近期DB采访了广州文华东方酒店总经理Anthony Tyler先生。 Tyler先生谈到他与家人在广州的生活，另外他希望通过酒店的优质服务为酒店打造口碑，在此期间，酒店还精心准备招待加拿大总理。
DB talked to Mr. Anthony Tyler, general manager of the Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou. Tyler discussed settling into the flower city with his family, his plan to build on the hotel’s reputation for excellent service, and hosting the Canadian Prime Minister.
DB：之前您是在上海浦东文华东方酒店工作。而现在您已经来广州半年，那么对比上海，您觉得广州怎么样？
Before you came to Guangzhou you were at the Mandarin Oriental Pudong. Now that you have been in Guangzhou for half a year, how have you found it? What is it like compared to Shanghai?
广州是个充满激情的地方，我和家人都非常喜欢。有些人问我上海和广州的差异，在我看来，除了语言，食物和天气明显不同之外，它们在很多方面都很相像。同样有着悠久的历史，都经过上一代人不断改造和发展，逐渐进入现代化，铸就辉煌的城市。所以从这个意义上说，我觉得这两个城市更多是相似的。
We very much like Guangzhou, both me and my family. We’ve settled in very nicely and thoroughly enjoyed the place. It’s an exciting city. People are always asking me to point out the differences between the two cities. I guess besides language, food, and weather, which are fairly obvious, there are more similarities than there are differences. Both are cities with a rich history, and both are cities that over the last generation have really reinvented themselves and developed, modernized, and achieved an awful lot. So in that sense I feel that the two cities are similar.
从经营酒店的角度来比较广州和上海，最大的区别在于上海的物业吸引了大量的金融账户，很多商业倾向于金融服务。在广州，金融服务给酒店带来一些业务，但它不像在上海那样构成整体业务的重要组成部分。酒店的拥有各行各业的客户 – 贸易，科技，甚至游戏行业。在广州客户构成更加复合多样。
From the perspective of running a hotel in Guangzhou or Shanghai, the biggest difference was that, due to its location, the property in Shanghai attracted a lot of financial accounts, a lot of business gravitated around financial services. Here the financial services give us some business, but it’s not as big a component of our overall business as it was in Shanghai. We have a broader breadth of industries represented among our clients – trading, tech, even industries like gaming. It’s a little bit of a bigger mix here.
DB：您的家人在广州住的习惯吗？
How is your family enjoying Guangzhou?
他们完全适应广州的生活。孩子们很高兴去新学校上课，并且很乐意认识新的同学和老师。 我的妻子也很享受在广州的新生活，现在她在校园结交了很多朋友，并且拥有非常活跃的社交圈。
They’ve settled in very well. The children are very much dependent on how happy they are at school, and fortunately both kids are delighted with their school, teachers, and friends. My wife is very happy as well. She enjoys her new life in Guangzhou, and through the school has made a lot of friends and gotten a very active social circle fast. Yes, the family is very happy.
DB：您打算如何通过酒店的优质服务为酒店打造口碑？
What is your plan to build the hotel’s reputation for excellent service?
我很感谢前总经理对酒店的精心管理，让接管工作不至于太困难。酒店毗邻华南地区最顶级的商场太古汇。在我看来，酒店只要更深入的做好细节方面的工作。继续响应客户不断变化的需求。目前来说，酒店的一切建设和运营都很好，所以不会有真正意义上的重大转变。
I’m fortunate in the sense that I took over a hotel that had been very well established by the previous general manager, and is adjacent to the best mall in Southern China, TaiKoo Hui. In my case, it’s just taking it to the next level, fine-tuning areas and continuing to respond to the ever-evolving demands of our clients. There isn’t really any major transformation needed in the sense that what I inherited was extremely well set up and worked very well.
在中国，酒店面临的最大挑战其实是客户不断发展的需求。市场日益完善，人们拿来比较的点越来越深入。文华酒店现在是与世界上最好的酒店在比较，而不仅仅是与广州顶尖的，或者中国顶尖的酒店对比。客户对酒店的期望不断提高，特别是对服务水平。现在对一个产业来说，提供完美的实物产品要比提供服务容易得多 – 所以我们才更关注提供服务。尽管我们已经有设备功能完善的酒店，但是提供更细致的服务会让酒店更加完美。我的目标是继续过去五年的工作，在此基础上不断提高服务水平。
I think the biggest challenge for us all in China is that the needs of the clients are evolving so fast. The market is getting more refined by the day. The points of comparison are more and more refined as well. We’re now being compared to the best in the world, and not just the best in China or the best in Guangzhou. With that comes an expectation on us to keep raising the bar and elevating the standards, in particular from a service delivery standpoint. It’s much easier now in the industry to offer a great physical product than it is to offer the soft side – the service delivery piece – and that’s what we focus on here. We’re fortunate to have a great physical product, but we want to compliment that with great service. My goal is to continue on what has been done for the past five years, and continue to refine and elevate the level of service delivery.
DB：加拿大总理Justin Trudeau上个月访华时住在广州文华东方酒店。您有跟他见面吗？接待像加拿大总理这样的客人是怎样的感受呢？
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou last month. Were you able to meet him? What was it like hosting someone like Trudeau?
有的。他对酒店的同事非常友好，允许我们与他合影，还抽出时间与房间里的每一位同事握手，感谢酒店为他提供周到的服务。我们非常荣幸能够被选为主宾馆，接待加拿大代表团，特别是接待Trudeau总理。
I was. He met a number of us, actually. He was very generous with his time and allowed us to have a group photograph with him, prior to which he made time to shake hands with every single colleague in the room and thanked us for an enjoyable stay. It was a great privilege for the hotel to host Prime Minister Trudeau, and we were delighted to be chosen as the host hotel for their delegation.
对酒店来说，唯一不同的是加强安全限制。若是从提供服务的角度来看，其实和其他客人没有区别。客人对酒店的期望是相同的，我们提供的服务和履行的职责也不变。能够接待Trudeau总理和他的团队，对我们来说很荣幸，而且与他们合作也很愉快。
For us, operationally speaking, the only difference is their security constraints. From a pure service delivery standpoint it’s no different to any other guest. The expectations are the same, the obligations on us to deliver are the same. Prime Minister Trudeau and his team were a pleasure to work with, and really made our job easy.
DB：在您的工作生活中，有什么有趣或难忘的经历可以与我们分享吗？
Are there any interesting or memorable experiences in your working life that you can share with us?
我一直觉得工作之外的生活更有趣。选择酒店行业，是因为我希望走出瑞士，到别处旅行，认识这个世界。在旅程中最激动人心的部分，就是能够遇到不同的人，经历不同情景，如果没有选择这个职业，我将失去很多乐趣。
I always say, the most interesting experiences in my case have happened out of work. I chose this line of business initially because I wanted to see the world, travel, and get out of my small home town in Switzerland. Really the most exciting parts of my journey have been the opportunities I’ve been given to meet people and experience situations that I wouldn’t have been able to experience had I not chosen this career.
我曾被邀请参加在沙特阿拉伯举行的婚礼，看过哥斯达黎加的乌龟筑巢，在印度尼西亚和马来西亚过宗教节日，见证了1997年香港回归的那一刻，参加在夏威夷举行的支腿独木舟比赛。所有这些美好的回忆将永远伴随我。这项工作很有趣，但工作之外发生的事情更加叫人印象深刻。
Being invited to a wedding in Saudi Arabia, turtle nesting in Costa Rica, religious festivals in Indonesia and Malaysia, being in Hong Kong in 1997 at the time of the handover, taking part in an outrigger canoe race in Hawaii, I think those are the memories that stay with me. The work in itself is exciting and interesting, but I always found that it was what happened outside of work that stood out the most.
