Yi Li Dawson ‘10: Hospitality Marketing and Communications

Yi Li is the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at Dorsett Hospitality International, where she oversees the group’s global branding and communications strategy.

Name: Yi Li Dawson
Graduating Year: 2010
Years at CIS: 7
Current city of residence: Hong Kong

Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

After graduating from CIS and the University of Nottingham where I studied a joint-honours BA in English and History, I came back to Hong Kong and started my career as a lifestyle journalist at LifestyleAsia. I got the job pretty much as soon as graduated as I had done an internship for them the year before over the summer. That’s what so great about Hong Kong – there are so many opportunities here to really pursue something which would have a higher barrier to entry in other cities across the world.

Soon after, I was promoted and eventually became Hong Kong Editor for LifestyleAsia and worked there for three years before joining W Hong Kong hotel as their Assistant Manager, Public Relations. At that point, I was ready for a new challenge and wanted to learn more about marketing and public relations. I decided to pursue a part-time masters at the University of Leicester in Communications, Media and Public Relations to supplement the real-life experience I was getting at the new job. This was a really critical time in my career as I had switched from being in a small start-up to a more corporate and operations role. Public relations came quite naturally to me due to my media background but I also had the opportunity to learn and be involved in branding, sales strategies and how to work with and manage different stakeholders and shareholders.

Following this, I spent two and a half years at #legend magazine where I was both the Marketing Manager and Digital Editor, overseeing all online content but also the events and marketing strategy for the publishing group.

For the last three years, I have moved back to focus on marketing, communications and branding in the hospitality industry as the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at Dorsett Hospitality International. Here, I oversee, coordinate and drive the strategy for the Hong Kong-based hospitality group’s branding and communications globally across their 56 hotels and properties.

(From Hok-Yin Yiu, Alumni Relations Officer at CIS) Hello from a fellow University of Nottingham Alum! What was your favourite memory from your time at Nottingham?

Honestly, there are so many. The University of Nottingham offers both a stunning campus experience (they filmed one of the Batman films at Wollaton Hall during my time there!) as well as a great city life with enough good dim sum places I could go to when I missed Hong Kong! Honestly, I would have to say my favourite memory would be the seven-legged race in Nottingham. You had to tie your feet together with 6 of your friends and do a pub crawl around town – I remember one year it was trending on Twitter in the UK!

What makes a great event?

Events have obviously changed a lot since Covid-19. However, I actually feel that it’s reminded people of what really matters. Events are really all about connecting people. Sure, having that novelty factor and offering something new and trendy will definitely bring that real-time and social media engagement you’re probably looking for. I remember when GIF photo booths were the hottest thing in Hong Kong. Then in the last few years it’s been E! and Cole Walliser’s infamous Glambot shooting slow-motion 4K video portraits taking the spotlight at all the major red carpets in the U.S. However, there will always be something new, especially with technology, and while it’s important to keep on top of this, I personally believe that really committing to and executing a good theme and having a clear and relevant purpose to your event is really what makes an event truly memorable and successful.

One of the most successful events I threw at W Hong Kong was a Bollywood-themed party to promote the opening of W Hotel’s 50th hotel – W Goa. We wanted it to really be a celebration of Indian culture with a nod to how much influence Indian music, food and fashion have had internationally! So we really paid a lot of attention to all the details – we brought on a henna artist for the night who also created a henna-inspired ‘W Hong Kong’ temporary tattoo that we sent out with the event invite, we found an incredible dancer Saaj who had competed in one of Britain’s Got Talent semi-finals to do a performance and teach our guests some Bollywood moves and all our drinks and food also had an Indian touch. The event was only a few hours but guests stayed on in the hotel bar ordering drinks for the rest of the evening because we had really created such a high-energy atmosphere.

What attracted you to the hotel/hospitality industry?

It was a challenge and quite honestly, I had my own doubts when I decided to take the jump. Despite securing a job upon graduation, I did do several job interviews to keep my options open and I remember interviewing for a PR position at a hotel in Macau. It was very intense and they essentially told me I was not right for the role because I didn’t study Hospitality. Now, look at me! The hospitality industry really pushes you to learn about all aspects of the business and that is ultimately what attracted me.

From a PR perspective, you have to understand the lifestyle segment, of course, because hotels cater to people who love to travel but oftentimes, there will also be F&B, other facilities such as events and meeting spaces as well as a pool, gym and spa and you’ll also develop essential skills in crisis communications when dealing with complaints or any incidents that may happen to guests or the property itself. It really gives you a well-rounded experience across different industries and areas. You also get really involved in operations – you can’t help the hotel team create campaigns if you don’t get a good understanding of their difficulties and challenges.

On top of that, working in the hospitality industry you get wider brand-level experience. I worked at property level when I was at W Hong Kong and I would have the opportunity to work with and participate in workshops with both Marriott International (the parent company) as well as the W Hotels Global team. In my current role, I’ve switched places again! At corporate level, I work with our hotel teams under different brands worldwide to ensure we are all aligned in delivering the right brand experience and messaging to our guests.

There is really so much to learn.

What is the craziest guest request you have had to deal with/heard of?

I remember one guest requesting a very particular, traditional Taiwanese dessert. We didn’t offer it at the hotel but our guest relations team wanted to do what they could to get it for him. He was an actor and I remember everyone panicking that day – I think they may have had to go to Macau and bring it back to Hong Kong to get it.

The pandemic has undoubtedly hit your industry hard. From a branding and communications perspective, how have you had to adjust your strategy during Covid?

We’ve done a lot more brand-building and crisis communications throughout the pandemic. The hospitality industry is one of the industries that have been hit the hardest with travel in the state that it currently still is. It’s definitely made us a lot more agile but also a lot more open to working with our peers and other partners to still try to give the best experience we can to our guests despite the circumstances. Transparency and integrity are key – this is really how we’ve managed to build a reputation as offering one of the best quarantine hotel experiences in Hong Kong. Our strategy and the global situation may have changed, but our commitment to looking after our guests remain the same.

We’ve looked over half a million quarantine guests worldwide so far, over 12,000 medical front liners and 300 Afghan refugees in our Dorsett Shepherds Bush hotel in London. Our resources are our rooms so we felt a shared responsibility to do what we could to support the community during Covid.

Where is your favourite holiday destination and why?

I’ve really been lucky to be able to have travelled to many different places. I would have to say that my favourite holiday destination would be Phuket. I love going to the beach and Phuket has one of the best sunsets I have ever seen – particularly from Sri Panwa’s incredibly intimate Baba Nest Rooftop Bar (you need to book at least a month in advance). They also have one of the best gyms I’ve ever been to called Unit 27. I like to go there and hit a morning workout at Unit 27, stroll down the street to one of the healthy restaurants for lunch and then head to the beach or pool for the rest of the day.

What is your fondest memory of CIS?

My fondest memory of CIS would probably be all the small moments we spent at school outside of class! I think it really says something when your students aren’t in any rush to go home after school. When we were younger, it would be to spend time with our friends and watch our classmates play football on the third floor. Then as we got older, we’d be messing about on the guitar in the common room, studying together and exchanging ideas and aspirations about our future.

Any advice you would give to graduates looking to get into the hotel/hospitality industry?

Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to study ‘Hospitality’ in order to get into the industry. I’ve found that studying solid academic subjects such as English or History or just something that really interests you will put you in the best place to get a career you will find fulfilling and be successful at. I would also highly recommend investing your time in summer internships (for at least 2 months) and making use of the CIS alumni network to find work experience as it will put you in really good stead in finding a job when you’ve graduated. Try and experience as much as you can. Employers, especially in the hospitality industry, will look for candidates who are able to bring new perspectives to the business more so than a person who has studied and experienced the same thing as everyone else.

Don’t underestimate the value of communication, problem-solving and analytical skills. When I was a student, I used to think these were just fluffy words to make things sound more impressive but now I see how important they are. These basic skills are what will really differentiate you from others when it comes to progressing into more senior roles in the future.