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PUTTIN ON THE RITZ Luxury hotels are booming, and hotels are adding more and more expensive rooms to compete for the highest - end customers
PUTTIN ON THE RITZ Luxury hotels are booming, and hotels are adding more and more expensive rooms to compete for the highestend customers Despite that vast number of hotels in the luxury hotel market, though, the undisputed leaders remain RitzCarlton hotels. RitzCarlton competes by simply offering the best service. So what exactly does this hotel chain do differently than its competitors, and how does it maintain its advantage based on superior service? RitzCarlton, owned by the hotel group Marriott International, consists of hotels in countries around the world. Ritz hotels employ people worldwide and train their employees in the efforts necessary to create the perfect service experience The history of RitzCarlton began in with the opening of the RitzCarlton Boston, a hotel renowned for the lengths it would go to for its guests, such as reupholstering the chairs in Winston Churchills room in red fabric to match his favorite color or redecorating the dcor of Joan Crawfords room with a theme of peppermint Lifesavers, her favorite candies RitzCarltons superior customer service also is based on highly trained employees who care for their guests, as well as a sophisticated customer relationship management CRM system that ensures that Ritz guests receive consistent and superlative service. Attention to Employees RitzCarlton combines extensive employee training and careful hiring practices to create an environment that embraces the customer. For example, employees are instructed to never say the word No to a guest, and each concierge receives a $ daily fund for each guest that the concierge can use to solve problems for hotel customers. Ritz guests are often surprised by the little things that hotel employees do but this highquality service gets eternally reinforced by constant training. For instance, on every shift, on every Ritz property, a minute meeting acts as a refresher to remind employees to act on one of the Service Values that constitute the companys Gold Standard. Training is only one part of the excellent customer service; before it even gets to that point, the RitzCarlton starts by hiring the right kind of employees. It looks for people who are warm and caring and works to instill the RitzCarlton motto: We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen. Before the opening of the RitzCarlton Dallas, each employee had undergone more than hours of training. Of the employees who would run the hotel, half transferred in from other Ritz hotels to ensure that the new opening would maintain the customer service and attention to every detail for which the company continues to be so well known. Sophisticated IT Systems To support its performance, the Ritz uses a CRM system called Mystique that collects information about guests, from their special requests, to informal observations by employees. This system is relatively difficult to implement because observations need to be actionable and confirmed by various aspects of the customers stay. For example, if a customer orders a martini with pearl onions three times, the bartender should enter it into the system as the customers favorite drink, but if that same customer orders a similar martini only once, it likely is not something worth noting. Yet employees are constantly trying to wow their customers, so any knowledge that helps them do so in the future provides value to both employees and customers. RitzCarltons goal is to encourage guests to engage actively with the RitzCarlton brand. Its research shows that customers who connect with the brand spend percent more than other customers. That makes customer service an important driver of company value. After all, a mere percent increase in customer engagement would be worth approximately $ million in sales to the company! Employees are trained how to engage their customers, realizing, for example, that a rock star and a retired corporate executive probably should be treated differently. Employees are taught to alter their style depending on the situation, because their interactions should differ when greeted by a guest who says, Good evening, young man; how are you? versus another who nods, Hey dude, hows it going? Recognition of the Best Finally, beyond the impressive loyalty that RitzCarlton enjoys from its customers, it has earned some of the most prestigious awards in quality, including the Malcolm Baldrige Award. To share what it has learned with other companies, RitzCarlton recently created a customer service training program that costs $ per person. Now banks, hospitals, law firms, and car dealerships industries often criticized for providing poor servicesend their employees to training programs to improve their own level of service. Even employees of Lexus dealerships, Macys and Starbucks have been attendees at Ritz training
PUTTIN ON THE RITZ
Luxury hotels are booming, and hotels are adding more and more expensive
rooms to compete for the highestend customers Despite that vast number of
hotels in the luxury hotel market, though, the undisputed leaders remain RitzCarlton hotels. RitzCarlton competes by simply offering the best service. So
what exactly does this hotel chain do differently than its competitors, and how
does it maintain its advantage based on superior service?
RitzCarlton, owned by the hotel group Marriott International, consists of
hotels in countries around the world. Ritz hotels employ people
worldwide and train their employees in the efforts necessary to create the perfect
service experience The history of RitzCarlton began in with the opening
of the RitzCarlton Boston, a hotel renowned for the lengths it would go to for its
guests, such as reupholstering the chairs in Winston Churchills room in red
fabric to match his favorite color or redecorating the dcor of Joan Crawfords
room with a theme of peppermint Lifesavers, her favorite candies
RitzCarltons superior customer service also is based on highly trained
employees who care for their guests, as well as a sophisticated customer
relationship management CRM system that ensures that Ritz guests receive
consistent and superlative service.
Attention to Employees
RitzCarlton combines extensive employee training and careful hiring practices to
create an environment that embraces the customer. For example, employees are
instructed to never say the word No to a guest, and each concierge receives a
$ daily fund for each guest that the concierge can use to solve problems for
hotel customers. Ritz guests are often surprised by the little things that hotel
employees do but this highquality service gets eternally reinforced by constant
training. For instance, on every shift, on every Ritz property, a minute meeting
acts as a refresher to remind employees to act on one of the Service Values
that constitute the companys Gold Standard.
Training is only one part of the excellent customer service; before it even gets to
that point, the RitzCarlton starts by hiring the right kind of employees. It looks for
people who are warm and caring and works to instill the RitzCarlton motto:
We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen.
Before the
opening of the RitzCarlton Dallas, each employee had undergone more than
hours of training. Of the employees who would run the hotel, half transferred
in from other Ritz hotels to ensure that the new opening would maintain the
customer service and attention to every detail for which the company continues
to be so well known.
Sophisticated IT Systems
To support its performance, the Ritz uses a CRM system called Mystique that
collects information about guests, from their special requests, to informal
observations by employees. This system is relatively difficult to implement
because observations need to be actionable and confirmed by various aspects
of the customers stay. For example, if a customer orders a martini with pearl
onions three times, the bartender should enter it into the system as the
customers favorite drink, but if that same customer orders a similar martini only
once, it likely is not something worth noting. Yet employees are constantly trying
to wow their customers, so any knowledge that helps them do so in the future
provides value to both employees and customers.
RitzCarltons goal is to encourage guests to engage actively with the RitzCarlton brand. Its research shows that customers who connect with the brand
spend percent more than other customers. That makes customer service an
important driver of company value. After all, a mere percent increase in
customer engagement would be worth approximately $ million in sales to the
company! Employees are trained how to engage their customers, realizing, for
example, that a rock star and a retired corporate executive probably should be
treated differently. Employees are taught to alter their style depending on the
situation, because their interactions should differ when greeted by a guest who
says, Good evening, young man; how are you? versus another who nods, Hey
dude, hows it going?
Recognition of the Best
Finally, beyond the impressive loyalty that RitzCarlton enjoys from its customers,
it has earned some of the most prestigious awards in quality, including the
Malcolm Baldrige Award. To share what it has learned with other companies,
RitzCarlton recently created a customer service training program that costs
$ per person. Now banks, hospitals, law firms, and car dealerships
industries often criticized for providing poor servicesend their employees to
training programs to improve their own level of service. Even employees of Lexus
dealerships, Macys and Starbucks have been attendees at Ritz training
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