Rainy Chan tells Yeoh Siew Hoon why it's hard to be a woman – well, only some of the time.
It's easy to dismiss Rainy Chan as a curiosity. After all, not only does she have an unusual name but she is also one of the very few women general managers in a male-dominated industry.
You could also accord her a lot of firsts – the first home-grown woman general manager in the Peninsula Group; the first woman general manager of a five-star chain hotel in Bangkok, Thailand; the first Chinese woman, etc etc …
But Rainy would rather you know her as a professional hotelier who, like many before her, have worked her butt off to get to where she is today.
Her name is Rainy because in school in Hong Kong, she was a cry baby. "I am a sensitive person. I cry easily, nothing wrong with that," she confesses.
Her nickname was "Lok Yi" (Cantonese for rain), and Rainy she became.
"I don't cry anymore though. I have changed," she says, over our dim sum lunch at the Peninsula Hotel, Bangkok.
I suspect that isn't true. I suspect Rainy still cries – but being a grown-up, she probably does her crying these days in private because for some reason, "in the working world, crying is seen as a sign of weakness", says Rainy.
"So no, I don't cry at meetings."
Rainy however is not afraid of being guided by her emotions. "It's a people's business. Dealing with guests and personal issues of staff can leave me empty at the end of the day – it affects me a lot.
"But I wouldn't change that aspect of the job. This business is all about emotion, all about people. If you cut out the emotion from our business, it would be pretty sad."
Does this affect her objectivity in decision-making? "No, the decisions I make have very little to do with my emotion. You have to balance emotion with facts and information.
"I may execute it differently though. Females tend to nurture problems while men tend to say, let's solve it now. You have to consider, is the solution a one-off, to get that person out of my hair, or does it need a longer-term plan so that the problem goes away permanently?"
The Peninsula Bangkok is Rainy's first general manager posting. She was appointed to the plum position in August 2004. She started her hotel career in Maui, Hawaii, in 1989, with the Inter-Continental Resort. She joined the Peninsula Group in 1994 as front office manager at The Peninsula Hong Kong and rose to become Resident Manager at the Peninsula New York.
"I am very lucky that the company invested in me, gave me all the opportunities. They sent me to Cornell and Lausanne.
"I knew then that I had a chance to excel and that the only thing that would hold me back is myself.
"I made a decision then that I would become general manager."
The price she's paid for that ambition has been high, she says.
"You have to work very hard. Being a woman in a male-dominated environment puts pressure on you in ways that you don't even think about at the time.
"People judge you in ways they wouldn't judge a man. They say, would she have done that if she were a man? They expect you to act like a man."
She adds, "It also affects your personal life. Your life is constantly evolving. I like meeting new friends and immersing myself in new cultures but if I had a family, it would be very difficult."
Rainy, who is now single, confesses it is hard to build a personal life as a woman general manager. "A stay-at-home-dad is not considered normal but stay-at-home mums are normal so it's easier for male hoteliers to move around.
"My partner would have to take a step back in his career to move with me – this definitely narrows my chances of finding a partner," she laughs, adding, "I wouldn't blame my career for my personal life though. It's a choice I made.
"But I guess there's a reason why there are so few women general managers, especially in the five star environment – it's not easy."
Getting settled into her position in Bangkok, which she moved into a year ago, has also been interesting. "For months, they called me ‘the female general manager at the Peninsula'."
Staff also took a while to get used to her. "They were very curious, they were kind of watching. Is she weak? She is Asian. She is woman. Is she strong enough to be out leader?
"I came when business was good and Thailand was booming. Then came the tsunami and business was tough. I think it was after that they realized, hey, this female general manager is also a tough cookie.
"In the business battlefield, being female or male does not matter."
Rainy also wants to do things differently. She launched a female traveler programme on September 1.
"Most people said, she's only doing this because she's a woman. No, I am a business person. Do I understand it better? Yes, just like men understand golf packages better.
"I noticed at this hotel, a lot of mothers and daughters travelling together – from Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Our destination is perfect for them – you can have a great girls' weekend, shopping, going to the spa. Women also tend to like to do things together, more than men.
"Our programme has elements which encourage bonding with each other – meditation, medicals at Bangkok Nursing Home, skin care, makeovers.
"The idea is, ‘I arrive with my mother. I know her but when I leave, I will know her better'."
Thirty percent of her guests are women. "It's a huge market that is being overlooked," she laughs. "That's good for me."
The SHY Report
A regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry by one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, Yeoh Siew Hoon.
Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her company's mission is "Content, Communication, Connection". She is a writer, speaker, facilitator, trainer and events producer. She is also an author, having published "Around Asia In 1 Hr: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries". Her motto is ‘free to do, and be'. Contacts: Tel: 65-63424934, Mobile: 65-96801460Check out Siew Hoon's new website, www.shy-connection.com, which features a newly-launched e-zine with a difference. 
