Rejuvenation of the Lido name

For the more active, the hotel boasts the largest sunlit swimming pool in Beijing and a well-equipped gym, says Stackler.

Though the word stress is "news" for her, the Austrian says that when she is indeed stressed out, the gym is her favorite place to refresh.

"All these things make the hotel an ideal urban resort where people can work and relax under the same roof."

Besides the facilities, Stackler makes sure the hotel is warm and comfortable.

She makes sure her staff are trained to pay attention to the details that make a hotel stand out, just as her eye for these little things has made her stand out. As a woman who has risen to the top of a mostly male-dominated industry, she capitalizes on this advantage.

She studied home economics and hotel management for eight years, and started her career as a linen washer in Germany. In the last 19 years, she has worked in different roles in hotels under the InterContinental Hotel Group in countries ranging from Zambia to Indonesia and now China.

"I appreciate a company where you can grow, where you can learn. And the reason I stay here is because they developed me. I am what I am today because of the IHG.

"A company may pay you a lot of money but if it doesn't develop you or invest in you, you will be falling backward after two or three years."

Kenneth Macpherson, chief executive of IHG Greater China, says attracting, developing and retaining talent is one of the important things the group values. The group now employs 60,000 staff members, and will create another 30,000 jobs by 2015.

"It has been a remarkable journey for IHG in China over the past years," says Macpherson upon the 30th anniversary of its operations in China.

Stackler says being self-motivated is crucial because "nobody can develop you if you do not want to be developed".

She always works hard and keeps things well organized because of her belief that people must be ready, or at least be reasonably ready, for what they are going to do.

"Things sometimes happen at the last minute but I never do things at the last minute."

It is not surprising then that she is positive her hotel will hold its own against the intense competition in the hospitality industry in Beijing.

"It is good to have a competitive market. It keeps us moving ahead and thinking about how to make things happen."