Managing State-Owned Hotels in China: The Challenges and Remedies

State-owned hotel (SOH) management is highly controversial given its poor economic performance, state ownership, and unique management structure. This article identifies the challenges of SOHs and discusses how the SOHs can improve their performance. The results, based on 15 semistructured interviews with state-owned hotel senior managers and employees, suggest that the SOHs in Hangzhou are encountering various problems in relation to their ownership, human resources, market competition, and management. Suggestions to improve the performance of SOHs in China are offered.