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Sphere 33
Our Unique Touches
Excellence in service is not the only ingredient
in HWL Group’s hotels’ winning formula. Every
HWL Group’s hotel also has its own unique
touches that charm the regular guests, or
specifically attract particular customers.
Mr Walter Tarca has been living in the serviced
suite in the Harbour Plaza North Point for almost
four years since 2009. Even when his nearby office
relocated from the nearby Taikoo Place to as far
as Tsim Sha Tsui across the harbour in 2010, he
confesses, “I looked around the serviced suites
and residential apartments in other areas, but
could not find anywhere like Harbour Plaza North
Point.” He is especially impressed by the live band
at the hotel and frequently visits the Point Lobby
Lounge after work to relax, and compliments the
live band as “probably the best hotel band” he has
ever seen, anywhere in the world. This view is
also shared by many local celebrities, actors and
politicians who have become regular visitors.
In addition, many famous singers having
concerts in the Hong Kong Coliseum have made
a habit of staying in nearby luxury at the Harbour
Plaza Metropolis. Geographical convenience
is not, however, the only reason why famous
singers choose to stay there. Harbour Plaza
Metropolis has also developed and nurtured
enviable relationships with many of the most
famous Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas’ music
and entertainment companies. Harbour Plaza
Metropolis also thoroughly understands the
needs of the performing artistes, and is especially
sophisticated in crowd and fan control. This
celebrity hotel also provides facilities well-suited
to the needs of the famous. The private rooms at
Senzuru Japanese restaurant offer artistes a cosy
private environment for media interviews and
for a quiet getaway from their adoring fans and
the regular crowds. It has now almost become a
tradition that entertainment companies would
use the Harbour Plaza Metropolis’ Promenade
restaurant as their favourite post-concert venue for
dinner buffet celebrations.
The strong tie between performance artistes
and the Harbour Plaza Metropolis is also clearly
demonstrated by the fruitful collaboration project
for the hotel’s 10th anniversary last year. Hong
Kong singing diva, Kelly Chen, led 10 other
talented Hong Kong celebrity artistes to design
10
unique rooms for the “Home Sweet Home”
promotion. As a result, guests and fans can stay in
the room, personally designed by their favourite
local artistes and experience the celebrity’s taste
and personal flair at first hand.
Heroes Behind the Scenes
However seamless, effortless and discrete HWL
Group’s hotels’ services appear, the beyond the
call of duty services provided by the hotel’s staff
are carefully cultivated and based on meticulous,
bespoke training programmes, ceaseless
refinements and daily enhancements.
Assistant Manager of Café 8 Degrees at the
Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees Hotel, Lee Kai Wah (Ah
Wah) has a specialism of recognising guests and
remembering every guest’s name and particular
preferences. Other than his sincere attitude and
hard work, he also acquired his professionalism
through training programmes from the
Corporate office, where he refined skills on giving
instructions, communicating and coaching with
his colleagues. Ah Wah understands that to offer
world class, premier service, true teamwork is
essential. He smiles as he says, “A human touch
is the most important element in establishing
genuine customer relationships and maintaining
guest loyalty.”
Rainbow Tam, Team Leader of the Nagomi
restaurant of Harbour Grand Hong Kong
remarkably attained over 250 guest compliments
in 2012, and was the proud receiver of Annual
Outstanding Service Star 2012. Her secret of
success is similar to Ah Wah - to serve from the
heart. Her confident warm smile is backed by
continuous effort and preparation, by taking
careful notes of guests’ information such as names,
habits, preferred tables, dietary preferences and
number of visits to the hotel. In-house specific
training also enhances the quality of the services
she can deliver. Further, training courses have
helped her to communicate with guests more
effectively and provide professional advice on dish
choices to guests from around the world.
“
A human
touch
is the
most important
element in
establishing
genuine
customer
relationships
and maintaining
guest loyalty
.”
