How Dongcheng Hotels' Young Staff Boost Performance by 90% with AI Coaching

At 3 a.m., the lights of Huaihua, Hunan had faded into darkness. Wang Wenqiang, deputy manager at Paiwan Hotel Huaihua, was awakened from deep sleep by an urgent phone call—a newly hired front desk employee had failed to properly handle a guest's room change request, resulting in a customer complaint demanding compensation.

Similar issues were not new.

In recent years, Paiwan Hotel’s parent company, Dongcheng Group, has accelerated its "Thousand Cities, Ten Thousand Hotels" strategy, rapidly expanding its number of hotel locations. After a year of hard work, Wang had risen from front desk staff to manager and then to hotel manager, ready to make his mark—only to be met with harsh reality:

Front desk staff turnover remained stubbornly high, with some employees leaving after just one week of training. Employee skill levels varied widely; if trained by veteran instructors from headquarters, it took over a month for newcomers to become proficient. Meanwhile, business travelers expected noise issues resolved within five minutes, families required solutions catering to three generations, and pet owners demanded “dedicated concierge service.” With every guest having unique needs, employees often froze when faced with unexpected situations.

Wang grew increasingly frustrated by his team’s lack of capability, unable to drive performance growth—and began losing hair.

AI Coach Arrives: Ready to Work Solo in 2 Hours

The turning point came in June this year, when Dongcheng Group rolled out DingTalk’s “AI Coach” across all operations. Wang immediately organized managers and front desk staff to adopt it. Two months later, results were clear: new employees could independently take on duties after just two hours of AI training, achieving a 90% faster proficiency rate, with noticeable reductions in customer complaints.

The manager once tormented by midnight calls now leisurely brews gongfu tea in his office: “Before, managers trained people. Now, AI trains them.”

The Hidden Human Efficiency Crisis Behind Chain Expansion

The 3 a.m. complaint call was merely a microcosm of broader challenges facing China’s chain hotel industry.

In recent years, Dongcheng Group has grown to operate 3,500 hotels across more than 200 cities worldwide, with 70,000 employees serving an average of 130,000 consumers daily. As scale expands rapidly, frontline front desk roles face serious hurdles: an annual turnover rate of 45%, long training cycles, and high costs—all acting as roadblocks to sustainable growth.

This is not an isolated case but a common bottleneck across the entire hospitality sector.

The Pain Points of Traditional Training

At headquarters: limited instructor resources, high external hiring costs, rigid training models, geographical dispersion making coverage difficult, course completion dependent on manual checks, and lack of quantitative feedback mechanisms.

For front desk staff: fragmented learning time, passive training participation, overly theoretical content lacking real-world scenarios, difficulty translating knowledge into practical service skills.

For management: experienced store managers’ expertise is hard to capture and pass on; mentorship-based training is inefficient and difficult to replicate.

In the past, new hires had to record operational videos reviewed by managers—a process taking about a month, covering only four basic modules, followed by further on-the-job trial and error.

AI Mentor Launches: Interactive Real-World Simulation

Starting in June this year, Dongcheng Group officially launched DingTalk’s AI Coach, assigning a “gold-standard store mentor” to every front desk employee.

The system simulates real guest interactions through conversational exercises: AI plays the role of a challenging guest, while employees respond via Q&A, building real-time problem-solving skills.

After each session, AI provides a comprehensive score based on responses, offering detailed analysis—such as whether key phrases were used, service attitude, understanding of customer needs, and effectiveness in resolving issues—helping employees improve precisely.

“The key to AI Coach,” said Wang Wenqiang, “is embedding gold-standard concierge experience directly into new employees’ minds like an operating system, transforming them from armchair theorists into实战 experts.”

Remarkable Results: Cost Reduction, Efficiency Gains, Service Upgrades

Leveraging AI Coach, Dongcheng has achieved low-cost mass replication of premium service capabilities, significantly enhancing standardization and core competitiveness.

New employees respond faster, complaints have dropped, and customer satisfaction has increased. Across more than 3,000 stores nationwide, cumulative training labor cost savings exceed 3 million RMB.

Yang Wenjun, a Gen Z front desk employee at Paiwan Hotel Zhanjiang who switched careers, initially felt anxious due to mistakes in information registration. After using AI Coach, she completed 43 training sessions in one week—over 14 hours—and improved her scores from failing to above 90.

“I used to be afraid to ask questions, worried about looking stupid,” she admitted. “AI lets me practice stress-free anytime, anywhere, and clearly see where I need improvement.”

Now preparing for her manager certification, AI Coach has become her “score booster,” filling her with confidence.

AI-Powered “Talent Insurance”

According to the *2024 China Hotel Industry Development Report*, by the end of 2023, China had 90,600 chain hotels, with a chain penetration rate rising to 40.95%. During this era of industrial scaling, digitalization has become mainstream.

While competitors race for expansion speed, Dongcheng has leveraged AI to elevate human efficiency and service quality to new levels: slashing training costs, doubling new hire productivity, improving service experiences, and winning consumer recognition.

Wang Wenqiang summed it up: “People are at the heart of service. AI Coach brings hope to what has long been an inefficient talent development process. Today, not only front desk staff, but also employees from group training departments and brand divisions are gradually adopting AI Coach for career advancement.”

AI transforms top performers’ experience into replicable digital assets, empowering every employee equally—this is like purchasing “talent insurance” for chain hotels.

In Dongcheng’s AI testbed, they’ve cultivated not just faster growth, but a resilient development logic:

Turning every employee into a well-rounded “hexagonal warrior,” turning every customer feedback into fuel for iteration, and turning every crisis simulation into a springboard for growth.

While the industry struggles with price wars and growth anxiety, Dongcheng has already ignited a new engine for the future of hospitality—with AI leading the way.

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