The Ritz-Carton hotel company was founded by Cesar Ritz in 1898 who he opened his first Carton Hotel in London. Cesar Ritz vision was to offer excellent personalized services that satisfied the most discerning guests. Johnson Company bought the rights to the Ritz-Carlton in 1983 and ran the North American hotels.
Ritz-Carlton became a management company in 2000 and operated 38 hotels and resorts across the world. Ritz-Carlton hotel and Four Seasons are competitors in the hospitality industry. Some of the hotels and resorts under the management of Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons were owned by Millennium Partners because they participated in the construction of the luxury apartments and complexes. Measuring growth rate of Ritz-Carlton was through ownership of the hospitality businesses globally.
The business model of Ritz-Carlton hotel involved measuring the average daily rate (ADR) and the revenue per available room (RevPAR). The passionate respect enabled the company to have a turnover of over 25% during its first sixty days in operation. In the beginning, the operational managers had a difficult task to develope a unique and eye-catching design of opening the new hotel.
The property evaluation and marketing modifications took place through a roundtable discussion. Personnel recruitment took two days from 8:00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m, after that 400 people were selected. The orientation process took seven days before the official opening of the hotel in 2000. The main aim of the staff orientation was to learn the hotel service philosophy, handling customers’ requests, and the company’s vision. The major dilemma McBride faced was whether the orientation period was worthwhile the company’s benefits.
The Ritz-Carlton: Using Information Systems to Better Serve the Customer
The Ritz-Carlton hotel aimed at providing the highest quality standards to its visiting guests. The expansion plans within the business made the management team develop a method of accounting for the gaming revenues. A suggestion of using information system in managing the streaming guests helped to provide personalised services at the Ritz-Carlton.
In addition, the information system strategy helped maintain the stiff competition from other similar companies offering hospitality services. The two major information systems that had positive effect on opetation of Ritz-Carlton hotel included modifications of COVIA and Encore. COVIA handled international reservations while Encore handled local systems.
The management team kept good records of the guests, since COVIA acted as a database and a support centre. Encore handled all management issues of the hotel and gave updates on the guests’ preferences. The integration of the two systems assisted in offering quality services to the Ritz-Carlton guests.
The power of the information technologies broadened the marketing strategy of the hotel and assisted in the frequent updates of new management applications. For example, the management team of the hotel integrated the new updates of the revenue yield system in the COVIA and Encore information system. Moreover, the information systems provided a user friendly graphic interface with the Ritz-Carlton customers.
The staffs at the Ritz-Carlton hotel positively embraced the new information system since it reduced the daily workload. The COVIA and Encore information systems served all the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Companies in different locations. The hotels easily conversed and developed systematic plans. The systematic plans helped in offering similar services in all the Ritz-Carlton hotels. The future prospects of Ritz-Carlton information systems software would be to record repeat guests automatically as valued and known guests.