Page 103 - The New Gold Standard

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learning’ to take place to quickly refresh that service delivery
standard.”
Mark DeCocinis, regional vice president of Asia Pacific, be-
lieves that the company’s commitment to training and skills cer-
tification gives them a competitive advantage in international
markets. “For example, Asia Pacific is in a unique position as
having won best employer in the region (in all employment cat-
egories) in multiple destinations. As such, we are able to attract
the very best of talent available in the market. With our sound
human resources practices, where every employee joining Ritz-
Carlton receives more than 250 hours of training in the first year
of operation, we develop and nurture a well-trained and loyal
team of Ladies and Gentlemen who are at the very heart of our
operations. Therefore, in emerging nations such as China, where
there is a chronic shortage of qualified hospitality staff, we are
able to appeal to and employ the very best local talent available
and fully certify them in our Ritz-Carlton philosophy. This
training and being part of the Ritz-Carlton culture engenders a
great sense of commitment from all of our Ladies and Gentle-
men, and they feel empowered and engaged in their own deci-
sion making and in their own career development.”
While the 21-day certification process is constantly occur-
ring as new hires are brought into an existing hotel, the task of
initially training staff for a new hotel opening is rather daunt-
ing. Senior leadership at Ritz-Carlton work together to source
the coaching needs of the new hotel by drawing some of the
most talented coaches and trainers from throughout the Ritz-
Carlton system. Roberto Van Geenen, general manager of The
Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, says, “Our process starts about 52 weeks
before we open our doors, and every single week we have to
meet certain milestones. When I arrived in Dallas a year before
the opening, there were only three of us here—the director of
sales and marketing, one assistant, and me. But the most intense
action occurs in the hotel 10 days before launch, a period we call
‘countdown.’ During that countdown, we run the hotel like a

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