If businesses treated people the way the Ritz does, the world would be a better place. Being in the hotel business, you’d expect the service to be good, but the Ritz literally puts other hotels to shame. They’ve set the bar on service excellence that every business should do their best to imitate. While it would take a book like Joseph Michelli’s The New Gold Standard to do it justice, a few things about the Ritz deserve attention, which will help illuminate a recent experience we had at the Marina Del Ray location.
Summed up nicely on a card which all employees carry is the Ritz Credo, which states their pledge to provide the finest personal experience which enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of guests. Michelli notes it’s all a result of their belief that guests should be treated like family. The intimacy of interpersonal caring and the art of anticipation are critical aspects of the Ritz culture; they’re the secret sauce of the Ritz Mystique. In fact, to guarantee their ideals are carried out by employees, the company empowers every single one to spend up to $2,000 on each guest each day. And that’s all without seeking permission from a supervisor. Talk about trusting your employees!
Though I think we should aim for service excellence for its own sake, there’s an interesting side effect that Michelli reports. Ritz research shows that a guest who’s actively engaged with the Ritz and its staff spends a whopping 23 percent more money than the one who’s only moderately engaged. When employees produce a 4-percentage-point increase overall in customer engagement scores, the Ritz achieves an extra $40 million in revenue! That’s incredible, and I suspect it’s true to some extent for most businesses.
A Vacation to Remember
None of the hype about the Ritz Carlton is mere theory, as we recently found out during our stay at the Ritz in Marina Del Rey (consistent with our memorable Ritz experience in Maui last year). Wowing us began after we checked in and realized our bathroom door wouldn’t lock (something you like to do when toddlers are present). It only took a few minutes for maintenance to show up, but he realized he didn’t have the correct part. It only took another minute or so, but when he returned he surprised us by bringing the new movie Wreck-It Ralph for our boys, anticipating the fact that we’d need kiddo distraction during our stay. Great way to foresee a need we couldn’t even verbalize at the time.
But it only got better. The next morning as we walked off the lobby elevator, Gloria greeted us with a warm smile and proceeded to make animal balloons for our twin boys (which they loved!). Treating us like we were family, she made sure she memorized our names and even took the time to write down the spelling of our boys’ names. When we returned to our room, there were two gift baskets for our tots complete with an engraved Ritz name badge (names were spelled correctly by the way, which isn’t easy), beach balls, and a fully wrapped gift for each. I mean you would have thought it was Christmas at home, presentation and all. Every little detail was perfect.
Pretty cool. They made us feel like we were at home with family, yet with all the sophistication of the Ritz. And that resonated deeply with us because as we have toddlers (plural), we were apprehensive that the staff might be put out with their energy. Far from it, we were never made to feel as though the hotel catered only to adults. In fact, they had something for the kids, whether a movie, a sucker, or a car every day of our stay. And they always genuinely greeted us with warmth.
One other thing that wowed me was a day at the pool. We’d apparently left a drink behind. The following day, Chris (the pool attendant) said he noticed we’d left it there and insisted on replacing it with a drink of our choice. May be small, but it left a big impression. Even when we checked out and I brought the car to pick up luggage, our Bellman made sure I could find the rental car facility, warmly shook my hand, and offered me a bottle of water for the road.
All this got me thinking about the impact the staff made on us that week. There are a lot of nice hotels, but none of them are the Ritz. Their warmth and thoughtfulness made our trip. It’s true that Ritz ambience is beautiful, but the service they provided our family that week completely overshadowed the amazing surroundings. Makes me scratch my head when companies have the same opportunities the Ritz does with customers, yet fail to understand that making an emotional connection is king. There’s simply no substitute. Not only did we love our stay, but because of their generosity we made it a point to purchase gifts at their shop instead of the Promenade shopping area in Santa Monica, which is much larger. So it’s true, warmth and generosity do pay off after all. Oh, and there’s also the fact that a guest (me) has taken the time to write about it, which is free to them, and delivered that word of mouth advertising every company craves. Guess I can only hope other businesses will follow the Ritz’ lead, but I won’t hold my breath.
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