Shangri-La Hotels - Essay Example

This issue of the Chinese employees being shy about making executive decisions even in cases where they are given the power to do was becoming even more emphasized now that western hoteliers were coming to town. Apart from that, wages are being driven up by the new hotels arriving here and poaching their employees. This added to the new challenges the hotel was already having. Not only were the new hoteliers raising the standards with regard to human resource, especially frontline personnel, but they were also a risk in that they were now driving employee turnover rates for Shangri-La Hotels which prior to this were always low and way below the industry average.

Started in the 1971 by a Malaysians-Chinese tycoon, the name of the hotel means eternal youth, peace and tranquility. This is one tradition that Shangri-La Hotels has tried to live by since its inception in 1971. The Shangri-La Hotels has expanded over the years and by 2006, it was the biggest hotel in luxury hotels subsector in south Asia. Although the Shangri-La Hotels has continued to expand its business elsewhere, it has maintained its growth in the East Asian market and especially in China.

China had the best and favorable economic conditions which inspired growth due to the growing urban wages as the Chinese economy booming since the 1080s. as a result, the hospitality sector was being boomed as more tourists, both local and international increased demand for hospitality services. This helped the firms to protect itself from the economic recession that hit South Asia in 1997-1998 because during this time China was spared from the Asian economic recession and thus Shangri-La Hotels, having placed its foundation mainly in China was in a safe haven.

In its priority, Shangri-La Hotels wants to make sure that it is able to give the best services to the customers. This is challenged by a number of