On Wednesday March 10^th 2021, the Division of Business and Management welcomed visitors from the St. Regis Hotel in Zhuhai. The hotel, located in Wanzai (湾仔) area facing Macao, is part of the Marriott International ultra-luxury hotel brand St. Regis which originated in New York City in 1904. After a campus tour, the St. Regis team led by Mr. Alexander Chalk, General Manager of the St. Regis Zhuhai, met with Prof. Steve Liu, Chair Professor and Dean of DBM, as well as other DBM faculty and administrative members. Both parties discussed the current and future mutually beneficial cooperation. The meeting was then followed by a guest lecture from Mr. Chalk to faculty members and students.

Group photo (From left: Dr. Darren Weng, Ms. Iris Zheng, Mr. Alex Chalk, Prof. Steve Liu, Dr. Youssef, Dr. Shawn Tang)

The topic of the lecture is “Hospitality Business Strategy and Recovery疫情之下奢华品牌酒店的发展和应对策略”. During the talk, Mr. Chalk took the time to introduce the post-Covid-19 recovery strategy of the Marriott International Group in the world and in China. First, he explained the main strategy of Marriott International through the Kaplan and Norton Balanced Scorecard. He emphasizes the top to bottom integration aspect of the strategy, meaning that performances and actions from the CEO to frontline employees in hotels are all interconnected, and are all oriented toward the same company goal: making Marriott Hotels the favorite hotels of their customers. Then, Mr. Chalk presented some data showing the opportunity represented by the Chinese market and the development of the Marriott International Group in China. Finally, Mr. Chalk took the time to answer questions from the audience and meet students and staff for a brief discussion.

Prof. Steve Liu presents a souvenir to Mr. Alex Chalk

Mr. Chalk in the lecture

In the audience, in addition to students from all majors, there were students from the Strategic Management course taught this semester by Dr. Bing Chan and Dr. Kim Lim Tan. This semester, students from this course will be involved in a joint project with the St. Regis Zhuhai. Within their group project, they will have to analyze the business environment in Zhuhai and propose a post-Covid-19 strategy for the development of the hotel. They will therefore be able to apply theoretical concepts learned in class to a real business situation. Their project will lead them to meet the St. Regis team and get actual data to better refine their group report strategy. All in all, the visit was a good stepping-stone for future professional projects in class, and the guest’s talk provided an interesting insight into the luxury hotel industry.  

Mr. Chalk answers students' questions

Reporters: Dr. Youssef Elhaoussine