Ritz-Carlton
Encyclopedia
Luxury resorts
A luxury resort is an expensive vacation facility which is fully staffed and has been rated with five stars. Luxury resorts often boast many visitor activities and attractions such as golf, watersports, spa and beauty facilities, skiing, natural ecology and tranquility. Because of the extent of...
hotels and resorts with 75 properties located in major cities and resorts in 24 countries worldwide. It also has major service training operations in its Ritz-Carlton Learning Institute and Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, created by Ritz-Carlton executive (emeritus) Leonardo Inghilleri, where nearly 50,000 executives from other companies worldwide have been trained in the Ritz-Carlton principles of service.
The name Ritz-Carlton dates back to the Hôtel Ritz Paris
Hôtel Ritz Paris
The Hôtel Ritz is a grand palatial hotel in the heart of Paris, the 1st arrondissement. It overlooks the octagonal border of the Place Vendôme at number 15...
and the Ritz Hotel
Ritz Hotel
The Ritz London is a luxury 5-star hotel located in Piccadilly and overlooking Green Park in London.- History :Swiss hotelier César Ritz, former manager of the Savoy Hotel, opened the hotel on 24 May 1906...
in London, both operated by the legendary hotelier César Ritz
César Ritz
César Ritz was a Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels, most famously the Hôtel Ritz, in Paris and The Ritz Hotel in London...
. Loosely related hotels bearing the Ritz name began to appear in North America, including the Ritz-Carlton Montreal
Ritz-Carlton Montreal
The Ritz-Carlton Montréal is a 229 room luxury hotel situated at 1228 Sherbrooke Street West in Montréal, Quebec. This Montreal property is not part of the widely-known Ritz-Carlton hotel chain. It has forty-eight suites including a "Royal Suite" and a "Presidential Suite"...
in 1912 and the Ritz-Carlton Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1927. The Ritz-Carlton Boston was an immediate success, and became an enduring paragon of high society. In 1983, after two ownership transitions, the expansion of the Boston operation into a worldwide chain of Ritz-Carlton hotels began, headed by hotelier Horst Schulze and developer William B. Johnson.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC
Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. is the parent company to the luxury hotel chain, Ritz-Carlton Hotels. The hotel company is a subsidiary of Marriott International...
is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Marriott International
Marriott International
Marriott International, Inc. is a worldwide operator and franchisor of a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Founded by J. Willard Marriott, the company is now led by son J.W. Marriott, Jr...
. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company currently has 32,000 employees. The Ritz-Carlton headquarters are found in Chevy Chase, Maryland
Chevy Chase, Maryland
Chevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland. In addition, a number of villages in the same area of Montgomery County include "Chevy Chase" in their names...
, a community along the border of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
COO is Simon Cooper who is also President of Marriott International and President of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is Herve Humler.
History
Several Ritz-Carlton Hotels were built in the North America in the early 20th century, including MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in 1912, in New York City in 1917 (located at Forty-sixth and Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue (Manhattan)
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square to the Madison Avenue Bridge at 138th Street. In doing so, it passes through Midtown, the Upper East Side , Spanish Harlem, and...
, where Louis Diat
Louis Diat
Louis Felix Diat was a chef and culinary writer who created vichyssoise soup.-Personal life:Diat and his wife Suzanne had a daughter. Between 1916 and 1929, they lived in New Rochelle. Between 1929 and January 1950, they lived in Central Park West. Thereafter, he and his wife lived in...
ran the kitchens and "famously invented vichyssoise
Vichyssoise
Vichyssoise is a thick soup made of puréed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock. It is traditionally served cold, but can also be eaten hot.-Origin:...
"., in Philadelphia, Atlantic City in 1921, Boca Raton, and in Boston in 1927. By 1940, only the Ritz-Carlton Boston, run by its founder Edward N. Wyner, and the Atlantic City location remained. Wyner's Ritz-Carlton Boston was a legendary feature of elite Boston, allowing only high-society guests and enforcing a strict dress code. During the Great Depression, Wyner kept the lights on in empty rooms to preserve the hotel's reputation.
After Wyner's death in 1961, his family sold the hotel in 1964 to Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, run by Gerald F. Blakeley, Jr. Blakeley ran the Ritz-Carlton Boston for another two decades before he sold it in 1983 to developer William B. Johnson, who assembled a four person development team in Atlanta, headed by hotelier Horst Schulze, to create the Ritz-Carlton concept. Schulze instituted a company-wide concentration on both the personal and the data-driven sides of service: He coined the company's well-known customer/employee-centered credo, "We are Ladies and Gentleman Serving Ladies and Gentlemen" and the set of specific service standards on which Ritz-Carlton employees base service through the present day. Under his leadership the hotels earned an unprecedented two Malcolm Baldrige Quality Awards, and grew from four to forty U.S. locations. In 1996, Schulze's group sold a 49-percent stake in The Ritz-Carlton to Marriott and in 2000, Marriott International
Marriott International
Marriott International, Inc. is a worldwide operator and franchisor of a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Founded by J. Willard Marriott, the company is now led by son J.W. Marriott, Jr...
purchased the remaining 51-percent when Schulze left with other executives to create the West Paces Hotel Group.
The Ritz-Carlton operates fractional residences at several locations in the United States under the name Ritz-Carlton Destination Club. Properties include Aspen Highlands and Bachelor Gulch
Beaver Creek
- Places :United States*Beaver Creek, Colorado*Beaver Creek, Maryland*Beaver Creek, Minnesota*Beaver Creek, Montana*Beaver Creek Township, Michigan*Beaver Creek Township, MinnesotaCanada*Beaver Creek, Yukon, a town in the western Yukon...
in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, St. Thomas
Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea and with the islands of Saint John, Saint Croix, and Water Island a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of...
in the U.S. Virgin Islands, San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and Jupiter, Florida
Jupiter, Florida
Jupiter is a town located in Palm Beach County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 39,328. The estimate population for 2009 is 50,606. As of 2006, the population had grown to 50,028, according to the University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research....
. The Ritz-Carlton hotel at Water Tower Place
Water Tower Place
Water Tower Place is a large urban, mixed-use development comprising a shopping mall and 74 story skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The complex is located at 835 North Michigan Avenue, along the Magnificent Mile. It is named after the nearby Chicago Water Tower...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
is a Four Seasons
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Four Seasons Hotels, Inc. is a Canadian-based international ultra-luxury, five-star hotel management company. Travel + Leisure magazine and Zagat Survey rank the hotel chain's 84 properties among the top luxury hotels worldwide...
-managed property, due to the sale of the Ritz-Carlton name for this location prior to the creation of the Atlanta group, and the engagement of Four Seasons by the property owner.
Sale of original property
In 2001, a new Ritz-Carlton opened in Boston at 10 Avery Street, just across the Public Garden and Boston CommonBoston Common
Boston Common is a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Boston Commons". Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States. The Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street,...
from the original Ritz-Carlton Boston at 15 Arlington Street. In 2007, the original property was sold to Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, a subsidiary of the India-based Tata Group
Tata Group
Tata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Tata Group is one of the largest companies in India by market capitalization and revenue. It has interests in communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy,...
, which now operates it as the Taj Boston.
Awards
The Ritz-Carlton has been featured on Zagat SurveyZagat Survey
Zagat Survey was established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a way to collect and correlate the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering New York City, the Zagats surveyed their friends. As of 2005, the Zagat Survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of...
Top Lists for dining, hotels and service. The Dallas, USA and Wolfsburg, Germany locations both received top honors from Zagat in 2009, including Top Large Hotel for the Dallas location. The Ritz-Carlton is the only company to date to win two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the only formal recognition of the performance excellence of both public and private U.S. organizations given by...
s (1992 and 1999). The Ritz-Carlton's President and COO Horst Schulze was recognized for the Ritz-Carlton's contributions during his tenure with Corporate Hotelier of the World Ishikawa Medal for contributions to the Quality movement.
Tallest hotel in Asia
In April 2011, Ritz-Carlton opened a hotelRitz-Carlton Hong Kong, Kowloon
The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong is a Ritz-Carlton hotel in the International Commerce Center, West Kowloon, Hong Kong. It occupies the 102 to 118 floors of Sun Hung Kai Properties-owned International Commerce Centre, offering 312 rooms and making it the world's highest hotel.It is not to be confused...
on floors 102-118 of the International Commerce Centre
International Commerce Centre
The International Commerce Centre is a 108 floor, skyscraper completed in 2010 in West Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is a part of the Union Square project built on top of Kowloon Station. The development is owned and jointly developed by MTR Corporation Limited and Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong...
in Kowloon
Kowloon
Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. The lobby is 425 m (1,394.4 ft) above the ground, making the hotel the tallest in Asia.
Other accomplishments
Ritz-Carlton is notable for attempting to share its knowledge of quality as it applies to service. Initially this was done at the request of the Baldrige committee, but Ritz-Carlton ultimately adopted this as a central mission through the creation of The Ritz-Carlton Learning Institute and The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte which opened in October 2009 is the first Ritz-Carlton property to earn LEED Gold Certification and the youngest Ritz-Carlton property to earn 5 diamonds, and is the only 5 diamond property in Charlotte (and one of only three in the state of North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
).
The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott at LA Live opened February 2010 and share the first skyscraper built since the early 1990s in downtown Los Angeles. The Ritz-Carlton LA Live was awarded a LEED silver certification.
2009 Jakarta hotel bombing
On Friday 17 July 2009 at 07:47 a.m. Jakarta time, a bomb exploded2009 Jakarta bombings
At around 7:50 am local time on 17 July 2009, the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, were hit by separate bombings five minutes apart. Three of the seven victims who were killed were Australians, two from The Netherlands, and one each from New Zealand and Indonesia. More...
in The Ritz-Carlton Mega Kuningan, Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
destroying the first floor of the hotel. The explosion occurred 2 minutes after the explosion at the nearby JW Marriott Hotel
JW Marriott Hotels
JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, namesake of John Willard Marriott, Founder, Chairman & CEO of is a luxury hotel chain. Found in major cities as well as vacation destinations world-wide, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts are becoming known in the hospitality industry for their practical approach to luxury...
. The hotel was scheduled to host the Manchester United football club the following Monday during the Indonesia leg of its Asia Tour, but the visit was canceled due to the bombing. Nine people including two suicide bombers were killed.
In popular culture
In E. B. WhiteE. B. White
Elwyn Brooks White , usually known as E. B. White, was an American writer. A long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine, he also wrote many famous books for both adults and children, such as the popular Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, and co-authored a widely used writing guide, The...
's children's novel The Trumpet of the Swan
The Trumpet of the Swan
The Trumpet of the Swan is a children's novel by E.B. White published in 1970. It tells the story of Louis, a Trumpeter Swan born without a voice and trying to overcome it by learning to play a trumpet, always trying to impress a beautiful pen named Serena.-Plot summary:In Canada in the spring of...
, the main character Louis (a trumpeter swan
Trumpeter Swan
The Trumpeter Swan, Cygnus buccinator, is the largest native North American bird, if measured in terms of weight and length, and is the largest living waterfowl species on earth. It is the North American counterpart of the European Whooper Swan.-Description:Males typically measure from and weigh...
) stays at the Ritz-Carlton Boston, where he eats watercress sandwiches and sleeps in the bathtub. On the HBO original series Boardwalk Empire, the character of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (portrayed by Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
), the treasurer of Atlantic County
Atlantic County, New Jersey
-National protected areas:* Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge * Great Egg Harbor Scenic and Recreational River -Demographics:...
, occupies the entire 9th floor of a fictionalized version of the hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
. The real Enoch "Nucky" Johnson
Enoch L. Johnson
Enoch Lewis "Nucky" Johnson was an Atlantic City, New Jersey political boss and racketeer. From the 1910s until his imprisonment in 1941, he was the undisputed “boss” of the Republican political machine that controlled Atlantic City and the Atlantic County government...
on which Nucky Thompson was based did in fact occupy an entire floor of suites at the Ritz-Carlton Atlantic City
Ritz-Carlton Atlantic City
The Ritz-Carlton was a hotel on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built at the beginning of the Roaring Twenties and renowned for its luxurious appointments and famous guests. The building was converted to condominums in 1982.-Architecture:...
until his arrest in 1941 on charges of tax evasion
Tax evasion
Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...
.