global Harbor affords 2,600-square-meter conference and event space for guest activities.

On The 13th Grand Hotels Media Award Ceremony in 2019, Ms. Karazawa was awarded the Outstanding Leader of Year, an honor well deserved. Her extraordinary leadership has shined amid the pandemic, when the hotel preserves its order under her management. Ms. Karazawa attaches great importance to the creativity and sense of belongings of hotel employees. In her perspective, the creativity of employees drives the development of a hotel. “A hotel will encounter various challenges in different stages of its development. Only with the pursuit of excellence can we overcome the obstacles. Mutual respect, trust and unity build my team. Mutual understandings can only be reached when we give employees maximum respect and trust, and then their potentials and creativity can be inspired to form a superior hotel management team,” she said.

Ms. Karazawa has been an old friend of Grand Hotels Media. In our previous conversations with her, she had inspired us with the perfectionism she attached to work. This time, facing a tough environment, her confidence and calmness have set our minds at ease. When asked about the future development of the hotel, she responded with an open mind that “we would take this period facing the pandemic as a short break for preparation. We are given a chance to retrospect and review the past and innovate and prepare for the future. At the same time, I would like to avail this interview to encourage our peers in the hospitality industry with our experience at Hyatt Regency Shanghai Global Harbor. The hotel sector is suffering an unprecedented downturn, but we will certainly survive and revive with joined hands.” Only adversity can unveil limits. And only when we go against the wind towards the sun, can we clear the sky and receive the sunlight.