There were a lot of things said at the HICAP conference in Hong Kong recently, as usual. But one remark stood out for me – that uttered by The Honourable Sir Michael Kadoorie, Chairman of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, when he accepted his Lifetime Achievement Award.

Here’s a man who knows what it’s like to run a longterm business, and one that is all about family and relationships. His family’s involvement with the hotel company dates back to the 1890s – when Eleazar (Elly) Silas Kadoorie bought his first shares in The Hongkong Hotel.

“Partnerships are very important,” he told Peter Barge, chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, who was conducting the interview. “You can’t be an expert in every area. For example, for a hotel, location is the most important thing and local developers know that best.

“It’s chemistry, like a marriage. Are you going to be able to sleep at night? And partnerships need to be nurtured and sometimes, after a while, there is a diversion because people are no longer motivated by the same reasons as when they started together.”

He admits he is deeply involved with partnerships. “That is the fabric of any organisation. It is vital to meet your business partners face to face. You can’t do it on the telephone or the new-fangled Blackberry – that won’t give you that tangible communication.”

As chairman of power supplier CLP Holdings, one of his key partners is Exxon and for the last 46 years, following on from the tradition set by his father, Sir Michael makes it a point to meet the chairman of Exxon once a year.

“I have maintained that partnership and I believe it is valued by both sides. That applies in anything we do.

“You cannot condense the human element and put it into the telephone line.”

Sir Michael, whose fortune is estimated at US$4.2 billion by Forbes, placing his family No 124 among the world’s top billionaires in 2009, also believes in managing for the longterm.

“We are lucky we can look at the longterm and are not pressured by the stock exchange which makes huge demands.”

He added, “In the long run, our shareholders have received value and our name is associated with a list of hotels which we continually try and improve upon.”

Sir Michael said customer expectations had risen and clients are now more demanding. “People don’t have time and they want to move from A to B and there is very little possibility to correct and people will only remember the things that go wrong.

“So we must simplify everything – even the electric switch. It’s reverse engineering, one function, one switch.”

As for where he’d like Peninsula Hotels to go next, he said, “After Paris, London – but we’ve been trying for 25-30 years. We are still trying very hard.”

He also named Mumbai and Delhi. “We have only eight hotels now, and we are trying to follow the pattern of where our guests will go. Europe must be on that list.”

The HICAP Lifetime Achievement Award is given by Horwath HTL and Burba Hotel Network (BHN), co-hosts and organizers of the annual Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP.

It is presented to a leader who has made a considerable difference in the hotel industry in the Asia Pacific region and in the world through positive actions and significant contributions. The last recipient of the Award was Stephen F. Bollenbach, Co-Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Hilton Hotels Corporation in 2007.