Living values the Ritz-Carlton way

“Understanding what luxury service standards are determines what kind of competencies are required to deliver that level of service. This is then followed by selecting and training people in these competencies,” says Lawrence Chi, director of HR at the hotel. A key to building a customer-focused culture has been the hotel’s twelve service values, which have essentially weaved their way into the day-to-day operations of the hotel.

The evolution of values

The Portman Ritz-Carlton’s service culture can be traced back to the hotel’s beginnings in 1983. A credo was developed at this time, which outlines the service missions of staff to guests and the experience they should strive to offer them.

“When this was established, the foundation of our culture and philosophy began,”says Ralph Grippo, vice president and area general manager. “Since the credo and our gold standards were founded, it grew as we grew. The culture, combined with the selection of our ladies and gentlemen with the talent to execute our philosophy, has enabled us to create our service culture,” he says.

The gold standards define the Portman Ritz-Carlton’s service culture. It incorporates the hotel’s credo, its motto (“We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen”) and three steps of service. The first step is the necessary provision of warm and sincere greetings and farewells using the guest’s name, followed by the anticipation and fulfilment of each guest’s needs. The final step is that the hotel will in turn provide a diverse work environment, quality of life and the fulfilment of individual aspirations by effectively nurturing and maximising talent to the benefit of each individual and the company.

Twelve service values also play a role in the hotel’s service culture. Originally, the hotel established 20 service basics which outlined the standards for employees’behaviour, performance, cleanliness, safety and more, detailing exactly what staff must do. However, Chi says these 20 service basics were cut down to 12 as a result of organisational change and changes in guest behaviour.

“The luxury guest from 20 years ago has changed. Twenty years ago, our guests were more formal, were more old money, they appreciated more of the verbiage of ‘it’s my pleasure’, ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’, and ‘good evening’. The luxury customer of today is more casual, informal and younger,” he says.

Working with values

Communication is an important part of delivering on the 12 service values. This includes a rollout to senior leaders and middle managers and general sessions to communicate the values to employees, with each division responsible for presenting a different service value to focus on each day. Employees also attend a four-hour training session to better understand the values.

“Every 12 days we rotate one of the service values and so we’re focused on one service value a day. When we do our daily line ups and we talk about each day’s service value, we talk about things such as opportunities to learn and grow in the hotel and 12 days from then we will talk about it again,” says Chi.

While HR may be considered the keeper of the gold standards, culture and philosophy of the organisation, Chi says the living of the values is the responsibility of everyone in the hotel. “All the executives, whether you are in a finance position or an operations position, your number one priority are your ladies and gentlemen,” he says.

As Raymond Ma, regional director of finance for the Portman Ritz-Carlton, explains, “Within the finance department, we highlight the importance of providing the best service for both the external and internal guests (employees) as well as the training of the Ritz-Carlton philosophy in the daily line up.”

Keeping all lines of communication open is a key to the hotel’s successful culture, according to Chi. “You can never have too much communication and re-energising of the service ethic. Checks and balances are not in place to delight the guest. That makes people think and slower to react to a guest problem resolution.” Guests are constantly surveyed for feedback in order to gauge how effective the hotel is in delivering on its service ethic.

Recruitment values

The Portman Ritz-Carlton takes a strict line on recruiting the right people. If candidates have years of valuable experience but do not fit in with the strong service culture, they are simply not selected. “We select talent and teach staff the technical part of their job …we seek people who care for and respect our guests and each other. Those who have a high work ethic, are detail oriented and relationship driven are the types of characteristics we seek in people,” says Grippo.

The Ritz-Carlton uses a customised, structured interview when recruiting people. Different types of interviews are conducted for staff, supervisors, managers, sales and executives. For example, a manager would be tested for focus and sense of competition, while a recruiter needs to be caring, relationship oriented, business savvy and able to see the talents of other people.

“You have to make sure that you’re selecting for attitudes and values, not for skills and experience. You can’t train for attitudes and values, you can train for skills,” says Chi. If candidates have the right customer focus, values and a positive attitude, anyone can be trained to do anything in the hotel, Chi says.

Challenges

While the customer service culture of the Portman Ritz-Carlton has been successful, one of the challenges faced by the hotel is in the disconnect between the organisational culture and the national culture. In China, a socialist economic system does not focus on quality of production or work. While everyone is selected and trained to fit the organisational culture, the national culture still has an influence, according to Chi. “Employees can be here 8, 10, 12 hours a day and are therefore still influenced by their national culture outside the workplace.”

The competitive advantage

The service values have ultimately created a greater sense of loyalty and engagement from employees, according to Chi. With the onus to live out the culture and values of the organisation on each individual, he claims this has provided staff with a greater sense of empowerment and ownership of the guest and the business.

As a result, the hotel has a good retention rate. “In the six years I have been here, only in one year have we not had the lowest in employee turnover in the city. In 2004, another hotel just beat us. That’s a sign of loyalty, although I would tend to argue our turnover might be a little too low and we’re trying to encourage new blood into the hotel, different ideas and so on,” he says.

As the head of HR for the hotel, it is important to keep one’s word, Chi adds. “If you say you’re going to implement the employee promise and you say you’re going to treat everyone with respect, you just have to do it. I find with a lot of companies these are just words that are hanging on a plaque on the boardroom wall, but in reality people don’t reward with those behaviours associated with the desired state.”