Luxury Hoteliers Magazine 1st Quarter 2017 | Page 45

hotels is unseasonably low , which may very well be good news for the Ritz , since it will allow the hotel to quietly break in its staff over the course of the next few months . Even then , the allure of the opening will allow the Ritz to raise its occupancy rate for some time above those of others hotel .
The Year of the Opening . A Time for the Rebirth of a Legend . The Art of Breaking in to Achieve Excellence .
Let ’ s not resist facts ; it can take well over a year for the hotel staff ( a team of 600 ), of which half are newcomers , to both learn to work together and take possession of their new workspace in order to produce a service worthy of perfection . Excellence takes time to cultivate , and staff need to reconnect after time spent apart while the hotel was closed for renovation so that they can once again provide the superior level of guest experience and service expected from The Ritz .
The Plaza Athénée took a different approach during its latest renovation , and not only retained its personnel but sent them to other hotels within the same group to discover new experiences and further perfect their work . Upon their return at the re-opening , even if the colleagues were forced to readapt to their workstations , they remained familiar with and able to recognize all their clients in order to render them the best of their services . This , of course , made all the difference . The element of human investment is an essential one in Palaces .
According to the conditions of the Palace label assignment set forth by the French hotel association Atout France , the Ritz will have to wait two years before it can lay claim to being a candidate of the prestigious label — which it will in all likelihood obtain , given the nature of the investments . The hotel was refused the label back in 2012 before the closing , due to the aged facilities in place at the hotel . The hotel was no longer effective , either , at attracting a new clientele . This will thus leave it the time to prepare itself , polish its service offerings , and deliver on expectations at creating exclusive experiences .
César Ritz : the Art of Innovating and Creating Exclusivity
César Ritz once said “ I dream of a property that I would be proud to attach my name to .” We are talking about the man who brought unprecedented innovation in the luxury hotel industry and who essentially coded the universe of Palaces as we know it today . For instance , it was he who first installed a bathroom with running water as well as independent toilet facilities in each of the rooms at the Ritz Paris Hotel . It was he who also fitted the rooms with electricity . As for new technology , here was the one who installed telephones in all the rooms .
Imagine that , at the time , these imports into the hotel industry constituted an incredible revolution , one that consequently changed our expectations of accommodations on a large scale . In my opinion , this is one of the fundamental elements of luxury hotels : knowing how to reinterpret and offer excellence and at all levels . This thus means being able to bring all that one knows best and better than others . Being a Palace means being a visionary .
As for gastronomy , César Ritz forged a relationship with the celebrated chef Auguste Escoffier , and together , they innovated the design of their menus . They created à la carte menus that allowed diners to choose between a variety of appetizers , main course , and desserts . Today we might take these things to be granted , but at the time , this arrived as a dramatic change of the status quo . Luxury hotels have always been a source of inspiration for the hotel industry , as well as for other sectors . And French Palaces are highly renowned in the world for breathing in a new view .
Changing Everything without Changing Anything
It is important in this realm to differentiate oneself , to bring a new vision of the art of welcoming , a new look at the conception of a hotel . France has the luck of having numerous talents in all domains and is vivid proof of the great creativity that has contributed to its renown around the entire world . The hotel sector and the related world of architects deliver an optimistic image on the best of what ’ s being done in France . We have this chance to be able to influence this art of welcoming around the world .
The Ritz hotel has been redone in all its glory and splendor , yes , but a nostalgic splendor at that . The furniture remains squarely anchored in the nostalgic character of the Ritz , untouched by the shifting trends that have transpired beyond the walls of the hotel .
A hotel certainly has to be able to preserve its identity , but this should be through allowing itself to reinterpret its product and service offerings . It must be able to evolve both in its own time and more crucially along the coming years because the investment is such that the proprietor will likely not bring other investments of the same magnitude for another twenty years . The moment you open a hotel ,