The Ritz-Carlton luxury Hotel Company was opened as a multi-use $ 225 million complex facility in the historic Foggy Bottom district of Washington DC with 162 condominiums having three restaurants with 300 rooms and a1000 square foot sports club.
The history of Ritz-Carlton Hotel dates back to 1898 when Cesar Ritz opened the Carlton hotel in London. The hotel changed its name to Ritz-Carlton Hotel after it was purchased by Marriott international in 1987. That left Ritz-Carlton to be a management company administering 38 hotels as a fully owned subsidiary of Marriott international with Millennium partners being one of the businesses managed by the company. Ritz-Carlton’s primary growth strategy was to acquire new management contracts for resorts and hotels worldwide.
Ritz-Carlton’s sources of income were based on a levy of 3% of a company’s gross revenue and additional revenue was from land rents, franchise fees, profit sharing, and management incentives. Ritz-Carlton’s success was calculated by using the average daily rates and revenue from the available rooms.
The management of different companies entered into contracts with Ritz-Carlton property owners at acceptable interest rates that guaranteed high quality services by using highly skilled human resources. High quality was assured by using good quality processes, selecting the right sites to develop the hotels, customisation of services, employing highly skilled staff, and using effective personnel recruitments processes that were the hallmark of success using the best business practices.
To evaluate the success of the company, a seven day countdown was conducted when the hotel was opened consisting of leadership orientation, departmental vision sessions, and skills training. However, the seven day countdown did not prove to be a successful strategy.