Page 24 - The New Gold Standard

The Ritz-Carlton Experience

opened in 1905, he was not able to return to his business. His
eventual successor was his son Charles.
Even though César Ritz’s tenure at the helm of his own ho-
tels was relatively short, he is credited with influencing luxury
hotel design and service standards that persist to this day.

Boston’s call for a world-class hotel, The Ritz-Carlton, Boston,
leveraged the reputation of the Ritz properties in Europe and
delivered a regal hotel to an emerging high society in Boston,
opening with a room rate of $15. Through the years, The Ritz-
Carlton, Boston, defined the American luxury hotel experience
by providing uniformly clad waitstaff, private baths in all guest
rooms, and small lobbies for a personal guest greeting place.
Ritz-Carlton sales revenues have tripled in the past several
years, from $1.2 billion in 1998 to nearly $3.0 billion in 2007.
Additionally, the company continues to accelerate its global
growth plan and focuses on a strategy that includes the reinvest-
ment of more than $1 billion in upgrades and renovations. De-
spite these financial accomplishments, the Ritz-Carlton brand
has not always maintained a steady level of fiscal success.
Following the New York Stock Market crash in 1929, Amer-
ican and European hotels carrying the Ritz-Carlton name faced
financial collapse and closure. In fact, with the exception of The
Ritz-Carlton, Boston, all Ritz-Carlton hotels in the United
States were closed. The market’s difficulties derailed the well-
crafted strategy that had brought Ritz-Carlton the loyalty of the
world’s wealthiest and most influential clientele. As the com-
pany’s traditional customer base experienced a great loss of
wealth, the leadership at the hotels had difficulty filling the
sumptuous dining halls and elegantly appointed suites. Even ho-
tels that survived through much of the crisis were facing chal-
lenges to operate, much less maintain, the standards of luxury
that guests had come to expect from Ritz-Carlton.

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