Elite gathering of concierges meets at Les Clefs d'Or congress

Golden Key Association has more than 150 members from close to 100 hotels in the Beijing region. Provided to China Daily

Members of the Beijing chapter of Les Clefs d'Or met at the Jiuhua Resort and Convention Center for the local chapter's annual congress. Known as the Golden Key Association, this global hospitality organization has more than 150 members from close to 100 hotels in the Beijing region.

Honorary members from the Golden Key China executive committee were present, including Zhao Qing, the deputy secretary of Golden Key China, as well as Li Gang, advisor and trainer.

After reading out the congratulatory letter from Golden Key China president Sun Dong, Lu Jun took the stage and delivered the keynote address with Li Zesheng, the general secretary of Golden Key China.

Golden Key Association has more than 150 members from close to 100 hotels in the Beijing region. Provided to China Daily

In his speech, Lu Jun congratulated the 10 members from the Beijing chapter who received awards at the recent 18th Golden Key China Annual Congress held at Crowne Plaza Tianjin Binhai.

Liu Wei, chief concierge of the Ritz-Carlton Beijing and four others were awarded the Medal of Loyalty, while Wang Zheng, chief concierge of the Celebrity International Grand Hotel, was among recipients of the "Touch Your Heart" service awards.

Lu said members were very much looking forward to this year's event, as the first annual congress was a tremendous success last year. He said they had received positive feedback from members for going above and beyond, and "we are now hoping to make this an annual tradition".

He added that "it is our hope that our members could benefit from coming to the congress, as it is a good opportunity to make new connections with people within the industry and learn about the opportunities in Beijing".

General secretary Li Zesheng also gave special mention to eight local members, who recently became qualified International Members of Les Clefs d'Or after completing their examinations in 2013.

Li said 25 new members from the Beijing chapter joined Golden Key China in 2013, taking the total number of Golden Key China Beijing to 272.

During the year, the Beijing chapter organized many activities. In April, Golden Key China Beijing members came together and supported calls for the Yushu Earthquake Donation and the Beijing chapter also organized a 'Hotel Elites' themed cocktail party at the Suzie Wong club in September.

Literally translated to "keys of gold", Les Clefs d'Oris officially known as Union International des Concierge d'hotels Les Clefs d'Or, and is an international nonprofit network of professional hotel concierges.

The first such concierge association first saw the light of day in Paris back in 1929. To date, U.I.C.H Les Clefs d'Or has more than 5,000 members in 42 sections across the globe.

This global association aims to provide support to its members in assisting hotel travelers and tourists by sharing their extensive expertise of inside information, intelligence and communications.

Golden Key concierges have their fingers on the pulses of their cities. They are able to advise guests on everything from sightseeing tours, shopping, dining and nightlife to theater events or buying a diamond ring.

The association was first introduced to China in 1995, and with the support from the China National Tourism Administration and the China Tourist Hotel Association, it now has more than 2,600 members in more than 1,600 hotels, located in 221 cities.

In Wuhan, for example, the Golden Key chapter met on Jan 13, for a Spring Festival gathering. Property union members joined the concierges in networking, and pledged to work together even better in 2014.

Golden Key China is currently one of the largest professional service networks in the Chinese hospitality industry.