Detail work

The Sandalwood – Beijing Marriott Executive Apartments takes its name from the China Red Sandalwood Museum, its neighbor and the first private museum in China dedicated to the collection, research and display of red sandalwood art and classical furniture. Located near Beijing Capital International Airport and minutes from Chaoyang’s China Central Place office and shopping complex, The Sandalwood aims to provide travelers with a comfortable place for both short- and long-term stays in the capital. Chris Shum, The Sandalwood’s general manager, spoke with China Economic Review about what the property has to offer.
 
Q: How would you compare The Sandalwood with its competition?
 
A: First and foremost, we are a serviced apartment with an international hotel chain background. That definitely gives us a broader base of customers, considering that we have more than 3,200 Marriott properties worldwide, which helps us to reach cusotmers from all over the world. From a global perspective, I think we have an advantage. And obviously, the product itself speaks a lot. We pride ourselves in the long tradition of Marriott, of friendly customer service. Our loyalty program is also available in this property, meaning that whether you are a long-stay or short-stay guest, you still get Marriott Rewards points when you stay with us. That’s a definite advantage. You can also see that we look at a lot of details, from lighting, to the size of the apartments, to all sorts of amenities available to our guests. We’re certainly setting a new standard in the market. And obviously, we partnered with our owner, which has a very solid background. Their vision for the success of the property combined with the expertise of our management will certainly play a strong part in marketing our product.
 
Q: What stands out about the apartment units?
 
A: I think we run the most spacious serviced apartments in Beijing, combined with a very contemporary design. Our designer is Karen Wang, who is quite famous within the field, and that gives us an advantage in selling them. And then, of course, we have a more structured brand standard in terms of requirements – of room size, of certain infrastructure requirements. Every serviced apartment needs to have certain things in order to qualify to be a Marriott Executive Apartment. For instance, we always need two phone lines for every room. And we always need an air-con system that can run cool air and warm air at the same time. We need a microwave, a real grill oven, a washer and dryer, and a dishwasher. You can always expect the same things to be available in a Marriott Executive Apartment. That’s the advantage of being in a branded hotel.
 
Q: Other than the larger rooms and appliances, what does a serviced apartment offer that you can’t get at a regular hotel?
 
A: Obviously, you don’t expect to find a big ballroom in a serviced apartment. But we have all the necessary facilities in order to satisfy our guests. For breakfast, we have a residents’ lounge, which you normally don’t find in a hotel. In a hotel you might find an executive lounge, but sometimes you need to be an elite member or pay a premium to enjoy those facilities. Also, if you are a family traveling together, the Marriott Executive Apartment product certainly gives you the space you need, instead of cramming you into a room with two queen-sized beds where you hardly have space for your luggage. Even our one-bedroom apartments are 100 square meters, which is very generous. And if people are traveling half for leisure and half for business – say, the husband going to offices, visiting customers, and the wife is staying in the room – there are also advantages. If they wake up at different times during the day, they can mind their own business without interrupting the other person. Considering the size of the room, you can even invite your business partners to come into the apartment for small-scale business discussions.
 
Q: And who are your customers?
 
A: Our aim in terms of business is to look at the long-stay segment – meaning expats who are appointed to China, and people from overseas. We have a pretty even distribution of overseas clients. But having said that, we cannot overlook the potential of the local market. Considering Beijing is the capital, a lot of local customers from other provinces decide to move to Beijing, either because of business reasons, or because of schooling reasons of their children. Staying in a serviced apartment, you don’t have to worry about the hassles that you come across when you rent an outside apartment. We provide towels, we provide toilet tissues and we provide housekeeping services. So basically, bring your suitcase and you’re settled. To answer your question in a more precise manner, obviously we’re looking at people who will be staying for 6-12 months, or even a little bit longer, in Beijing, for expat appointments. But we also look at other clientele in order to balance our client base.
 
Q: Can you talk a bit about the design of the units?
 
A: Our interior design concept is very simple: It needs to be homey. So we expect our guests, when they enter their apartment units, to find very comfortable, homey lighting. You’ll find something that is really practical and useful. I’m not trying to be too critical, but sometimes when you go to a hip hotel, you find something with an extraordinary design, but in reality it’s not very useful or practical. We put a lot of practicality into the design elements, and we want everything to look comfortable. We need to have enough lighting if someone wants to read. And we have lounge chairs, so you can lie down, read a book or watch TV. Then we mixed in very spacious closets, in order to cater to different seasons in the city. The idea was not to impose too much Beijing culture into the design. It’s more about a homey feeling that can help a new guest to settle in a little bit quicker into the city.
 
Q: What’s your role in the day-to-day operations? Are you mostly in the office?
 
A: I’m not really a pencil pusher. In fact, talking to guests is one of the prerequisites of management. You need to talk to customers directly in order to receive their feedback first-hand, which is often very constructive. They tell you where you’re doing well, where you need improvement. That’s why I always spend my mornings in the residents’ lounge and chat to our long-stay and short-stay guests. It helps to run the operation in a more precise way. When I talk to our guests, I don’t just ask, "how are you, sir?" or "how is your day, sir?" These questions are too generic. I always follow up questions like: Is everything working well? How is the water temperature in the shower? Is your internet working well? How is the room temperature as the seasons change? With these kinds of questions, I can probe into what they really want to tell me. If you simply ask "how are you this morning?" they say, "I’m fine." This type of answer won’t help you help them much. It’s about paying attention to the details.