Competition Promotes Learning | The 11th “Mandarin Oriental Cup” Beijing Hospitality Institute Business English Presentation Contest was Successfully Held

Sponsors:

Mandarin Oriental Wangfujing，Beijing

Mandarin Oriental Qianmen，Beijing

Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou

Mandarin Oriental Shenzhen

On April 28th, the 11th “Mandarin Oriental Cup”Beijing Hospitality Institute Business English Presentation Contest came to a successful conclusion. The competition is sponsored by the Mandarin Oriental hotels in Beijing (Wangfujing, Qianmen), Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, hosted by the Foreign Language Office of BHI Academic Affairs Department, and co-organized by the Career Center of the Business Development Department.

BHI Business English Presentation Contest has been held for eleven sessions and is an important part of the reform of the Business English curriculum in the Foreign Language Office. Contestants will integrate their creative ideas into their oral presentations around hot topics in the hotel industry. They won unanimous praise from the judges with their idiomatic English expressions, innovative presentation forms, and uplifting spirit.

Distinguished guests that attended the competition included Mr. Richard Langonn é, General Manager of Mandarin Oriental Wangfujing Beijing and Regional General Manager of Mandarin Oriental Beijing, Yang Shuanghua, Talent and Cultural Director of Mandarin Oriental Beijing, Wang Xiaoli, Talent and Development Director of Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou, Liu Shuyan, Talent and Cultural Department Director of Mandarin Oriental Shenzhen, Professor Li Gang, Vice Dean of the Business School of University of Surrey, and Dr. Gao Songtao, President of Beijing Hospitality Institute. Xu Longyang, Dean of Academic Affairs Department, Lu Tong, Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs Department, Yu Weimin, Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs Department, Jiang Jiagang, Director of Foreign Language Office, She Lirong, Director of Human Resources Management Office, and Wang Huanxing, Teacher from Marketing and Sales Office, served as judges for this contest.

Judges of the competition were carefully observing the competition

Mr. Richard Langonné was invited to deliver a speech for the 11th Business English Presentation Contest. He emphasized that Business English plays a crucial role in the global hotel industry, and highly praised the contestants’ ingenious ideas of integrating traditional Chinese cultural elements into hotels. He shared the successful experience of Mandarin Oriental in cultural integration, providing valuable reference ideas for students.

Opening Speech

BHI president Dr. Gao Songtaoc warmly welcomed the arrival of the general manager and directors of the Mandarin Oriental, and sincerely thanked them for their support to the student activities of BHI. Dr. Gao encouraged students to speak and express themselves bravely, gradually improving their English proficiency through continuous practice.

Intense competition

The theme of this contest is “Artificial Intelligence, Chinese Culture & Hotel Industry”, and the seven finalist teams performed unique English presentations around this topic.

The King Back Team: New Exploration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Health in the Hotel

The King Back team focuses on the theme of health preservation with traditional Chinese medicine , developing health tea bags, traditional Chinese medicine bath bags, guasha kits and other products, covering multiple scenarios in the hotel, empowering the hotel industry with innovative applications of traditional culture.

The Youtobe Team: AI Empowers Smart Hotels

The Youtobe team focuses on AI applications in the hotel industry, pointing out pain points such as emotional interaction, personalized services, and emergency responses. They emphasize the emotional attribute of “sincerity” in the hotel industry and believe that in the intelligent transformation, technology should be a favour to hotel employees rather than substitution for them. They propose the 3C theory to empower hotels.

The Idea Architect Team: Revitalizing Traditional Thinking in Hotel Designs

The Idea Architect team integrates the ideas of Taoism, Legalism, Mohism, and Confucianism into hotel space and service designs, creating a cultural experience that blends tradition and modernity, highlighting unique craftsmanship.

The Neon Blazers Team: Reshaping New Experiences in Smart Travel Stays

The Neon Blazers team focuses on AI applications in the hotel, developing multifunctional AI robots through intelligent terminal devices to optimize service efficiency and personalized experiences.The Dealmakers Team: A Smart Hotel Mixing Ancient and Modern Times

The Dearmakers team is inspired by idea that people from ancient Tang Dynasty traveled to the AI world, showcasing the integration of intelligent AI with hotel services and the collision of traditional culture and modern technology.

The Star Platinum team ingeniously presents jade pendant shaped room cards using acrylic as the carrier, engraving the iconic traditional architectural landscape of the place where the hotel locates, and skillfully integrating the hotel logo with it, allowing classical charm and modern texture to complement each other. Every room card is a dynamic business card carrying regional culture and brand features.

Stellaris Team: Intelligent solutions light up the business English arena

The Stellaris team won the Business English Presentation Contest with their creative idea of “Cross-border Integration of Silk Road and AI.” Their intelligent logistics and AI translation solutions integrate language and technology, creating a new paradigm for the inheritance of Silk Road culture.

Moment of Glory

After intense competition, the Stellaris team won the championship with their unique creative performance and outstanding English presentation. The King Back team, Youtobe team, and Idea Architect team won the second prize, while the Neon Blazers team, Dealmakers team, and Star Platinum team won the third prize. Zhang Chenfeng from the King Back team won the Best Performance Award for his affability, inspiration, and expressiveness.

Mr. Richard Langonn é, General Manager of Mandarin Oriental Wangfujing Beijing,and General Manager of Mandarin Oriental Beijing Region present first prize to winners

Wang Xiaoli, Talent and Development Director of Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou and Li Gang, Vice Dean of the Business School of  University of Surrey present second prizes to the students

Yang Shuanghua, Talent and Culture Director of Mandarin Oriental Beijing Regionand Liu Shuyan, Director of Talent and Culture Department of  Mandarin Oriental Shenzhen presented third prizes to the students

Pictures of Wonderful Moments

Summary of the Contest

Lu Tong, Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs Department of BHI, pointed out in her summary  after the contest that the theme of this year is highly forward-looking and the students have integrated AI technology and Chinese cultural innovation into hotel scenes, demonstrating excellent industry insights.

Lu Tong gave the summary speech

Group Picture of the Organizing Team

BHI always adheres to the principle of having competitions to promote learning and teaching. Through competitions, students can hone their English application skills and be exposed to cutting-edge development of the industry, laying a solid foundation for their career development. In the future, BHI will continue to optimize the competition rules and topic selection to help students improve their English proficiency.