Values Evolve at the Ritz-Carlton
By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 9/1/2006
What is wrong with the notion and motto, “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen?” Is it old-fashioned, dated and irrelevant in today’s travel society? Absolutely not, according to John Timmerman, vice president of quality and program management for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., Chevy Chase, Maryland. That being said, Ritz-Carlton is in the process of rolling out a new set of service values, evolving its service delivery to create “unique, memorable and personal experiences for our guests.”
A change from The Ritz-Carlton’s classic list of “20 rules” to a more current version of “12 values” is taking place to ensure guest experiences are natural and refined connections, not based on steps or scripts. Staff can still use The Ritz-Carlton’s classic phrase, “my pleasure” when addressing guests, but it is no longer the rule of the day. “The 20 basics became a focus, not the outcome,” Timmerman says. “Customers told us they want us to be more relaxed and authentic in the way we deliver service. Sometimes steps can come across as unnatural or inappropriate.”
On the surface, it could be misinterpreted that The Ritz- Carlton is now catering to the younger generation of travelers. And while Gen X and Y are new target customers, Timmerman says, “the reason we made this change is that we want our ladies and gentlemen to treat customers as they see themselves.” For example, if a business traveler calls for room service at 10 p.m. and has paperwork all over his/ her desk, even though there are specific standards for delivery, the employee now is empowered to deliver it as the customer wants it, such as just bringing the trolley inside the room and letting the guest take it. “We are not getting rid of the standards; it is still part of the training, and we still audit against them,” Timmerman says. “But we want employees to treat the customers and adjust service to deliver unique experiences.”
When you look at the 12 service values, they are two-thirds emotional, whereas the original 20 basics were two-thirds functional. The new recipe is 33% functional and 67% emotional engagement to better align what reinforces the best outcomes with guests. At the end of the day, The Ritz- Carlton wants to deliver what it calls “mystique,” or creating affinity for the brand, which leads to an engaged customer who is more likely deliver a higher spend and greater word-of-mouth marketing.
SELLING THE PROCESS
The “20 Basics” defined the culture of The Ritz-Carlton. Replacing the basics with values was met with skepticism and required finesse. So The Ritz-Carlton engaged general managers from around the world with focus groups to explain how their research led to the decisions, discussed how the changes would be made and facilitated the transition. All the findings were presented at a general managers’ conference in February where further refinements were made and a framework was created to roll out the program. Training documents were created in June and July, and GMs are now in the process of rolling out the program.
To ensure line-level ownership of the new program, all values begin with the word, “I.” “We asked employees why they like working for us,” Timmerman says. “One thing that came across is they are proud to be Ritz-Carlton. If that is an inherent part of their DNA, we need to draw that out, and that is the central theme for the service values.” In fact, the new service values, like the old basics, are discussed each morning at hotel daily lineups, and management is putting a lot more emphasis on the emotional engagement piece of service delivery.
While the service values were officially rolled out in February, work on this process and training that placed more emphasis on emotional engagement started in 2004—and Timmerman reports customer satisfaction scores have increased each year since. So what’s the next step? The Ritz-Carlton is starting to do some work on “engineering the guest experience; enhancing the experience in terms of scenes and props, and how we orchestrate the experience,” Timmerman says. For example, one hotel has a natural theme of fire and wine. “We draw that golden thread throughout the hotel. When guests arrive at the desk, we don’t offer water or an apple, but a wine tasting. Experience and theming comes next.”
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Service Values |
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1. I build strong relationships and create Ritz-Carlton guests for life. |
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