The story about Yan Changshou, the father of Taiwan’s hotel industry

Yan Changshou was born in Shanghai in 1947. His ancestral home is Hangzhou, Zhejiang. He graduated from Keelung High School and is a professional manager in the hotel industry in Taiwan. Known as the father of Taiwan's hotel industry. Currently, he is the President of Yadu Landis Hotel; Chairman of Landis Management Consulting; Chairman of Charity Platform Foundation. He once served as general manager of American Express Taiwan; general manager of Grand Hotel; and president of Taiwan Tourism Association.

Yan Changshou, the father of Taiwan’s hotel industry, started out as a waiter in the reception room of American Express Company when he was 23 years old - helping others with the simplest tasks such as running errands and providing services. But 5 Later, when he was 28 years old, he became the general manager of American Express in Taiwan. In the past five years, he has not relied on any personal connections or background, but has relied entirely on his outstanding performance in each matter, job and position. This does not come from results, but from everyone’s reputation.

1. Honesty is the foundation of life

Yan Changshou only had a high school education and did not find a formal job until he was 23 years old. Then he worked his way up step by step and became the general manager. Later, the chairman of Taiwan Yadu Hotel met Yan Changshou while working in the tourism industry and thought this person was really good. So when he was preparing to create a top five hotel, he wanted to ask Yan Changshou to be in charge of the hotel. As a result, this incident alarmed the American Express headquarters, and they expressed their position to Yan Changshou: "We want you to be the president of American Express Asia Pacific and the vice president of American Express headquarters. Please don't leave." Yan Changshou weighed it and chose to leave. , started a business with ***, the founder of Yadu, and became the president of Yadu Hotel at the age of 32. Later, he made Yadu Hotel a hotel with the best service quality, guest reputation, and shareholder return on investment in Taiwan.

Yan Changshou’s judgments, attitudes, values ??and practices on things are very plain. Many of us have surprisingly similar thoughts, practices and opinions to him. For example, no matter what he does, he will not habitually divide it into internal and external, you and me. When he was a boy, he was very willing to help everyone around him solve problems. He thought that he could learn a lot in this way, so he worked very hard, so everywhere he was, people around him were very kind to him. Good, and he is learning and progressing very quickly.

When he was a boy, the secretary would naturally treat him as a boy. But his reaction to these things was definitely not to say angrily in his heart, "If you bully me, I will surpass you and climb on top of you in the future." Instead, he would think of his father's teachings to him: "It is rare to suffer a loss, but a loss is a blessing." This philosophy of "a loss is a blessing" became an important ideological basis for him to hone himself. With this ideological foundation, his attitude has always been correct, and he has worked hard towards his goals step by step.

Almost everyone will be exposed to various temptations when growing up. If you are captured by it, it will make you deviate from the direction and the right path. Yan Changshou also encountered this kind of temptation many times.

For example, when Express Company established its tourism department, Yan Changshou assisted in purchasing some office supplies. During the purchasing process, there was an electric typewriter that cost around 50,000 to 60,000 yuan. A friend told him that some dealers would import second-hand goods from Hong Kong, clean them up, and then sell them to companies in Taiwan, so he should not take it lightly when inspecting the goods. Later, after quoting and comparing prices, they placed an order with a trader, negotiated the price, and signed a contract. As a result, the trader came to chat with Yan Changshou two days later. When he left, he stuffed an envelope into him. There was 8,000 yuan in the envelope, which was equivalent to four months of his salary. In fact, these things like kickbacks and red envelopes often happen to people such as purchasing and general affairs, but Yan Changshou told the general manager about this without thinking. The general manager believed that since the contract had been signed and the accounts had been settled, things still had to be purchased, so he transferred the money to the Welfare Committee and turned it into an employee welfare fund.

A month later, the ordered goods arrived. Two boxes were intact, two had been unpacked, and the other printer did not have any packaging box at all. Come to the company. Yan Changshou checked and found that the three machines had signs of use, so he asked the other party to replace them. But the other party assured that these were new goods and argued that the boxes had been opened and inspected by customs. But Yan Changshou still insisted on letting the other party take the goods back. As a result, three days later, the trader sent a message to the general manager through another person: "There is a young man named Yan in your company who is asking for kickbacks and deliberately looking for trouble to make things difficult for the manufacturer." In fact, this is normal. If you take someone else's kickback, Of course, people will give you bad things, but if you have the courage to refuse, you can professionally judge the true situation of this matter. As a result, the general manager laughed loudly and replied: "I knew about this at the time. The 8,000 yuan is with me. You can take it back at any time, otherwise I will transfer the money to an employee welfare fund!" Think about it! Look, if Yan Changshou had accepted the 8,000 yuan kickback, he would not have had a future at American Express, nor would he be the general manager of American Express Taiwan in five years.

Do you think these things often happen around us?

Although this is just a small incident, it has a great impact on Yan Changshou and makes him understand that the work process is full of temptations and traps. If you are not careful, you may get yourself into trouble and lose your reputation. It can be seen how important it is to lay the foundation of ideas and values ??at work.

2. Pursuing excellence in precision

The magic of Yan Changshou is also reflected in many such details. Many of his actions can bring great inspiration to people. Yan Changshou worked as a communications clerk at American Express for 6 months. Because of his hard work, he got a promotion opportunity, from a communications clerk to the company's airport pick-up representative for foreign groups coming to Taiwan. This job is actually very simple, that is, first count the group luggage, and then escort the luggage back to the hotel. After counting one by one, it is sent to the guest room. Although this job does not require any university knowledge, he actually found his first direction in life through this job. He was very envious when he saw tour guides taking foreigners around, but he himself was an active person and didn't like to stay in the office. The dream of leading a group to travel and introduce the customs of the world was so attractive that he decided to become a tour guide.

For example, he takes a cruise group that docks in Keelung at 6 a.m. and leaves at 6 p.m., and the tourists on the ship have already signed up for a 12-hour tour of Taiwan during the previous stop in Japan. The activities are so tight in time that no mistakes can be made in every aspect. Simply completing it as a task, or leaving a deep impression on the other party and getting satisfaction, will have different values, and the latter is obviously more valuable. Such thoughts forced him to constantly study how to do it within these 12 hours. This concept of customer satisfaction has allowed him to quickly accumulate a good reputation.

One day at noon, I received a call from American Express, saying that the chairman of American Express was taking a private plane to Taiwan, but he forgot to apply for a visa, and asked him how to solve the problem. Seeing that the plane was about to land in three hours, he immediately called the U.S. representative in Taiwan. However, he learned that the representative had gone to play golf. Yan Changshou had to call rest stops at the golf course for several holes before he could contact him. he. Then I contacted people from relevant units. As a result, a person in charge went to a university to give a lecture. I finally found him, but was told that the matter was not within his scope of authority, so I had to contact the Police Department and the Foreign Affairs Office. He just kept on the phone like this, and when the chairman's special plane landed, he had just settled the matter satisfactorily, allowing his boss to apply for a new temporary visa. Because he always pursued excellence in his ordinary job and kept learning and thinking, his vision became increasingly broadened, and later he actually thought of changing the company's business model.

When Yan Changshou was in Yadu, he once listed the four most important principles in the service industry, which are the basic concepts that every employee must understand from the bottom of his heart.

1. Every employee is a master. In other words, when guests come into contact with front-line employees, they should feel as if they are being received by the host personally. The organization of the service industry is like an inverted pyramid. The first person to come into contact with customers is often not the real boss, but many ordinary employees. They must be able to contact and serve customers with the mood of "being the master" . Of course, to achieve this, we must also fully empower the front line.

2. Respect the uniqueness of each customer. As far as the chef is concerned, the customer's requirements may not be "right", but he will definitely have his own preferences. You have to cater to his preferences to achieve successful service. If you insist that you are right and compete with your guests, even if you win, you will still lose in the end.

3. "Good" service is a service that "responses to every request", but "excellent" service is a service that can "think before customers". Really considerate service is to think thoughtfully for the customer before he or she even makes a request.

4. Never say "no" easily. In this industry, no matter what happens, you cannot refuse outright, but you must tactfully let the customer try to understand. Sometimes the customer's request is really difficult to achieve. You must not say: "Company regulations can't" or "I can't do it." Instead, let the other party feel your sincerity in helping, so that the customer can accept this fact more easily. . Many of these skills and patience need to be experienced slowly by yourself.

The most difficult thing in life is not how to fight, but how to choose. Only by accepting setbacks can we move toward maturity.