An 800-Room, Five-Star, Often-Overbooked Juggernaut
A nostalgic memoir excerpt from a former Hong Kong Hilton front-of-house team member, recalling life managing an 800-room five-star property in the pre-digital era of the 1970s.
The Hong Kong Hilton, circa 1976. — Photo by Pertlink Limited
Cast: Rajeev Ratti, Niale McLoughlin, and me — Terence Ronson. Mission: fill the hotel, keep the guests happy, and — most days — stay sane.
Somewhere around 1976, three of us found ourselves working the lobby of the Hong Kong Hilton — an 800-plus-room, five-star, often-overbooked juggernaut. We decided we were The Lobby Boys, a title adopted long before The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Looking back, I suspect we were hired mainly for our good looks, our willingness to work for little money, and enough chutzpah to charm our way out of almost anything. The bar, it seems, was refreshingly low.
This was a different planet entirely. Guests wrote letters — sometimes a full year ahead of arrival. They sent telegrams and telexes. We did not have faxes back then. They flew in on long-haul flights before Business Class had even been invented, stepped off exhausted, and expected a room, immediately, no fuss. The concept of queuing to check in had not been invented yet.
We were hired mainly for our good looks, our willingness to work for little money, and enough chutzpah to charm our way out of almost anything.
Terence Ronson
Read the full story ofThe Lobby Boys. Available now.
By Terence Ronson, on behalf of The Lobby Boys — Niale, Rajeev, and Terence
About Pertlink Limited
Pertlink Limited is a boutique hospitality technology and AI advisory consultancy. It was founded in Hong Kong on 23 October 2000 and now operates across the Philippines and the wider Asia-Pacific. Founder and Managing Director Terence Ronson leads the firm and is an inductee of both the HFTP International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame and the CHTA Hall of Fame.
Pertlink helps hotel owners, operators, developers and tourism bodies make sound decisions about technology and AI, from pre-opening systems design to AI strategy, governance and adoption. Its work is built on its own frameworks, including TCPG (Token Cost Per Guest), HXO (Human Experience Orchestrator) and the Hybrid Hospitality Framework. Through its Pertlink Viewpoint series, the firm turns global AI and technology developments into practical guidance for boards, C-suites and operators.
The goal hasn't changed since 2000: technology that genuinely improves the guest experience, now with AI in the mix.
Media Contact
Terence Ronson
Founder and Managing Director [email protected]