Page 73 - The New Gold Standard

Be Relevant
and painting of theatrical scenery; however, Ed Mady, vice pres-
ident and area general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, San Fran-
cisco, explains, “Scenography is as simple as understanding that
every business has its themes and its scenes. These themes and
scenes should be something you sense in our hotels. They should
emerge subtly from the way our property presents itself as op-
posed to our telling you what we are trying to achieve.”
Of his San Francisco hotel, Ed comments, “Our scenogra-
phy is opportunity and the epicurean journey. That opportunity
is defined by Northern California’s wine country. San Francisco
is often recognized as the no. 2 city in the United States behind
New York for its food. Through our great chef, Ron Segal, and
through many subtle aspects of the hotel, we focus on an epi-
curean journey of food and taste. That journey is heightened by
the little things, like the flowers we have chosen for our lobby or
our offering of fortune cookies near the front desk, since they
were invented here in San Francisco.” While not every business
has the opportunity to create a wide variety of scenes, it is im-
portant to appreciate how customers are becoming more at-
tuned to perspective, integration of details, and having products
and services placed in an appropriate setting.

Standards and Local Flair

The constant struggle faced by companies applying the Define
and Refine principle is knowing when something needs to be de-
fined as an unchangeable brand standard (something that guests
will look for across visits or locations as a predictable aspect of
their experience) and when something can be refined to reflect
local relevance.
In essence, leadership must discern when a business’s foun-
dation should be modified to best meet the situational needs of
the marketplace. Brian Gullbrants addresses this challenge daily
in his role as vice president of operations. According to Brian,
“When we talk about brand standards at Ritz-Carlton, we break

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