Interview with Mr. Francis Kuah,
Acting General Manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Xi’an
Mr. Francis Kuah, a native of Singapore, brings extensive experience in the luxury hospitality industry. As a seasoned hotelier, he has amassed 24 years of expertise in service operations at international hotel and resort brands across Singapore, the UAE, and China. He has held key positions with Mandarin Oriental, Fairmont, Shangri-La, and Hilton, successfully contributing to the opening of six hotels. Notably, he served in prominent roles at the iconic Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai. In 2022, Mr. Kuah joined The Ritz-Carlton, Xi’an, as Hotel Manager and currently serves as the Acting General Manager.
An avid outdoor sports enthusiast, Mr. Kuah enjoys hiking as his favorite weekend activity. Every morning, he starts his day with a refreshing jog, showcasing his dedication to a healthy lifestyle. SpaChina interviewed Mr. Kuah to discuss luxury hotel trends in wellness.
How do you view the impact of wellness trends on the future development of luxury hotels globally and in China?
Nowadays hotels are offering more choices of healthy products and consumers are increasingly conscious on the nutritious level of their diet. Global luxury hotels are starting to offer more organic, low sugar, low salt, gluten free and other specialty dietary options. For example, our hotel has been promoting collaboration with local organic farms to ensure the provision of fresh and pollution-free ingredients. This not only meets our guests’ demand for healthy eating, but also enhances the hotel’s brand image and competitiveness.
Luxury hotels are constantly increasing their investment in fitness and leisure facilities. In addition to the regular gym set up, which provides various professional fitness equipment and personal coaching services, hotel is also actively providing guests with various fitness brand collaborations, yoga, bowl chanting and other activities to experience, as well as outdoor sports experiences.
It must be mentioned that the mental and physical health of our hotel ladies and gentlemen are equally important. We have started to pay more attention to the health status of our employees and provide regular health check, fitness classes, psychological counseling, and other benefits. This not only helps improve theirs’ work efficiency and satisfaction, but also provides our guests with a better service experience.
What specific demands related to wellness services and experiences have you observed in the Xi’an market?
From the perspective of hotel operation and development, I believe that the Xi’an market can be provided with more health-related services and experiences, or in another words, our hotel can offer the following aspects to our guests:
Firstly, it is necessary to provide more choices of healthy products, such as fresh and organic ingredients with learning the cooking process. Secondly, there is diverse fitness experience and professional exercise guidance, and yoga that emphasizes physical and mental balance. Finally, it is important to focus on marketing campaigns. With so many products, there must be more comprehensive publicity and promotion to gain more awareness in the market and attract everyone’s attention.
During your career in luxury hospitality, how have guest preferences for their stay experiences changed?
Guests are no longer satisfied with standard room decoration, but tend to prefer a tailor-made setup, customized to meet and exceed their expectations, according to their own preferences and needs. Brand collaborated or themed rooms are also popular.
They hope that a hotel can do personalized itinerary planning for them, including booking local niche activities, recommending tourist attractions that meet their personal interests, arranging private tours, etc., to obtain an unique travel experience.
Hotels can provide convenient digital service platforms as well, such as mobile applications or online platforms, through which hotel information can be easily queried, restaurant and spa services can be booked, bills can be viewed, improving the convenience and efficiency of the guest experience.
We are paying more attention to the integration of the hotel and local culture, hoping to feel the rich local cultural characteristics in the hotel’s architectural style, decoration design, catering services, event arrangements, etc., and deeply experience the local customs and traditions.
There are higher requirements for the artistic atmosphere in the hotel, and people also enjoy the displays of various art works such as paintings, sculptures, photography, or organizing art exhibitions, concerts, cultural lectures, and other artistic activities in the hotel.
You have worked in Singapore, the UAE, and China. What differences do you see in how these regions integrate wellness concepts into luxury hotels?
Due to the influence of its geographical environment, luxury hotels in Singapore are often adjacent to natural landscapes or intentionally create natural gardens and other landscapes within the hotel, providing guests with a peaceful space away from the hustle and bustle of the city, allowing them to naturally relax and unwind. Singapore also attaches great importance to healthy eating and daily exercise. Hotels regularly change their menus and provide professional fitness equipment for guests to use.
Luxury hotels in the United Arab Emirates tend to focus on creating high-end and luxurious wellness facilities, such as personalized services, private concierge services, personal butlers, and on-site private kitchens. Due to its international nature, luxury hotels place greater emphasis on providing guests with diverse cultural experiences, including local travel experiences, dining, and sightseeing shopping.
How does the Spa service at The Ritz-Carlton, Xi’an reflect a combination of modern and traditional Chinese health philosophies?
By combining modern technology with traditional methods, we actively promote product innovation. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) health preservation is increasingly sought after by people, and the lifestyle, dietary habits, and daily routines of modern urbanites are also promoting the younger and more urbanized development of TCM. Ancient fitness techniques and Eight Section Brocade are also popular among young people. For example, our spa has specially launched treatments that combine Chinese health massage techniques, as well as innovative thermal therapy that combines chanting bowl therapy, which have been well received and praised by customers.
Are there other types of wellness activities that integrate the concept of wellness into guest experiences to meet the needs of both local and international guests?
We regularly provide guests with fitness, bowl chanting, or healthy cooking courses, and also recommend local organic farm visits in Xi’an to our guests. For parent-child families, we offer kids swimming classes, parent-child yoga, etc.
I love outdoor sports, especially hiking. I often recommend hiking routes to interested guests, especially guests who love outdoor sports and exploration. It’s a very personal sharing.
How can wellness concepts be incorporated into dining services?
Very importantly, the selection of ingredients. In addition to the partnership with local organic farms, we also plant potted vegetables in the hotel restaurant, shortening the distance from the previous “farm to table” and achieving “freshly picked and made” in a way which is completely visible to guests. The restaurant’s dishes will also be updated according to the season, and the seasonal limited menu mainly features selective ingredients.
Our lobby lounge has launched a Chinese tea selection according to the needs of our guests, catering to business guests who love Chinese tea. We have specifically handpicked a local-sourced pomegranate tea for our guests upon check-in. Drinking it in summer is sweet and sour to relieve heat, while in winter it warms and nourishes the body and mind.
Xi’an is also known as the City of Gastronomy, and our hotel provides snacks with local characteristics. For example, Shaanxi Pao Mo (Pita bread soaked in mutton soup), a favorite food of Xi’an people, very suitable for eating in winter.
What is your vision for the future of luxury hotels in the wellness domain, particularly at The Ritz-Carlton, Xi’an?
This is a very good trend and I personally think it will inevitably be the definite direction for the future development of luxury hotels. The pursuit of luxury hotels is no longer just about providing guests with a comfortable place to stay. The Ritz Carlton, Xi’an has always wanted to truly become a home away from home for guests in Xi’an, providing them with the warmth and care of returning home.
How do you view the younger generation of guests? What unique requirements do they have for their hotel stays?
Based on my observation, I believe that the new generation or as we call them “Gen Z”, is more interested in pursuing personalized experiences. They are very interested in hotels’ unique themed rooms, brand collaborations, and even hotels’ unique design and art collections. Simultaneously emphasizing social interaction, our lobby lounge and Flair bar are popular places among young people. At the same time, influenced by social media, they love taking photos and sharing them on social media platforms. Therefore, the appearance and display of hotel products is also very important. For example, the pink furry Christmas tree in our lobby lounge this year is very popular among young girls. But we found that the lighting in the lobby lounge was not bright enough, so I specially placed fill lights in the lobby lounge and turn them on when they take photos, so that they can take satisfactory pictures. Posting them on social media is also a great promotion for us.