Wyndham Hotel senior executive takes risks to disrupt market

dreds of thousands of rooms will be re-decorated with themes such as the Simpsons, or other cartoon features licensed by China Brands Group, the country’s major intellectual property management and licensing agency.

Liu said it would be a decision left to owners of each individual property whether to have cartoonthemed rooms or not. A majority of the group’s hotels in China are franchised.

Drones provided by domestic company Power Vision will be offered primarily at hotels along the country’s coastal area, so that guests can use them for water sports.

“It’s not only about attracting young guests to our hotels, but also adding value to what each property can offer as a winning competitive edge in this ever-fiercer market,” Liu said.

The Beijing native left for France early in the 1990s a few years after working as a diplomat as he did not want his life to become predictable.

Having spent more than one decade at the headquarters of French hospitality group Accor, he returned to China and joined Costa Crociere in 2008 — the first cruise company to enter the mainland.

“The hospitality industry doesn’ t lack professionals. It is good at taking care of people from head to toe, day to dawn, but it is hard to find a trendsetter or game changer,” he said. “Over the past three decades in China, there have been few changes except that ever y international brand has come here and set up an outlet, if not two or more.”

“I think I am a born disrupter and willing to take risks, like with the Simpsons,” he responded at his office in Shanghai, where bright yellow graffiti depicting the fictional characters dominate the main wall.