The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

Customer Service may be an elusive concept, but it certainly is one of the things you recognize most when it is missing. The Ritz-Carlton brand name, however, has been standing for excellence in service since its very beginning, mastering this particular field like no other company. The ongoing success inevitably raises the questions: What are they really selling? What is the essence of the Ritz-Carlton experience?

During the staff orientation, Mr. Schulze remarked, that the Ritz-Carlton Company was not in the hotel business but rather in the service business. Selling rooms, selling food and selling the bar were just a mere side effect for them. But is selling another service in today’s services society really able to explain the witnessed successes? The well-kept secret of many outstanding salesmen is never to sell a product or a service, but to sell a feeling. This is exactly what the Ritz-Carlton Company does, but what is the essence of this experience?

According to the credo, the Ritz-Carlton experience consists of “enlivening the senses, instilling well-being and fulfilling even unexpressed wishes and needs of your customers” or in one term “genuine care”. Genuine care can only be achieved with exceptional employee commitment. Guests have to be treated with the uttermost respect and dignity, from the warm and sincere greeting to the fond farewell, always personalized and highly professional. Personalization establishes long lasting customer relationships, as the customer feels like he is getting preferential treatment. Perfect quality and conflict management is also essential for the Ritz-Carlton experience, as it is the key to keeping the finest personal service and facilities on a constantly high level. Finding and committing the needed highly talented individuals is a difficult task as such, but how does The Ritz-Carlton make them “Ladies and Gentlemen” in only 7 days?

The Ritz-Carlton has to resort to some tricks to accomplish that. Firstly, they are not a hundred percent gentlemen after the 7-day countdown, they are trained to meet the quality standards at fifty percent load. Later, with the experience growing, the load can slowly be ramped up with the quality level staying the same. Secondly, they mostly teach values instead of strict rules. This empowers their future employees to behave according to those values and thus saves a lot of time in the teaching process. Secondly, they establish a corporate culture that is obligatory for everyone and results in a strong we-spirit. Organization in teams e.g. kitchen, housekeeping etc., a strong sense of belonging to the team and internal competition between those teams also speeds up their learning on the quest for excellence in quality. Thirdly, they make