Songtsam gives travellers a new way to experience Tibet through a locals-first approach

China’s tourism dollars are significant enough to make or break neighbouring economies. But today, with the world in flux and consumption being encouraged at home, domestic travel is coming into focus. Frequent flyers from tier-one cities in eastern China are discovering their own county’s vast interior, journeying to the central and western regions in search of exclusive experiences and natural escapes. Independent brands are building some of the best examples of this new luxury rooted in local traditions, culture, geography, cuisine and design. 

Tashi Tsering, the CEO of Songtsam – a peerless hospitality group from Yunnan province – joined Monocle’s Josh Fehnert on the conference stage to discuss modern Chinese hospitality and what makes a good hotel.

Songtsam has been in business for 26 years and you’ve been running it for 13 of those years. For the uninitiated, what do you do out there in Yunnan province?
We don’t see ourselves as a hotel brand. Today we have about 20 boutique hotels in the northwest of Yunnan toward the Himalayan border, all the way from the ancient Tea Horse Road trade route to Lhasa. And we connected all the hotels to make travel itineraries to bring guests to enjoy the view and experience the culture. We want to deliver Tibetan culture to the outside world. That’s our purpose.

Your hotels have hosts rather than general managers. What’s the thinking behind this?
We call the managers of our hotels “the female host of the family”. If you know a little bit about Tibetan culture, you know that the female host is in charge of the home, rather than the male host. Mothers always take care of the family and if they are not there, the home will be in chaos.

Every brand, app and hotel is trying to offer more. You offer less – no TVs with limited wi-fi. How do you get a guest from Shanghai to put their phone down and slow down?
It’s not easy because people are in a very [high-paced] rhythm. They want exciting things but we look for inner peace [and offer experiences] to slow-down. 

At the beginning, very few guests came to Songtsam. But we kept the experience at the best quality and word of mouth slowly grew the business. That’s why it took us 26 years [to get to where we are today].We also take people to nature. Every [one of our] hotels grows in nature. We don’t have TVs because we want to encourage people to go outside – go hiking, enjoy the mountain, visit the ancient monasteries and talk to the Tibetan monks. That environment can really slow people down.

You recruit almost entirely from local villages – 92 per cent of your 1,600 staff. Many of them haven’t finished high school. How do you approach staffing and training?
We hire mainly Tibetan employees but we now have 21 minority nationalities and ethnic groups in our staff – we’re a big family. And it’s true: more than 50 per cent have an education level below high school. Many cannot leave their villages but there were no [opportunities] in their hometown. When Songtsam walked in, it provided them an opportunity to work in their village. We regard our staff, not as resources for labour, but as living [representatives] of the local culture.