Meet Rolanda Zhu | 2022 General Manager Finalist

Having set her sights on working within the hospitality industry from an early age, Rolanda Zhu has since devoted decades of her career to hotels. Now Area General Manager at Accor Greater China, Jiangsu Region, Rolanda unveils her thoughts and ideas on what is key in leading a hotel today, what the next few years in the hospitality sector holds, and more!

Please share a short introduction about you and your career.

From the very beginning of choosing my major in college, I had already set my sights on learning Hospitality Management. Ever since then, I have devoted decades of my career to the hotel industry. Over the years, my career has enabled me to travel to hotels in a number of different cities; from Nanjing, Kunming and Suzhou to Shenyang, Chengdu, Hefei and more. Just as a dandelion floats through the air, I’ve had the pleasure of exploring different places in China. No matter where I am, I truly feel that I am doing the most romantic type of work, and this feeling keeps me enthusiastic, motivated, and grateful for my career.

In 2009, I was working as the Resident Manager at Sofitel Chengdu and Pullman Wuxi. At the end of 2014, I had the pleasure of joining the Pullman Nanjing Lukou Airport hotel and was responsible for pre-opening operations. In early 2017, I officially became the General Manager of Pullman Nanjing Lukou Airport. Since then, I have continued to grow in my career with Accor, and I am honoured to now hold my current position as Area General Manager of Accor Greater China, Jiangsu Region.

What best practices have you implemented to manage the stop-and-go pandemic situation in China?

Over the past two years, the hotel industry has been severely impacted by the constantly changing situation of the pandemic. In order to increase revenue, I led my team to actively develop diversified sales channels and organised all hotel staff in order to ensure we all worked together in a cohesive manner. We also launched a food delivery service that allowed for restaurant dishes and chef specials to be available via takeaway. Through continuously adjusting our services and offerings, we were able to quickly adapt to the changing market.

During the pandemic, we also sold takeaway food in order to provide thousands of airport employees and international flight staff with more food and beverage options.

Due to the pandemic, concerns for safety and hygiene became of utmost importance. So, in order to ensure the physical and mental health of our guests, the hotel implemented a strict "ALL SAFE” cleaning and hygiene program in accordance with Accor’s guidelines.

The ALL SAFE initiative included an updated safety and hygiene training programme for staff, more stringent standards of cleanliness, new guest contact measures, MICE protocols and enhanced food safety practices. These measures were developed with the help of Bureau Veritas, a recognised world leader in testing, inspections and certification services.

Furthermore, in order to strengthen operational norms and procedures for cleaning, hygiene and food safety procedures, we are proud to have also been able to provide a pandemic prevention kit for every guest staying at the hotel. The kit contains two masks, two disinfectant wipes, one hand sanitizer and one disinfectant spray.

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

In response to 21 Planet Project – a health-focused, natural, low-carbon and innovative concept that we follow at the hotel – and feeling inspired by a series of Long Di paintings, I took on the role as fashion designer and created fashionable clothing out of recycled guest room sheets. I led the hotel sales team to host and present a wonderful show, the Pullman Art Night Appreciation Cocktail Party, which turned out to be a great success.

With the health and safety of our guests and staff our top priority, we introduced an Automated External Defibrillator in 2019. This has enabled the hotel to take the lead in establishing the world's leading safety first aid system.

Additionally, throughout the course of my career to date, I have won many awards that I am extremely grateful for and proud of, including:

The 2016 Golden Bottle Award for Best Professional Manager in the Global Hospitality Industry

The 2021 China Hotel Menduner Awards - Best Female Leadership of China

Another achievement for which I am extremely proud of, and grateful for, is my promotion because I became the first female Area General Manager of Accor Greater China. I hope to be a good role model for my son and I hope my son is proud of me.

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

Everyone is equal regardless of rank or profession. In the workplace, it is important to not make clear distinctions between superiors and subordinates; mutual respect is an important foundation for any business and clear communication can improve job efficiency.

Additionally, I often share some of the company's work projects and visionary plans with my team and invite them to make suggestions and contribute ideas on how to continuously improve the hotel's daily operations. I believe that by involving more of the team in improving hotel operations, it allows them to gain a much stronger sense of belonging and continues gradually strengthen team cohesion. Not only this, but everyone is eager to feel a sense of achievement, this is inherent to all hoteliers. So, I feel that it is important to ensure we continue to offer praise and encouragement to the team regularly.  

What do you think the next few years hold for the hospitality sector and its continued recovery?

The impact of the pandemic on the hospitality industry has been significant. Although all areas have fully begun the resumption of work and production, the timing of a full recovery for the hospitality industry remains unclear. With the pandemic, every trip is a gamble. What is important is that we continue to be inspired, and to be creative, in order to see the positive opportunities around us.

In addition to this, the financial loss caused by the pandemic has been huge, resulting in many young people who love to travel being unable to fulfill their desire to do so. I believe that with time, domestic travel will increase quickly, but international travel will be set to recover gradually and in an orderly manner.

The hotel industry will see many changes after the pandemic, alongside many new business opportunities. The customer base and consumer needs of hotels are gradually changing. For large hotel groups, the transformation is not an easy one, but developing products that can adapt to future markets is something that must be introduced quickly.

Watching market trends, introducing new products, leading the development of customer consumption values and improving services to cultivate guest loyalty are all necessary measures and solutions for evolution at present.

Aside from being a hotelier, what is your passion?

Meeting new friends, staying curious and keeping up with life’s trends.

What is the motto that you live by?

“Nothing is impossible.”