While in Penang, Malaysia, my contemporary management class had the opportunity to tour the Shangri La Penang Rasa Saya resort and learn about how they manage it! While this resort chain is not in the U.S, it is very prominent in Asia and is seen as very luxury and high class. The resort is beautiful and often houses many important political figures and celebrities. First, we started with a resort tour and walked around the gardens, beach, spa and sauna, restaurants, and even got to see inside of a high-class suite. After we toured around for about an hour and a half, we went into a meeting room and viewed a presentation by multiple managers of the resort. They taught us all about operating a luxury property, the marketing tactics of the resort, and how they stay a prominent figure in the luxury hotel business. As a marketing major, the marketing section of this presentation especially stood out to me. The marketing manager of the hotel talked about how word of mouth was the main way this hotel retains its image. So many prominent and wealthy guests stay at the hotel and then talk about it, that it is a well-known name in Asia, and so they do not have to do much marketing. The hotel itself is very hard to get reservations for since everyone wants to stay there, and the room prices are very high, making only the well-connected and wealthy available to stay here. This itself created demand for the resort, so marketing is not needed much. We also learned about their social media, specifically their Instagram, where they do their little marketing. Overall, this was a very academically enriching experience, and I hope to return to the Shangri La resort in the future not as a student, but as a guest!
