Beijing is like a movie to me

Foued El Mabrouk, 46, general manager of the Grand Hyatt Beijing, has stayed in China longer than in his home country, Tunisia. He was 20 when he came to China in 1983 as a student, and has lived here ever since.

Many Chinese are surprised at Foued's ease with the Chinese language. "When you speak the language, you understand the nuances. This reduces the chance of being misled by cultural differences," he says.

Twenty-six years ago, Foued was a fresh high school graduate when he saw in a newspaper a list of foreign countries one could go to to study, published by the Tunisian Ministry of Education .

"I chose the country I knew the least about - China," he says.

When Foued landed in Beijing in 1983 to study Chinese at the Institute of Language Studies, there were very few foreigners in China, let alone Tunisians. Tunisia became independent from France in 1956 and established diplomatic relations with China as early as 1964.

"There must have been less than five Tunisians in the whole of China," he recalls. "These were either diplomats or students." Most of his fellow students left after graduation but he decided to stay.

"It was Deng Xiaoping's era and China had put in place reforms and was opening up," he says. "I remember we as foreign students were invited to wave flowers at Tian'anmen when China celebrated its 35th National Day."

After a year of studying Chinese, Foued went on to study hydro-power engineering at Tsinghua University. Instead of becoming an engineer, however, he joined Movenpick Hotel & Resort, a Swiss hotel management company in 1987, and later started working at Jianguo Hotel.

Since then, Foued has worked at various hotels as guest services manager, director of sales and marketing, resident manager, before becoming general manager. He joined the Grand Hyatt Beijing as director of marketing when it opened in 2001 and was resident manager for two years, before taking over as GM on March 1, this year.

As a witness to the growth of Beijing's hotels, Foued points to the opening of Jianguo Hotel, the first joint-venture hotel - between China and the US - as a milestone in the hotel business. Before that, Beijing's hotel industry relied on state-run businesses such as Xinqiao Hotel, Minzu Hotel and Beijing Hotel. "Jianguo Hotel saw average occupancy of 92 percent in the years from 1988 to 1994," recalls Foued, who worked there from 1988 to 1998.

"Another turning point was the Asian Games in 1990, which brought a number of foreigners to Beijing and led to the opening of many more new hotels," he says.

Over the years, Foued has seen a whole range of international brand-name hotels entering Beijing such as the Great Wall Sheraton, Shangri-La, Holiday Inn Lido and Kempinski.

The lead-up to the Olympics saw another surge in the number of five-star hotels in Beijing. "People now think there are too many hotels," he says, "but I think the low demand is temporary. It will rise, but may take some time."

He says there is still great potential for domestic demand. "Currently, 70 percent of hotel residents are foreigners and only 30 percent are locals. But it is just the other way around in Europe, America and Japan," he says. "However Chinese companies have huge potential, which makes us optimistic about the hotels' future."

The ongoing global financial crisis has greatly affected the hotel business. "Occupancy is lower. We have fallen behind, although we are okay compared to other hotels in the city. I expect business to be better soon," says Foued.

Located inside the Beijing Oriental Plaza, right in the center of Beijing, Grand Hyatt Beijing has ranked No 1 in terms of revenue among all five-star hotels in Beijing since 2003. The hotel has a long list of best hotel awards from authoritative publications, and best awards for its Chinese restaurant, Made in China, which is famous for its roast duck.

"With 825 rooms, we are the largest international five-star hotel in Beijing," Foued says.

Although he typically faces a 12-hour work day, every weekend he takes his wife, also a Tunisian whom he met in Beijing in 1987, to walk around ancient parts of the city, such as Beihai Park and Gulou, for at least two hours. They often talk about the changes the city has undergone. Sometimes, their three Beijing born children join them.

"Beijing is my second hometown. It is a very important part of my life," Foued says. "Nowhere in the world can you find a city that changes so constantly. It is like a movie. I want to see what happens next and be a part of it. It gives me a purpose in life."

Story by Ye Jun, photo by Jiang Dong

(China Daily 05/16/2009 page8)