It is jointly creating a new luxury chain with the Italian luxury goods maker Bulgari S. More than 20 Ritz-Carlton hotels now feature spas, and the company has added to several of its hotel properties luxury residential condominiums known as the Residences at The Ritz-Carlton.
Virgin Islands. Founded in when William B. Johnson bought the rights to the famous Ritz-Carlton name, the chain is owned by hotel giant Marriott International, Inc. The ambitious child of a poor herdsman, Ritz was born in in the small mountain village of Niederwald, Switzerland.
One of 13 children, Ritz left home at the age of 16 to work in the dining room of a hotel in the adjacent town of Brieg. After a few months on the job he was fired, according to his employer, for not possessing even an "aptitude," much less a "flair," for the hotel business.
Hired as a waiter in the restaurant of another hotel, Ritz soon was fired once again. Undismayed, Ritz traveled to Paris, where he worked emptying slops for small hotels. Fired from two more jobs, he finally landed a position at a chic restaurant near the Madeleine and worked his way up from busboy to manager. At the age of 19 he was asked to become a partner by the owner of the restaurant, yet Ritz politely refused the offer. His ambition was still unsatisfied, but now that he knew what he wanted, he rolled up his aprons and sauntered down the street to the most elegant and famous restaurant of the day, Voisin, an international meeting place for royalty and gourmets.
Starting at the bottom as an assistant waiter, Ritz learned how to carve a roast and press duck, how to decant wine, and how to serve food in ways that pleased both the eye and the palate. It was at Voisin that Ritz developed his instincts for high-quality food and service, and his personal touch began to attract influential customers such as Sarah Bernhardt, Alexandre Dumas the younger, and the Rothschilds. When Germany invaded France and laid siege to Paris in , a food scarcity led the city zoo to butcher its two elephants; Voisin purchased the trunks of the animals.
When Ritz served them in high style, trompe sauce chasseur became a gourmet's rage and Ritz himself an overnight sensation in Parisian culinary circles. Good luck now came his way. Ritz was the restaurant manager at Rigi-Kulm, an Alpine hotel renowned for its location and cuisine, when he was informed one cold winter day that the heating plant had broken down and, at almost the same moment, that a group of 40 wealthy Americans were to arrive soon for lunch.
Ritz ordered lunch to be served in the drawing room instead of the dining room--it looked warmer because of the large red curtains that framed the room. He directed the waiters to pour alcohol into large copper pots and then set them afire, and bricks were placed in the ovens. The room was warm when the Americans arrived, and each of them was given a brick wrapped in flannel to warm their feet. Reports of Ritz's modest miracle of quick thinking and resourcefulness spread among hotelmen throughout Europe and the United States.
When the owner of a large hotel in Lucerne heard the story, he immediately hired Ritz to act as his general manager. The hotel had been losing money steadily for some time, but the year-old former peasant revived the hotel in two years.
Here he developed and refined the hotel service and methods that made his name famous. It was Ritz who originated the phrase, "The customer is always right. If a diner did not like the way his meat was prepared, it was immediately whisked away without any questions asked. For Ritz, no detail was too small and no request too big if it meant satisfying a customer.
In Ritz journeyed to London to manage the Hotel Savoy, an elegant hotel in the midst of a financial crisis. Ritz brought along his lifelong associate, Auguste Escoffier, a chef whom he had met during one of his jobs in Europe. With Ritz devoting his attention to a myriad of details, sometimes roving from room to room remaking beds to assure his guests the most comfortable night's sleep in London, at other times arranging lavish entertainment for important customers, and with Escoffier whipping up gourmet dishes in the kitchen, the Savoy soon became the toast of London's high society.
When Alfred Beit, a diamond mogul from South Africa, asked Ritz to arrange a party for him, Ritz flooded the Savoy's main dining room and transformed it into a miniature Venice, with dinner served to guests as they lounged in gondolas serenaded by native gondoliers. When a quarrel broke out one day between Ritz and the directors of the Savoy, Ritz left the hotel never to return again.
Ritz's friends reacted immediately with more than telegrams sent to show him their support. The lobby was small to discourage idlers, and only rooms were constructed for its guests, but furnishings were exquisite and service meticulous to the last detail. Ritz designed a garden to encourage conversation over coffee and tea; he painted the hotel's walls instead of papering them because it was easier to keep clean; he borrowed the overall color scheme for the hotel from a painting by Van Dyck; and, highly innovative for the time, Ritz equipped many of the rooms with private baths.
On opening day people came from miles around Paris to walk through the hotel's corridors. Ritz prepared an elaborate reception and elegant dinner in in honor of the coronation of his good friend Edward VII.
All the arrangements had been finalized when a telegram informed Ritz that Edward was grievously ill and required an operation. With a heavy heart the great hotelier attended to the details of cancellation and then, exhausted from his exertions, collapsed.
He revived and redoubled his efforts to please patrons of the hotel, but suffered a physical and mental breakdown in Never fully regaining his renowned verve and energy for work, for seven years Ritz was a figurehead at his own hotel.
In October , as he lay dying, Ritz thought he saw his wife at the bedside and asked her to take care of their daughter. Ritz and his wife had no daughter--the "daughter" was the way both of them referred to Ritz's dream hotel in Paris. With the opening of the new century, Ritz had arranged to build and operate the Carlton Hotel in London and, shortly thereafter, opened the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly.
At this time, he also organized a group of hoteliers and financiers and created the tricontinental Ritz-Carlton Management Corporation. The purpose of the group was to lease the Ritz-Carlton name, crest, and stationery to interested parties willing to establish a hotel of their own and abide by the service and culinary standards set by Ritz himself. Under the terms of this agreement, one of the most famous of all the Ritz-Carlton Hotels opened in New York in Soft rugs, gilded mirrors, glittering chandeliers, oversized bathtubs, and vials of perfume under the seats of the elevators welcomed and rewarded its rich guests.
The hotel immediately became renowned for its superb cuisine--Chef M. Diat created vichyssoise in its kitchen in On every floor two waiters were stationed day and night to attend the needs of customers who preferred to eat in their rooms. The hotel was a mecca for the world's richest and most famous people and, for New York society, was host to a seemingly endless stream of balls, cotillions, and receptions.
George W. Vanderbilt, and Charlie Chaplin were all served at the Ritz-Carlton. Harrison, New Jersey. Guanacaste, Costa Rica. A distinctive collection of hand-selected hotels, ranging from boutique to luxury, each offering unique perspectives on design, craft and hospitality.
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