In 1978, the number of inbound tourists in my country reached more than 1.8 million.
This exceeds the total number of foreign tourists our country received in the previous two decades.
In 1979, the number of foreign guests surged to more than 4.2 million.
This year, there were only seven foreign-related hotels in Beijing, with only 1,000 beds meeting reception standards.
It is precisely for this reason that the country's top leaders quickly introduced three pilot projects with foreign investment in 1979 to relieve the emergency.
No. 001 is Air China Food Company.
No. 002 and 003 are the Jianguo Hotel and the Great Wall Hotel.
Of course, in the era of political leadership, the phenomenon of high growth in mainland tourists caused by various political demands and system changes obviously appeared earlier and the growth rate was more rapid.
Especially as the capital is the political and cultural center of our country, the number of tourists it receives must surely rank first in the country.
Therefore, since the 1970s, it was much earlier than the top leaders of the country realized the need to build luxury hotels that meet international standards.
Chongwen District, which is strategically located next to the Beijing Railway Station, has begun to vigorously promote the development of the hotel industry in the district to meet the needs of tourists visiting Beijing.
Chongwenmen Hotel is a hotel project funded and built by the district government to provide high-standard reception conditions for domestic tourists.
It should be said that this hotel was quite successful.
Since it opened for business, it has been packed with guests and the occupancy rate has remained above 80%.
It's a pity that I lacked understanding of the outside world at that time.
Almost no one knows what truly high standards should look like.
It was difficult for such a high-end hotel to be built behind closed doors by leaders who made decisions, brainstormed ideas, and only focused on hardware facilities at the time.
Therefore, although the Chongwenmen Hotel has sofas, soft beds, fans, TVs, and elevators, it has already reached the "modern" standard agreed by people of this era.
However, in Ning Weimin's eyes, it is still difficult to hide the common problem that its business strategy is backward and it has no management experience to speak of.
It's just a larger guest house at best.
It was impossible to make him feel any sense of admiration at all.
To put it bluntly, the current prosperous business of Chongwenmen Hotel only relies on its superior geographical location and the first-mover advantage of foresight.
Once the time comes for major construction projects.
Or the surrounding Qianmen Hotel, Dongfang Hotel, and Minzu Hotel, whose internal facilities have been upgraded.
The attractiveness of this place to mainland tourists will inevitably plummet.
The most interesting thing is that at this time, the training staff of the Foreign Affairs Hotel in Beijing were focusing on teaching foreign customs, life characteristics and taboos.
What about British and Indian foreign guests who like to drink quilt tea?
As for Indian and Indonesian foreign guests, they wash with their left hand after defecation and should not use their left hand to bring food to them.
What kind of *** teaches foreign guests not to eat pork?
Why don't foreign guests who believe in Buddhism shake hands with them and have to put their palms together?
There is also a taboo on the number “13” among Christian foreign guests.
Albanian foreign guests nodded to express negative, shook their heads to express affirmative, etc...
All of this surprised the young people who had been isolated from the outside world for a long time and lacked knowledge.
However, compared with this, Ning Weimin's personal feelings are similar.
Because he was a newbie here, and if he hadn't experienced it himself, even he wouldn't have believed it.
There are countless features of state-owned hotels in this era, how incredible they are.
For example, every floor of the Chongwenmen Hotel looks the same.
Apart from the room number, there is no obvious distinguishing mark at all.
Countless rooms are lined up evenly in each corridor, just like a middle school teaching building or an orderly barracks.
As long as the customer forgets or misremembers the room number, it will cause an "accident".
Although it is not as exaggerated as the scene in the movie "Escape from the Tiger's Mouth".
It will inevitably lead to squeaking panic and embarrassment of apologising.
But no one is willing to pay attention to or change this problem, and no one has even mentioned it.
Not only do they allow it to exist for a long time, but they are willing to treat it as a joke.
For another example, Chongwenmen Hotel will forcibly standardize the living habits of all guests based on the sleeping habits of most Chinese people.
As soon as nine o'clock in the evening arrives, it is the default time to get ready for bed.
The restaurant is closed and the boiler room stops supplying hot water for the thermos.
Employees will also turn off unnecessary lights one by one.
The corridors on each floor were darkened, desolate and deserted.
Even the hardware boasted here has design issues.
It is said to be a fully furnished single room, but there is no independent bathroom planned at all.
The public toilet is designed at the end of the corridor, and the shower is at the other end.
The room, bathroom and bathroom are completely separated, which is extremely inconvenient in life.
As for the service attitude, it is more like saying one thing and doing another.
Although employees in various departments often spend time participating in various conferences and meetings, organizing studies, and listening to leaders' speeches.
But in fact, the slogan of "quality service" has never been implemented in practice, and it has remained just words.
Take the reception work at the front desk as an example.
Mi Xiaoran took Ning Weimin to check in the customers.
There is no need for attentiveness or service with a smile.
All you need to do is keep your head down and write out tickets and collect money from customers without saying a word.
It fully shows that they are a generation that is strong, proud and full of ownership spirit.
Also, before checking out, the hotel must conduct a room inspection before letting you go.
Speaking of how the waiters during ward rounds treat guests, it's even worse, just like how police officers treat criminal suspects.
No matter if you are eager to catch the train or if you have something important to do, you still have to wait patiently.
The waiter has to order all the utensils and even turn on the TV and lights before allowing the guest to leave.
Don't rush your guests. If you push them, it will make you appear to be ulterior.
The waiter has to drag your feet and take you ten more minutes to finish.
What's more, many employees even quarrel unscrupulously and don't care about affecting the guests' rest.
As a result, it often happens that a customer is woken up by a waiter in his sleep, and when he opens the door, he has to persuade the two waiters to make peace.
Of course, having said that, this is nothing to blame, it was all determined by the limited travel conditions at that time.
The key is that in this era, it is too difficult for people to go out.
Not only is it difficult to buy train tickets, trains are also seriously overcrowded.
It is often difficult for travelers to find a hotel with suitable conditions when they arrive at their destination because they are not familiar with the place.
Sometimes the "foreign tourist reception desk" is too busy to introduce hotels in time.
No matter who you are, I'm afraid I'll have to arrange for you to sleep in Datong Shop for a day first.
So for most travelers who are tired all the way.
I am overjoyed to be able to find such a comfortable place to rest without wasting my time or taking unnecessary steps. I am so grateful to God.