Caso ritz carlton

ID#080203
PUBLISHED ON
JUNE 20, 2008

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
The Quest for Service Excellence
B Y NELSON M. FRAIMAN * , LINDA V. GREEN † , GARRETT J. VAN RYZIN ‡ , AND ALIZA HECHING * *

ABSTRACT

CONTENTS

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company’s quest for service excellence was

History of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel

an on-going process. At a time of increased competition within thehospitality industry, as well as increased customer demand for value,

The Hotel Industry ............................. 2

it was even more essential for the Ritz-Carlton to continue to

Staffing ............................................... 4

distinguish itself as a premier provider of luxury service. This meant
that the Ritz-Carlton had to accelerate the rate in which it discoveredand eliminated the root cause of all service issues. The challenge
facing Ritz-Carlton was to systematically discover and eliminate the
root causes of service defects, thereby achieving Six Sigma quality
and helping the organization realize its goal of 100% customer
retention. Did the company have the processes in place to continue to
provide the quality service that its guests have come toexpect? Did

Company ............................................ 1
Commitment to Excellence ............... 3
Employee Selection, Training, and
Total Quality Management ................ 5
Process Control ................................. 6
The Dynamic Quality Information
System ............................................... 6
Customer Satisfaction ...................... 7
ContinuousImprovement ................. 8
Exhibit 1 ........................................... 10
Exhibit 2 ........................................... 11
Exhibit 3 ........................................... 12
Exhibit 4 ........................................... 14
Exhibit 5 ........................................... 15
Exhibit 6 ........................................... 18

its qualitypersonnel have the training and knowledge base to identify
potential sources and causes of defects and to eliminate them?
Would the hotel chain manage to achieve its goal of Six Sigma
service?

* Professor of Professionl Practice
† Armand G. Erpf Professor of Business
‡ Paul M. Montrone Professor of
Private Enterprise in the Faculty of
Business
**Ph.D. 1998

C opyright information
© 2008 byThe Trustees of Columbia University in the
City of New York. All rights reserved.
This case was prepared as a basis for class discussion
rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective
handling of a business situation.

- 103 -

As Pat Mene, Corporate Vice President of Quality, reviewed a summary file containing the most recent data reported in
the Dynamic Quality InformationSystem (DQIS) from the Buckhead Ritz-Carlton, he wondered what it was going to take
to lead the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to the next level in service excellence. The Ritz-Carlton was the first hotel
company to become a winner of the nation's premier prize for performance excellence and quality achievement, the
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.1 The 1992 award represented theculmination of the Ritz-Carlton’s efforts
since its restructuring in 1983 to provide the highest level of service in the hospitality industry.
The Atlanta based company was preparing for its second Baldrige application. Closing the summary file, Pat considered
the difficulty of continuing the legacy of the founder, Cesar Ritz -- to provide discriminating patrons with the highest
standards of qualityservice in a setting of luxury and elegance.

History of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
Cesar Ritz, founder of the Ritz-Carlton Management Corporation (the predecessor of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company),
opened the first Ritz Hotel in Paris in 1898. The hotel was designed to pamper its guests through meticulous service and
luxurious elegance. As news of the success of the new upscale hotel...