How do you use the Web and email to promote your brand ans conduct loyalty marketing?
We have a database in our Beijing headquarters with about one million contacts for short promotional emails. Then we have the VIP card that is like a club — holders pay CNY38 and then get all the benefits of the card. And then there is our group loyalty card; about 70% of guests hold one or the other. We use train advertising in soft sleepers.
Every property has a billboard supplied by us at no charge showing the national reservation number — our hotels are a key advertising vehicle.
How does Super 8 develop and retain its staff?
Hotel staff in China have a lot of options. Our number one priority is good trained labor. The hotel business is all about people and is really growing fast in China — the economy sector is growing fast. We aim to be a healthy place to work. Our values come from the USA but are applied to China. Firstly, love one's country — support the Olympics. Secondly put people first emphasizing the service side — how we deal with customers and staff.
Super 8 was founded in 1974 in the north midwest USA. In states such as Kansas with a small and dispersed population people are naturally friendly and interested in people and our philosophy stems from that.
We place great emphasis on training — we train a lot. Certainly some people will then go to other places but this does not worry us, overall it will make the industry stronger. We think of ourselves as a graduate school hotel trainees. In our training facility in Dalian — which is in a Super 8 property, by the way — we train 200 people every week. We train on every aspect of hotel operations from being a GM to engineering, and of course we put great emphasis on safety and security. We run the trainer courses for people who will run courses in their own properties. And training is an essential part of becoming one of our franchisees.