Putting On The Ritz October 2006
The name, Ritz, connotes luxury, grandeur, and elegance. Through movies, descriptions, and language it has become a common way to describe the uncommon, the elite, the best. As the brand behind the description, the Ritz-Carlton could rest on its laurels, but our recent experience impresses us that, though number one in the world in luxury hotels, Ritz Carlton is not resting. Their focus and signature style offers a great example to both individuals and corporations.
Recently, courtesy of a speaking engagement, we had the opportunity to enjoy the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Florida. Previous engagements had allowed us to experience the service at other Ritz-Carltons, so we looked forward to our visit. While we enjoyed the exemplary attentions of the staff and the beauty of the venue, we noticed that this experience was different. Notably the signature response, “it would be my pleasure” was missing. However, rather than this marking a decline in their incredible service, it only seemed to enhance it.
Every staff member at this particular Ritz seemed attentive to our every need before we spoke it. We were greeted warmly and once they knew our names, employees were quick to use them and tell them to the next staff member we would encounter. What was different this time was the attentiveness with which our emotional needs were assessed. When a facial and body scrub were interrupted by the fire alarm both were given free because “the experience was interrupted.” Choosing to relax at day’s end in the bar, we chose a single malt scotch to taste; however when our hostess found that they had none left, she offered us any other scotch on the menu free of charge and suggested we take this opportunity to try a more expensive one.
We watched another guest leave a table because of a bee sting, returning to have the server offer the comfort of tea and toast. Another host observed a guest skipping the meat at a buffet line and after acknowledging this, mentioning there would be salmon at the next buffet, and would that be alright? We had to acknowledge that the “ladies and gentlemen” (as the staff at the Ritz-Carlton are called) were connecting on a much deeper level than just excellent service.
Our perceptions were validated in a recent Gallup Management Journal interview with Simon Cooper, Chief Operating Officer and President of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. Cooper who offered that “we’re focusing on the emotional connection between our ladies and gentlemen and our guests.” The Ritz-Carlton has become aware, as Cooper states that, “Obviously, guests can't buy things like smiles or relationships or caring service….That's the value proposition ? that's how you engage a customer. You engage them emotionally by giving them things they just can't buy anywhere else.”
This focus on emotional connection is a move from “client service” toward what we are calling “client hospitality.” We “service” machines; connoting a process that is methodical, uniform and not personal. However “hospitality” encompasses the next, very important step of connecting by attending to the personal, emotional level of clients or guests. This is where the best companies are focusing their efforts now so that everyone has an “experience” that binds them to that company.
We can learn from the Ritz as we pursue greatness. Increasingly our culture has become a “me-mine” society with the desire for the spotlight to be directed on us. As early as 1983, Charles Derber, author of The Pursuit of Attention, noted our societal tendency toward self-absorption. In the second edition (published in 2000) he added observations about our societal propensity toward “ego-surfing” (looking for one’s name on the internet) as additional evidence of our self-focus.
What makes the Ritz-Carlton great, is not their focus on properties, people, or their organization; it’s their unrelenting focus on the ladies and gentlemen they serve. Essentially, by their interaction, their emotional connection, their hospitality, they elevate anyone who walks into their hotels. We feel better by being in their presence, thus creating the Pygmalion Effect (we are treated as great and therefore we perform more to our greatness).
If, in making their motto our own, we would treat others as great individuals and focus on making an emotional connection with them, we could unleash the greatness in everyone we meet and simultaneously unleash our own. Imagine: “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”
The Greatness ProjectTM is researched and written by:
Scott Asalone & Jan Sparrow
Copyright © ASGMC, Inc. 2006