But as Chinese businesses go ever more global, their executives would also like to feel at home even when they are far away. In fact, the Hilton Hotel group is putting big money into this very notion. Last month it launched Hilton Huanying in an attempt to corner the market in Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking travelers who would like to pretend they haven't left home.
"Huanying" means "welcome", and the program promises Chinese hospitality at three key "touch points", with desk clerks fluent in Chinese; slippers, tea kettles, and Chinese-language programming on the in-room television; and a breakfast menu that includes such eastern favorites as congee and dim sum. To ensure Chinese travelers a "warm, authentic welcome at Hilton" the program’s website promises essentials such as "Chinese spoons" and a welcome letter in Chinese.
Hilton launched the program in San Francisco, which boasts a Chinese-American mayor and a population that is over 30% Asian. Fifty hotels in 12 countries are currently offering the service, and more such properties will be added across Hilton’s ten brands.
Clearly, Chinese travelers are a huge market that will only increase as time goes by. Hilton is betting that adding fried-dough fritters to the room-service menu will allow these guests to enjoy the same anonymous, interchangeable hotel experience that Westerners have sampled for decades. And in other good news, Americans who want to experience foreign culture will now be able to order pork fried rice for breakfast in hotels rather closer to home.
And how about asking questions so as to get the following answers?
1. flawless English
2. Earl Grey tea and Cheerios with skimmed milk.
3. last month
4. Hilton Huanying
5. "welcome"
6. Chinese hospitality
7. to ensure Chinese travelers a "warm, authentic welcome at Hilton"
8. essentials such as "Chinese spoons" and a welcome letter in Chinese.
9. in San Francisco
10. perhaps
