Grand Hyatt Taipei entered a new chapter in May 2024, when Frances Tsai became its first woman general manager. A veteran of luxury hospitality with more than three decades of experience, Tsai has worked across sales, front-office operations, and senior management, with leadership postings in Taiwan and mainland China, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing. She first joined the hotel shortly after it opened in 1993 and returned in 2012 to help guide a major renovation, giving her a rare, long-term view of the property’s evolution alongside Taipei’s own growth.
Tsai was educated in Taiwan and the United States and gained early professional experience in Europe, shaping a leadership philosophy grounded in both international exposure and deep operational expertise. From her earliest roles, guest experience and team development have been defining constants in her career.
As Grand Hyatt Taipei approaches its 35th anniversary, she is guiding the property forward under a strategy she describes as “winning through stability,” emphasizing service excellence, talent retention, and long-term stewardship in a rapidly changing hospitality landscape.
TOPICS Associate Editor Alex Myslinski met with Tsai in mid-December to discuss her leadership journey, service philosophy, and how she is positioning Grand Hyatt Taipei for its next phase of growth. An abridged version of their conversation follows.
As a business school graduate, what made you go into hospitality?
It quickly became clear that I don’t like numbers. In my first job after college, at Citibank, I was often assigned to handle customer service issues, and over time, my interests settled on the hospitality industry.
I was drawn to the nature of guest interactions and the discipline of a customer-first mindset, which led me to study hotel management at the University of Massachusetts in the United States and later pursue an internship in Bath, England. That experience marked my formal entry into the field.
What was your first position at Grand Hyatt Taipei?
I was hired as a team leader of the Worldwide Reservation Office in 1993, where I was in charge of outbound business. I got to work closely with the sales side and was fortunate to also familiarize myself with the travel agents and teams in charge of some corporate accounts. I was eager to learn the ins and outs of every function.
About three years in, the director of sales and marketing at Grand Hyatt Taipei approached me with a proposal to work on the hotel floor rather than remain behind the scenes in operations. I was offered a position as a convention services manager, despite having no prior experience in the role. It was a huge leap of faith in me.
What did that role teach you about hotel operations?
It exposed me to the reality that selling a hotel and understanding how it truly operates are two very different things. At the time, I could confidently sell destinations like Bali or Tokyo over the phone, but I didn’t understand the product of the hotel itself. That gap became very clear once I moved into the convention service manager role.
I was suddenly responsible for large-scale conference groups, sometimes more than 500 rooms at a time, in a hotel that was operating at full capacity. The work was intense. I worked alongside front office and banquet teams, learning how rooming lists were built, how check-ins and checkouts were managed, how conference billing worked, and how events were executed down to the smallest detail. For a period, I was essentially living in the hotel, from early morning until late at night.
The experience gave me an end-to-end view of how a hotel functions. It was not theoretical but hands-on, demanding, and deeply instructive, underscoring how closely interconnected every department is and how operational decisions directly shape the guest experience.
How did those experience shape your definition of service excellence today?
Those years were a turning point for me. I realized that service excellence doesn’t come from policies alone — it comes from people working together under pressure, often behind the scenes.
Being in the front office, handling rooming lists, check-ins, billing, and last-minute changes showed me the coordination and trust required to deliver “seamless service.” You can’t understand that unless you’ve been there, dealing with the details and the unpredictability of daily operations.
More importantly, it reshaped the way I view service itself. I learned that my job isn’t just about taking care of customers. If you take good care of your associates, they will take care of the customers. That idea stayed with me. Service excellence, to me, is built on strong teams who feel supported, respected, and trusted to do their work well.
From your years managing hotels across mainland China, what leadership lesson has stayed with you most?
My time in China taught me that growth means very little if the team beneath it is not stable. One moment in particular has stayed with me. A team member suddenly had to return home for a family emergency. Before I even had time to react, the duty manager called to say everything had already been handled. The evening shift had volunteered to stay late, and the morning shift agreed to come in early. There was no panic and no drama, just quiet cooperation.
That experience reshaped how I think about leadership. It showed me what a strong team truly looks like: people stepping in for one another because they trust each other, and because they know the same support will be there for them when they need it. It made clear that leadership is not only about customers or performance metrics, but about creating an environment where people take care of one another.
How does that experience shape the way you think about growth in Taiwan today?
That lesson continues to guide how I approach growth. Markets shift, customer expectations evolve, and unexpected challenges are constant. What ultimately matters is having internal stability within the team — clarity about strengths, direction, and shared goals. When that foundation is solid, growth becomes something you can manage sustainably, rather than something that overwhelms the organization.
What’s your advice to younger professionals in the hotel business?
Hospitality is a long game, and patience is essential. It’s not an industry where you complete one project and immediately see results. Most things take time, and progress often comes from accumulation rather than quick wins.
I always encourage younger professionals to start from the basics and learn properly. You need to be humble, willing to listen, and open to the idea that you may not always be right. Guests change, the industry changes, and what worked before won’t always work again.
Curiosity is also incredibly important. If you’re curious, you’ll want to understand more — not just your own role, but how everything connects. That mindset prepares you for what comes next and allows you to grow with the industry rather than struggle to catch up.
Thoughts on part-timers?
Part-time staff have become a permanent and important part of the hotel workforce, especially in the years following Covid. The labor structure has changed, and many people now value flexibility and varied experiences over traditional full-time roles.
Because of that development, part-timers can no longer be treated as a temporary solution. They are part of long-term operations, and the challenge is making sure they feel engaged and included. When people don’t feel connected to the team, it shows in the level of service.
That makes training and communication even more critical. How we integrate part-time staff into the culture of the hotel directly affects how guests experience the service.
What is your approach to managing negative feedback from guests?
My first response to negative feedback is always to listen — really listen. Guests are often emotional, and they may not explain the issue clearly at first. If you listen carefully, you can usually understand what’s actually bothering them.
I always remind my team not to become defensive. Guests can sense that immediately, and once that happens, the situation tends to escalate rather than improve. Listening with patience helps defuse tension.
Even when a problem can’t be resolved right away, responding with sincerity matters. Guests need to feel that someone genuinely cares about their experience. That alone can change the direction of the interaction.
What do you listen for in those moments?
I’m listening for more than just the words. Behind the complaint, there’s usually frustration or disappointment. If you only focus on the surface issue, you may miss the real problem. I try to listen to the feeling underneath and understand what the guest is truly unhappy about.
How do you balance case-by-case solutions while still following standard operating procedures?
Standard operating procedures exist for a reason. Consistency matters, and guests expect a certain level of service every time they stay with us.
At the same time, no two situations are exactly the same. Balancing protocol and flexibility requires strong judgment. If teams understand the principles behind the procedures — not just the rules themselves — they’re better equipped to respond appropriately in different situations.
That’s why empowerment is important. When people only follow the book, service can become rigid. When they understand the intent, they can adapt while still protecting the standard.
As the hotel approaches its 35th anniversary, how do you see Grand Hyatt Taipei embracing future change while maintaining what has made it successful?
Stability is essential in hospitality. A hotel like Grand Hyatt Taipei is built over many years, and guests come back because they trust what they will experience. Change has to be thoughtful and purposeful, not change for the sake of change.
At the same time, the market and guest expectations continue to evolve, and we have to evolve with them. The key is being very clear about who we are — what our strengths are and what needs to be protected — while still allowing room to move forward.
That balance is what allows a long-established property to remain relevant without losing its identity.
How do you relax when your workday is done?
I try to create clear separation once I leave the hotel. It’s important for me to leave work behind and reset.
Sundays are when I really slow down. I usually start the day with a video call with my brother in New Jersey.
I also make a point of going out for lunch with my sisters, followed by doing laundry in one sister’s apartment, which I find oddly soothing. Family lunch on Sunday is something we’ve continued to do, just as we used to with our mother when she was still alive. Keeping that Sunday tradition matters to me.
I try to keep Sundays unstructured. It’s a simple day, but it creates space before the week begins again, especially given how demanding the days ahead can be.
