"Hospitality is about people and communication. I enjoy meeting and communicating with people from different backgrounds in different places every day."
Last week I had an interview with Mr. Magdy Halim, general manager of the famed Radisson Collection Hotel, Yangtze Shanghai. Magdy has 27 successful years in hospitality to date, 11 of them in China. Read on to know more.
1. Tell us about your journey, how did it all start?
I began my journey in hospitality 27 years ago. The initial focus was on hotel sales and marketing. I started off at the call center as trainee when I was a university student. It gave me great opportunity to understand the industry. Later in the early stage of my career as I accumulated more experience along the way, I also got to work at different multinational brands and had attained various awards. To date I have 11 successful years in China as general manager & cluster general manager. I believe that hospitality industry is not a job but a lifestyle.
2. What will you try to accomplish in this hotel?
Radisson Collection Hotel, Yangtze Shanghai is a famed hotel. As general manager I have its most precious quality already which is the staff and guests loyalty. I will lead the hotel to integrate with current trend to deliver even better guest experience.
3. What motivates you about working in hospitality?
Hospitality is about people and communication. I enjoy meeting and communicating with people from different backgrounds in different places every day.
4. How would you define the purpose of a hotel?
A place to make unforgettable memories. A hotel should not just be a place to stay or to eat but also to encounter wonderful moments in life.
5. In your opinion, what factors contribute to excellent customer service?
Awareness is the key. Hotel staff provides the service with a heart. Sincere service makes guests comfortable and secure. During the epidemic while wearing masks and social distancing were required, our staff could still provide a sincere service which made our guests feel good, and they saw the smiles behind our masks.
6. What is your leadership style?
I am a very straightforward and transparent person, I believe in trust and understanding with the team and the hotel owner.
7. How would you motivate the staff of this hotel to try their very best each day in work?
Staff satisfaction and recognition are fundamental in boosting their sense of belonging, as it will reflect on their service to customers. Reward, recognize, train and develop staff are important. When hotel achieves great performance, we celebrate with everyone. We take care of staff family members, too. We would invite them to join in hotel activities during special family days such as Mother’s day and Children’s day.
8. Please walk us through a typical day at work. How do you prioritize your tasks?
For a normal working day I wake up at 6:30, have breakfast, go walk around public areas, lobby, and restaurant. Go to the office around 8:00 to review emails, reports and prepare morning briefing. Hold briefing at 9:00. Afterwards hotel tours and inspections. I write down the points to share with concerned departments. In the afternoon if I don’t have trainings, activities, meetings, I join call with sales team to get to know more with clients. Or I review strategies and discuss with the team. Evenings review emails, sign papers. I always set the guest related things as priorities.
9. Can you read financial statements?
Yes. As a general manager, the financial figure of hotel is a very critical factor for me to evaluate hotel performance and to reach greater achievement. Especially since I came from sales and marketing background, as a figure oriented department financial figures like profit margin is always the key indicator for me to evaluate my work and to guide my next step.
10. Can you give me an example of a time in the last 12 months when you read something or took a class about hospitality?
I read the book “The Ride of a Lifetime” by Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger. In the book he shares the ideas and values he embraced to reinvent the famous company. I have learned from it what is necessary to be a leader in hospitality.
11. Have you handled a budget before? How did you divide up the funds?
Yes. I need to review the performances of the current year and years before, set forecast for next year and build budget based on those factors.
12. What are some of the new trends the hotel is witnessing?
E-commerce and digital economy and other new business models are booming. The mobile platform and new social media channels became the focus among all industries. How the social media and new channels can be used; how to find the appropriate platform and audience; how to create the proper products according to the persona and customer behavior, preference; and also how to improve the conversion rate of potential flow, all above are the topics we need to learn.
Almost all the hotels are trying to find a way to take benefits from the social media and channels, trying to embrace and adapt to the changes in the market, now the live broadcasting and takeout definitely became the trend. However, in my opinion, not all the hotels are suitable for live broadcasting or takeout business; we cannot follow blindly. If we do not have a proper approach or attractive content, then the live broadcasting will not generate the result we expected. Different platform and media channel has different audience, we need to study and analyze carefully in order to find our target audience. Once we find our target customer, we can tailor our products and contents according to their preference, to catch their attention and convert the flow into our profits.
13. How will you react to a negative review or complaint from a guest(s) while staying at the hotel?
I talk with them to understand and improve at once.
14. How would you deal with a difficult customer?
In my opinion, we do not have difficult customers. When fit on their shoes and try to understand the situation as a guest, then you will understand why and what they are expecting. Once we get to know the expectations of customers then we will have solutions right away.
15. What attractions would you recommend to hotel guests?
I have different suggestion for different guests as they have different characters. For family and young generation I would recommend Disneyland as this is the most attractive place for family and young generations. For couple I would say to walk on The Bund and enjoy nice coffee along the Huangpu River as it could create beautiful memory for them.
16. How do you stay current with industry trends？
I travel to experience other hotels and industry pioneers to get inspiration. Social media is another way.
17. What do you see yourself in 5 years？
I believe I will stay on in China for the coming 5 years as well, definitely the journey will continue. I may move to other cities to encounter new adventures.
18. Could you tell us about some new initiatives that the hotel has recently unveiled?
The hotel had been opened since 1991; we decided to renovate the rooms. Renovation will come with advanced facilities for today’s market.
19. What are your interests outside of work?
I like travel and badminton. Travel is the time for me to relax; it offers me a chance to explore the world and different parts of China. Badminton is a new interest I discovered lately. I practice with my friends after work.
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