Ritz Carlton

Every Ritz Carlton employee has the authority to spend up to $2,000 on a guest. Ya, every single one of them from the GM down to the assistant busboy. I figure Ritz Carlton didn't think that enough people would read their book The New Gold Standard that it would make much difference if they disclosed that little tidbit in their book. Besides, I assume that the kind of old-money clientele that the Ritz attracts wouldn't be out to manipulate staff to go out and buy them a bunch of expensive shit. That would be tacky.

Still, that's a high level of staff empowerment. The idea behind it is to create what Ritz Carlton calls "mystique", and there's no way to micromanage it. Let's say the houseman is cleaning up and sees an empty Diet Dr. Pepper in the bathroom. He could go out and use company money to buy you a new one, put it on ice, and when you get back to your room, your empty bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper has magically reappeared ice-cold and ready to drink. That's the "mystique" that the staff of Ritz Carlton collectively make like a bunch of magic hotel elves.

Surprisingly, this book was a good and inspiring read. The guy who started Ritz Carlton had your typical humble beginnings. When he got  his first job at a hotel, he was a teenage kid and the owner of the hotel was like: Never look the customers in the eye. You will never stay at a grand hotel like this or whatever.

Later on, little Ritz goes to hospitality school and writes an essay entitled "Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen". He was like 15 years old and there he set his grand vision in motion. Today, the staff at Ritz Carlton are known as "the Ladies and Gentlemen" . And it makes sense, I mean the only person who'd know how to serve royalty would be royalty themselves, right? I'm assuming the hourly pay there is pretty fat, but I don't know anyone who works there.

Ritz Carlton is also a cult. They have a "Credo" that all the employees are supposed to know by heart or something, and they carry around a little "Credo Card", which is kind of like the 10 commandments of customer service. They start every morning with a line up and the staff listens to a story of excellent customer service called "wow stories". They probably also sacrifice a small animal and drink its blood.

I enjoyed reading the wow stories in the book: like the time a catering service couldn't make it out to the wedding because of traffic, so the hotel booked a jet to fly the shit over. Wow - that's pimp! Or the front desk agent who let a guest borrow his shoes because he was in a hurry and forgot to bring dress shoes. Wow - that sucks! I hope he got his shoes back, or bought himself a new $2,000 pair.

All in all, this book made me like Ritz Carlton hotels, and I'd like to work there. I wouldn't stay there as a guest, though, unless I were a rock-star or something and just got wasted and partied all week; that would work.

A Conversation with GOD

A friend of mine has started a self-improvement movement called PWNing life. His challenge really requires an entirely new blog, but I figure I can put something here in my career blog, too. So, one of the first things he did was put out a question: What would you do if God floated into your room and...

GOD: Hey, Elliot. No matter what you do, you'll be successful.
ME: Yeah, but...
GOD: Dude! I'm GOD. I got you.
ME: OK, well, I'm gonna be GM at a super pimp hotel... in a cool, wild Asian country. And I wanna be a rock-star dancer with mad dancefloor skills. I wanna be like Marlin Brando in Apocalypse Now, except instead of being the scary asshole weirdo in a cave, I wanna be the positive, cool and super pimp at a classy hotel on the beach.
Then I wanna open my own hotel chain based on the Japanese capsule-hotel/jacuzzi/spa model; and the motto is "The American perfection of a Japanese tradition." It's for budget travellers who wanna cheap, super-clean place to crash and experience the sento bath and all the different herbal pools with a view of the city they're in (the herbal sento is always on the top floor with a view).
GOD: Got it. Keep moving toward this goal, and I'll send you cues. When I give you a cue, ACT. Oh, and ignore the bullshit. There's lots of bullshit. Just ignore it.
ME: You mean like that bullshit? What bullshit? Huh?
GOD: Exactly. You're on the right track.
ME: I wanna play the congas, too. And I want a black-belt in BJJ. And I want a super social life with lots of cool interesting people who are artists, thinkers and shakers and linchpins. And a crazy mad hot sex life with girls that blow my mind.
GOD: Is that all?
ME: ... a million dollars.
GOD: That's it?
ME: a billion dollars - I mean a billion purchasing-power dollars. Geary-Khamis dollars. I  mean, just really fucking wealthy.
GOD: Of course.
ME: GM pimp, hotel owner, dancer, martial-artist, mad socialite, conguero, gazillionaire.
GOD: That's all good. For now I want you to remember: Baby steps. You take baby steps and keep focused on your goals. With each step, I'll reciprocate with cues and clues that will replenish you, inspire you, and show you where to take the next step. You gotta keep moving. Tell me what door to open, and I'll open it, but I can't drag you through the door. All I can do is float around with my head on a cloud. See?
ME: Oh, shit, I forgot. The most important thing is I wanna have lots of fun. Every day. Fulfilling fun.
GOD: So, that will be all of the above goals plus a per-diem of fulfilling fun, is that correct?
ME: Ya.
GOD: You got it, kid.