PROFILE: Rainy Chan | Travel + Leisure
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PROFILE: Rainy Chan

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OCCUPATION General manager, Peninsula Bangkok hotel

HOME BASE Bangkok, Thailand

HER STORY Over the past decade, Rainy Chan, 40, has rapidly risen from front office manager at the Peninsula Hong Kong to general manager of the Peninsula Bangkok—no small feat for a woman in Asia's male-dominated hotel world. Chan's professional philosophy has guided her meteoric ascent: "I keep my focus firmly on the human aspect by nurturing my staff. The guests feel this when they walk in the door."

SOUND ADVICE "Female travelers who are alone can attract a lot of unwanted attention—you're in a strange place and you don't speak the language, so you tend to stand out. I try to play it safe. I call ahead to the hotel concierge and find out the appropriate protocol. If I'm going somewhere I don't know, rather than taking a taxi, I have a limousine pick me up from the airport."

NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL "Packing properly is a serious challenge for the female business traveler. Men are usually safe with just a suit and tie, but women have to be prepared for surprises—those times when they walk into a room and realize 'Oh my goodness, I'm totally underdressed. 'It's happened to me before, and I plan to keep a supply of pashminas and plain black evening bags to lend at the concierge desk. I also want to add lighter meals and spa treatments like post-flight hydrating masks to the room-service menu."

ATTENTION TO DETAIL "A good hotel is a place where you enter and feel that the hassle of your journey has finally reached its end. It's where the staff provides discreet, sincere attention. Once when I left my hotel in Tokyo, the doorman came running after me, saying, 'Ms. Chan, it's very cold outside: you need your coat.' Little gestures like that impress me no end."
—Jaime Gross

Copyright © 2009, American Express Publishing. All rights reserved.