Either Richard Hatter is a good storyteller or he has one of the best jobs in the hotel industry. Imagine James Bond visiting Q at gadget central as he prepares to take on the world: This is the picture Hatter conjures up as he describes the cutting edge technology and futuristic nature of operations at Hong Kong’s Hotel ICON, of which he is the general manager.

Granted, Hatter doesn’t pretend to be invincible, nor do his hotel’s beds fly up against the wall at the flick of his gold watch, but he still makes the property sound like the prototype for the world’s most forward-thinking hotel.

And in some ways, it is. The hotel contains three ‘prototype’ rooms, where advanced design, technology and lifestyle concepts are tested, to determine what guests do and don’t want from their hotel experience. Currently, one of the rooms is set up with a Zeppelin Air iPod dock, Brinno digital peephole, Biozone airpurifier and a Cybertecture mirror – an interactive, intelligent mirror connected to the internet, which displays news and weather. On the drawing board for future testing are hypoallergenic furnishings, which means the hotel’s carpet and curtains will clean themselves.

So far, so good. Despite only opening in April 2011, Hotel ICON has already received accolades for its design, service and facilities, including the Condé Nast UK ‘Hot List 2012’. It’s made it onto the 2011 DestinAsian Luxe List for Asia-Pacific Top Hotels, its Above & Beyond Chinese Restaurant has been granted three ‘fork-and-spoons’ from the Michelin Guide Hong Kong Macau 2012, and it’s one of Hong Kong’s top five best ranked hotels on Trip Advisor. So, what makes it so good?

“Our guests just love our service,” Hatter explains. “Our staff manage to get the right balance between being helpful and not overdoing it.”

But what makes Hotel ICON even more inspiring is the fact this cutting edge hotel is not bank-rolled by a large hotel chain – Hotel ICON is owned by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and has been set up primarily as a teaching and research hotel for the university’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM).

In keeping with its James Bond-esque mystique, the hotel is housed in the same building as the laboratories and classrooms of SHTM and its primary function is to act as a test bed for its hospitality management students. The hotel is run by 362 full time staff, 60 of whom are students from the university’s undergraduate programme, and all profits made by the hotel are ploughed back into the school to fund further education.

For Hatter, who works 80 per cent of his time as the hotel’s general manager and 20 per cent as an adjunct professor teaching at the university, he sees the hotel and course as a way of shaping a new breed of future hotel luminaries, saying“We teach the latest trends, we inspire with the newest ideas and we deliver them in an honest and focused, forward-thinking, ‘real’ way,” adding “You won’t find what we teach our students in any textbook, or in the kind of company manual you get in other hotels. Our aim is to develop leaders who are bold, inventive, and who lead rather than follow.”

HOW IT BEGAN
In 1976, PolyU began offering a vocational course in hotel management. At the time, Cornell University in the US and Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland were the best known schools for hotel management. Yet in Asia and in particular, China and Macau, there was a boom in the hotel market and a gap in the number of qualified people to work in them. According to Hatter, even today, there are tens of thousands of key management positions unfilled in hotels in China.

PolyU spotted a gap in the market for an top Asia-based hotel management school and in 1979, the government-owned university decided to establish its School of Hotel & Tourism Management (SHTM) with the intention of eventually making it one of the best hotel management schools in the world.

The school’s reputation quickly began to grow. Today, PolyU is ranked number two in the world for research in hotel management and attracts almost 2,000 students from all over the world.

THE HOTEL
In 2005, PolyU decided to convert its student dorms next door to its main campus into a teaching research hotel. In doing this, it had three main aims; to offer managerial training for its students, to offer “real world” experiences to its students and to become a centre of excellence for the global hotel industry. PolyU provided the US$167m (HK$1.3bn) needed to build the hotel, the School of Hotel and Tourism Management and the University House Complex. In support, the government offered a low land premium.

Because of the altruistic nature of the project, Hatter says PolyU managed to pull in some of Hong Kong’s top designers to work on the architecture, interior design, uniforms and branding at Hotel ICON. He describes Hotel ICON as “a stylish testament to Hong Kong’s creative energy and vibrant art scene.” The hotel showcases work from the city’s celebrated designers and visionaries including Rocco Yim, William Lim, Vivienne Tam and Freeman Lau.

The hotel has 262 rooms and its facilities include an Angsana spa, health club, and outdoor pool overlooking Hong Kong’s harbour. Its Chinese fine dining restaurant Above & Beyond and the more informal Market restaurant were designed by Conran & Partners, while the Green café bar was designed by William Lim.

Year-to-date occupancy is at 75 per cent. Currently, 24 per cent of guests come from Europe, 15 per cent from China, 13 per cent from the US and eight per cent from Australia. The remainder come from within other parts of Asia. Hatter insists they do not conceal the fact that Hotel ICON is a teaching and research hotel. “Hotel ICON is a hotel with a purpose,” he says. “Far from detracting from their stay, guests wax lyrical about our outstanding service standards.”

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE
But it’s not just the guests who are impressed by Hotel ICON. The hotel is so advanced in terms of technology and thought-leadership that Hatter regularly plays host to hoteliers who come to be inspired by what they see. From state-of-the-art Bose sound systems in guest bedrooms to the latest Wi-Fi and flat screen IPTV technology, the hotel is an experiment in futuristic guest experiences. Right now, for instance, Hotel ICON’s prototype paperless guest software system is so far ahead of its time that other hotel operators would struggle to get their hands on it.

Even the staff uniforms have been designed using unconventional fabric swatches. Hatter says innovation is at the core of everything they do at the hotel. “We want to set a good example to our students about how they should approach their thinking. We aim to create trends – not simply follow them.”

Because it plays such an important role in the future of the hotel industry, the SHTM collects research data from guests that stay at Hotel ICON, which is then analysed by the students and published and reported via research papers given by the SHTM professors at industry seminars. The data is used to improve both the efficiency and the guest experience at the hotel.

DOWN TO BUSINESS
Like any business, Hotel ICON is expected to turn over a profit. The hotel was cash positive after the first month of operation and in profit after three. Any surplus goes straight back into education and research at the PolyU. Having said that, achieving financial success – although important – isn’t what drives Hatter.

What gets Hatter excited is nurturing future talent for the hospitality and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region. “I was looking for something more meaningful in my work,” he explains. “All the staff here, including me, have dual responsibility, to be a mentor to the students. It allows me to tap into my desires to address the different ways in which students learn.”

The SHTM has a Professor For a Day scheme in which industry professionals are invited to speak to students. Hatter says this is a more responsive way of learning: “As soon as a hospitality text book is printed, it’s out of date,” he says. “If I want to make a point to students, I can bring in the director of revenue or F&B manager to tell them the way things really are.”

Students can study for a higher diploma, bachelor, masters or doctorate in hotel and tourism management and have to complete industry placements as part of their study. Although they can choose to work in any hotel in the world, Hatter says many opt to stay at Hotel ICON. “Hotel ICON is an independent hotel unconstrained by a brand,” he explains. “We can be more experimental. There’s no corporate guy saying ‘you can’t do that’. We’re about nurturing responsive, confident people – future leaders.”

Every six weeks, interns work in a new department, from F&B to admin, to guest rooms. They also do a stint in the research department to learn about guest profiling.

For Hatter, the Hotel ICON model represents the future for hotel and tourism education. “We’re the tomorrow hotel,” he says. “Our students are sure to become tomorrow’s hospitality leaders, which is exciting for the future of the industry.”