History of The Ritz-Carlton
In 1898, Cesar Ritz left his life as a shepherd in Switzerland and moved to Paris (Sucher & McManus, 2001). He worked in some of the finest hotels and restaurants in the city before opening up his own hotel (Sucher & McManus, 2001). A year later he opened the Carlton Hotel in London, which eventually became The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company (Sucher & McManus, 2001).
Keeping with Mr. Ritz’s vision of excellent personalized service the Ritz-Carlton expanded to North America (Sucher & McManus, 2001). The only hotel to survive the Great Depression and two world wars was the Ritz-Carlton in Boston (Sucher & McManus, 2001). In 1983, the Atlantic-based Johnson Company bought the North American rights to the
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The most crucial aspect of the hotel market is occupancy (Sucher & McManus, 2001). To address the occupancy aspect, The Ritz-Carlton’s managers focused around two groups, the independent travelers and meeting event planners (Sucher & McManus, 2001).
Independent Traveler and Meeting Event Planners The independent guest was given extra care and attention (Sucher & McManus, 2001). The Ritz-Carlton would meet travelers at the airport with drinks, discount coupons presented on silver trays, serenaded with piano concertos, and even created a hotel room in the airport (Sucher & McManus, 2001). In one hotel, they introduced the “Technology Butler”, which was a staff of technicians on call 24 hours a day to assist guests with computer issues (Sucher & McManus, 2001). This extra care and attention made the customer feel special and made to feel it was all about them (Sucher & McManus, 2001). The Ritz-Carlton knew the event attendees were testing the hotel to see how well they performed (Sucher & McManus, 2001). The Ritz-Carlton needed to show the attendees that their hotel offered something no one else offered (Sucher & McManus, 2001). These event attendees were referred to as the “vital few”. These “vital few” accounted for 40% of annual sales income. The event business pays the hotel’s mortgage and the individual traveler helps with their profit (Sucher & McManus, 2001). The event
We must know which visitors we can expect. For example, guests for a wedding (because a wedding will be held in one of the halls of the hotel), or businessmen who come for a business meeting, or a family on vacation.
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Millennium Partners and The Ritz Carlton Hotel have partnered up to open a hotel located in Washington D.C. This hotel will be a multi-use facility called the “Hospitality Complex” where you will find the 300-room Ritz Carlton Hotel, luxurious condos at the top of the complex, restaurants, spas, sports facilities, and retail shops. There is a huge concern that the time frame of the seven-day training process is not enough time from new employees to deliver the supreme guest service that the Ritz Carlton is known for. This Seven Day countdown prohibits the hotel from opening at a higher occupancy rate which means the hotel not making revenue.
The following report was derived from the primary use of secondary sources, in addition to telephone contact with hotel representatives. Secondary sources included research from the Internet, industry books, company marketing communications, trade and general business newspapers and magazines, among others. Through all the sources, relevant data and information was extracted into the report's appendices. After individual analysis and group discussion, the following report was devised. The mandate of this report is to provide a macro examination of the luxury hotel industry and specifically the future outlook of Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts, Inc.
To be the first choice of hotel guests, team members, and owners alike, building on the heritage and history by:
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