I would actually say that Marriott recruiting in China is among the strongest of all the major flags. They are extremely adept at finding the best young English speakers that their (well above average) budget allows for, and once they get them in the program, they provide extensive training. In fact, a number of the trainees I met when I first became familiar with Marriott/RC Asia ~10 years ago have gone on to become assistant GMs and GMs at prestigious properties outside of the region.

That having been said, the reality of the economics is that people who speak truly outstanding English in Shanghai can easily find employment for Y10,000/month these days... and no hotel pays its rank and file at this level. Sure, both prestige factor and advancement opportunities are worth quite a bit, but not a $1,000/month hit.

So, what you end up with are enthusiastic people who are good at English, but not excellent. I've exchanged emails with many of them, and frankly a lot of details get missed in the process. By contrast, in person or phone communications never fail to get to bottom of things in short order. It's true that I speak Chinese so I always have that as a fallback whenever an impasse comes along, but I try my best to communicate with them in English because that's what most prefer (i.e. they are very hard, so I'm loath to demean their accomplishments).