Nowhere is the strength of the economy felt more immediately than in the hotel and restaurant industry. Insiders are predicting thousands of closures as the financial crisis deepens, with people working in this sector having good reason to be nervous about their jobs. However, there will still be opportunities around, particularly for those with the kind of winning personality that is so prized in this industry.
The newly formed Swire Hotels will be opening two new hotels in Hong Kong next year, one at Taikoo Shing and one at Pacific Place shopping complex. The company will be recruiting 500 new staff and, as up to 250 of these will be frontline workers, it is already on the lookout for candidates who can demonstrate a natural affinity for customers.
Dean Winter, senior manager of hotel operations for Swire Hotels, said the hotels would have a distinctly warm, 'unstuffy' style and that a candidate with the right personality would be valued more than one with 10 years' experience in the industry.
'We would consider taking people from other industries if they have the right attitude, the right personality, the right sense of fun, spontaneity and spark that guests respond to. If someone comes with those tools in their box, it is a lot easier to train and educate them to deliver the kind of service we are looking for,' he said.
Mr Winter said service in the hotel industry had become 'robotic' and some regular guests were tired of receiving an identical service in every hotel in every country where they stayed.
'Leading hotels have done extremely well in training and re-educating, but there isn't a great deal of innovation in training and as a result there is a slightly homogenous service style,' he said.