I love traveling in China.  I really do.  Rarely will your day and travel plans unfold as you originally had planned.  This includes never quite knowing what will happen with your hotel and the quality of service …

I have been in some 4 Star hotels in China that were amazingly good and others that were not so good.  I would say the same thing about 5 Star hotels in China.  Some are excellent, some are not anything close to what you would think of as a 5 Star hotel.  We will stay in 4 Star hotels on this trip.  (See Question No. 19 of your FAQ document to see how a 4 and 5 Star hotels in China are defined.) 

The following two recent Wall Street Journal articles, “Best Western Shifts China Tactic To Triple Number of Upscale Hotels” and “China Budget Hotels Fill Up” are worthwhile reads.  So is this one from the International Herald Tribune, ”In China Paradise Found“.

I am often amazed at the incredible business consulting opportunities that await the young MBA and entreprenuer in China and other parts of Asia with respect to improving hotel service, check in, laundry, room service, check out, etc.  I have seen a number of Western travelers in China embarrass themselves by throwing a conniption (sp?) fit about poor hotel or restaurant service, yet little do they realize that at the end of the day such bitching won’t matter and they are a mere insignificant number of one (1) in a country of over 1.3 billion who view time and self-importance differently than we do; other folks, the group I call the ”smart ones”, go with the flow and try to see such defects in service as a potential  business opportunity. I have killed a lot of time in Chinese service establishments while I stand in line thinking to myself “if I were to improve this and charge for it, what would I recommend and what would I charge and how would I get paid?” (this also ties into Lean Thinking principals you will study with Dr. Olsen in the Spring). 

Which type of a world traveler and student of life are you? 

After reading the above and these articles, what business opportunities do you see or will you be looking for re: hotels and that burgeoning service industry in China?