• The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. is the parent company to the luxury hotel chain, The Ritz-Carlton Hotels.

• The current company was founded in 1983, when the previous owners sold the brand name to create The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., based in Boston, Massachusetts, which expanded the brand to other locations.

• Ritz-Carlton operates 87 luxury hotels and resorts in major cities and

resorts in 29 countries and territories.

• The hotel company is today a subsidiary of Marriott International.

BACKGROUND

THE HISTORY OF RITZ-CARLTON• The story of The Ritz-Carlton begins with Swiss hotelier César Ritz who was well

known in the hotel industry as the "king of hoteliers and hotelier to kings".

• Ritz redefined luxury accommodation in Europe with his management of The Ritz in Paris and the Carlton Hotel in London, among others.

• After Cesar Ritz died in 1918, his wife Marie continued the expansion of hotels bearing his name.

• Several Ritz-Carlton Hotels were built in the North America in the early 20th century.

•  In 1983, Former CEO William B. Johnson acquired the rights to the name made famous by Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz.

• Today, it is part of hotel giant Marriott International, which operating under that company’s luxury segment.

THE CREDO

WE ARE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN SERVING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. .

THREE STEPS OF SERVICE

• A warm and sincere greeting always using the guest’s name .

• Anticipation and fulfilment of each guest’s needs.

• Give a warm good-bye and use the guest’s name.

In less than 3 decades, The Ritz- Carlton has grown from 4 locations to over 70 and has earned two Malcolm Baldrige Quality awards.

BUT HOW DOES RITZ-CARLTON MATCH UP TO COMPETITIVE HOTELS ?

WHAT ARE THE KEY DIFFERENCES ?

TANGIBILIZING THE INTANGIBLES

Ritz-Carlton have effectively ‘tangebilized the intangible’.

They have earned people’s trust through their excellent service and state of the art infrastructure thus actively exceeding the expectations of the guests in that competitive set.

They take time to ensure their staff is well trained and therefore reduces turnover, this helps the morale of the staff and offers opportunities for them to move up within the organization.

Their logo symbolises strength, royalty and enthusiasm.

VARIABILITY

Services are highly variable because the quality of services depend on who provides them, when and where , and to whom .

Ritz-Carlton employs three steps to reduce consumer’s perceptions of risk –

• EMPLOYEE TRAINING - 3 Steps of Service and 12 Service Values.

• STANDARDISATION OF SERVICE PERFORMANCE PROCESS -

~ All managers carry a laminated card which states the 12 service values. ~ All the employees of The Ritz- Carlton are told the same ‘WOW’ story.

• MONITORING CONSUMER SATISFACTION -

~ Gallup phone interviews Both the functional and emotional questions asked. ~ Functional questions ask “How was the meal? Was your bedroom clean?” ~ Emotional questions uncover a sense of customer’s well-being .

The Ritz – Carlton uses these findings and such day-to-day experiences to continually enhance and improve the experience for the guests.

MARKETING EXCELLENCE

• EXTERNAL MARKETING - Basically describes normal work of pricing, distribution and promotion of services of Ritz – Carlton .

• INTERNAL MARKETING –

Describes training and motivating employees to serve customers well . Here in this case ‘WOW’ stories took centre stage for Ritz-Carlton .

• INTERACTIVE MARKETING –

describes the the employees’ skill in serving the client. Clients judge service not only by its technical quality but also by its functional quality.

THE IMPORTANCE OF “WOW STORIES”

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION• A daily 15 minute ‘line-up’ to resolve issues and for narration of ‘WOW’ stories.

• During this time , managers touch base with their employees , resolving problems and spending the remaining time reading out these “wow” stories to every single employee around the world .

• These true stories recognize an employee for his or her outstanding customer service.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION• The Ritz-Carlton primarily aims at customer satisfaction.

• They take pride in its heritage and deliverability .

• They believe the words in their credo and so they guide their employees as well, to deliver with the same level of passion and enthusiasm .

WOW CAMPAIGN

RECAP• Background• The History of Ritz-Carlton• The Credo• Three Steps Of Service• How Does The Ritz-Carlton match up to its competitive hotels? What are the key differences? ~ tangibilizing the intangibles ~ variability - employee training - standardisation of service performance process - monitoring consumer satisfaction ~ marketing excellence - external marketing - internal marketing - interactive marketing

• The importance of “wow stories” ~ employee motivation ~ customer satisfaction ~ wow campaign

DISCLAIMERThese slides were created by Gairik Ray , under the guidance of Prof. Sameer Mathur , during a marketing internship mentored by him.