Wanda makes its mark

The general manager of Wanda Realm Harbin, Roger Marcz, is a Swiss hotelier with many years of experience overseas.

Marcz proudly notes that the majority of staff at the Wanda Realm Harbin is recruited locally, and this has been a great help from the start.

"I only had seven other people with me five month ago, and now we are an organization with more than 350 employees.

"For a city like Harbin, where temperatures reach a low of minus 20 to minus 30 C in winter, it takes a local to know exactly what to offer our guests to warm them up inside and out. This is one of the biggest perks of recruiting locally," Marcz says.

The positive results from the company's market penetration in cities in the early stages of urbanization have given Wanda confidence to expand the business into more crowded markets.

Liu says the company is certainly not just concentrating on 'cities from rural areas' and will adjust its approach when it sees fit.

In order to compete with international hotel brands such as the Starwood group, which also covets the same markets, "cultural embedding is the key".

Liu explains: "Our products reflect our cultural heritage in so many aspects. It distinguishes us and makes us unique."

This regional expertise is reflected, for example, in the floor-length glass installation in the foyer of the Wanda Realm Harbin. The snowflakes in the aesthetics reflect Harbin's reputation as the "Ice City" of China.

"On that note, we also think it's important for our employees to understand our culture, while at the same time respecting other cultures."

Sometimes, the devil may be in the details, and the less observant may not even detect the difference.

"For instance, our concierge may make and hold eye-contact and shake hands when greeting Western guests. They may try less direct eye-contact and bow slightly when greeting Chinese guests."

With another eight hotels to open in the last quarter of 2013, it goes without saying that Wanda is definitely a dark-horse contender to watch closely in the Chinese hotel market.