Interview with Charlie Zha | General Manager Finalist

Leaving his home to pursue hospitality in 1995, Charlie Zha’s journey has spanned three continents. After studying in Switzerland, and beginning his career in the United States, he was eventually compelled to make his return to China in 2013. After serving as Hotel Manager in Tianjin, Charlie had the monumental task of opening and managing the new Ritz-Carlton. How did he do it? Read on…

1.       Please give us a short introduction about you and your career background

Born and raised in Shanghai, as a child I loved to be with people and often got great satisfaction out of pleasing others. Eventually, I decided that a career in hospitality was the right path for me, and in 1995 I left to pursue this passion at Cesar Ritz Colleges in Switzerland.

Fast forward to after my second internship at The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta in 1997, I decided to study for a bachelor degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, before re-joining the Ritz-Carlton Brand in 1999. I started as the Assistant In-Room-Dining Manager at the Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach, Florida. I then worked in 4 more Ritz-Carlton hotels in the US including Marina Del Rey in California, Naples in Florida and later in Key Biscayne in Miami where I served as the Director of Hotel Operations. In 2012, I made one of my proudest decisions, to make the move back to my home country of China. After serving as the Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Portman, and Ritz-Carlton Tianjin, I was named as General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton, Nanjing Hotel in 2016. Working side-by-side with over 400 talented ladies and gentlemen, we successfully opened this new hotel in June 2020, during the turbulent period caused by Covid-19. Despite these challenges, we were able to immediately become a luxury hotel market leader, making a 35% profit within the first month.

2.       Can you share how you have decided to lead your team and your property through this recent turbulent period?

I believe the most important thing in leading a hotel team is building a strong ‘people first’ culture. Our employees are the most important resource in our commitment to providing luxury service to our guests. As a result, we need to take great care of them, especially during difficult times. The city of Nanjing got hit hard by the pandemic in late July, 2020. Our business dropped from 90% occupancy to single digits within in a week. Moving into August, many other hotels had decided to put employees on non-paid leave or minimum wage after clearing all their annual leave, since business was still not picking up. I made a decision to stop all contract service labour, such as loss prevention, stewarding and public cleaning attendants, and instead used our own employees from other departments to execute these job responsibilities. After a thorough retraining process, we were able to keep our staff employed during this time. Luckily the business is now nearly back to normal, and I am proud we were able to get through without impacting the income of our valued employees.

3.       What is it you are most proud of in your career to date?

The proudest moment in my career was to open The Ritz-Carlton Nanjing on June 28th, 2020 as the first Chinese American General Manager in The Ritz-Carlton group.

4.       Can you share what you believe is key in leading a successful hotel today?

First and foremost, as leaders, we need to have a vision and communicate it clearly to all our employees at a ground level and execute this vision moving in one direction. Secondly, we need to be fair in all the decisions we make and gain the trust and respect of our team. Lastly, we need to have compassion for all people, including our employees, our guests and everyone in our community. We need to act as a role model for others, especially for those of us in the service business. Leading a luxury hotel requires even more, as we need to stay relevant and in tune with the local market and keep thinking forward to drive innovation. We need to be the trend setters, not followers. We don’t want to give people what they want, we want to give people what they don’t even know they want yet…

5.       How are you and your team tackling the challenges that face the industry around hiring great people post pandemic?

The most important thing is to build a great team, thereby fostering an outstanding reputation as both a hotel and an employer. Our staff are vital in attracting new hoteliers to choose us, and we want people to dream of working with the amazing team at our hotel.

We do not simply hire, we select. We select only the best of the best candidates and make sure they are a good fit for the roles that they are applying for. We must know that they have the natural talent for these roles and the ability to succeed in providing exceptional service. We then take care to nurture their growth and maximize their talent in their job roles, so that our team members are continuously learning, while also enjoying their work.

6.       Aside from being a hotelier, what is your passion?

My passion is to travel around the world. I love to experience new places, immersing myself in a different culture and cuisine. (Especially the cuisine 😋)

7.       What is the motto that you live by?

“Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that people want to come back to see you doing it again, and they will bring their friends as well…” Walt Disney