More Chinese-speaking staff, Chinese food and Chinese menus; these among the areas where Marriott International chairman Bill Marriott belives his hotel group needs to focus on in order to attract visitors from the world’s largest country.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Bill Marriott, the son of company founder J. Willard Marriott, explained how the company was adapting for the growing middle class, especially from China.
Citing the fact that 100 million Chinese travelled out of the country in 2013, with the number expected to double by 2020, he said Marriott had launched programmes to teach more desk clerks to speak Mandarin.
“We've got to get ready for them, and we've got to provide them with good Chinese food and menus in Chinese, especially in gateway cities like San Francisco, New York and Chicago," he added.
"They want to shop, they want to go downtown, and they spend two to three times more on a trip more than we spend."
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In its recent ‘Chinese International Travel Monitor 2014’ report, Hotels.com presented research showing that Chinese overseas travellers were spending an average of US$1,086 per day, excluding accommodation. 52% of this is being spent on shopping, 18% on sightseeing and 14% on dining.
The same report also suggested that, when staying at hotels abroad, Chinese travellers are paying the most for their accommodation in Dubai, at an average of US US $299.65 per night.
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