Page 21 - The New Gold Standard

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The Ritz-Carlton Experience

The customer is never wrong!

CÉSAR RITZ

Over a hundred years ago, a herdsman’s son
from a family of 13 began working in the hotel
|industry. While learning his craft, he was fired
from various jobs and was even told by one employer
that “in the hotel business you need an aptitude, a flair—
you haven’t a trace of it.” From those humble begin-
nings, the “hotelier of kings and king of hoteliers” César
Ritz completely revolutionized the luxury hotel indus-
try. Starting with The Ritz Paris and The Carlton in Lon-
don, César Ritz emphasized the guest experience, created
opulent physical environments, innovated hotel design,
produced settings of uncompromising quality, and es-
tablished what have become the gold standard for lux-
ury and the epitome of service excellence. His marks of
distinction have found their way into our lexicon with
descriptors like “ritzy” and “putting on the ritz.”
Yet, against this backdrop, and with significant at-
tention from the Harvard Business Review, BusinessWeek,
the Wall Street Journal, and other business periodicals,
there has never been a book written about The Ritz-
Carlton Hotel Company. When I approached its cur-
rent leadership about providing business readers with a

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Copyright © 2008 by Joseph A. Michelli. Click here for terms of use.