Portman Ritz Case

Success at the Portman Ritz Carlton, Shanghai did not happen overnight. The Asia Hotel industry suffers as a whole for a few reasons, reasons which also plagued The Portman Ritz Carlton. First is employee turnover, which in Asia hotel markets sometimes ranges over 30%. The second issue is guest satisfaction, which is a direct effect of employee turnover. And the third are occupancy rates, which is critical to the financial performance of any hotel in any market across the world. The Portman Ritz Carlton suffered from these factors, which led them to make major changes, most notably to upper management to try and turn the hotel around. Ritz Carlton brought in Mark DeCocinis, a 20 year veteran in the Hotel business and a successful general manage with Ritz Carlton, to turn the hotel around. Mark DeCoconis, with his leadership skills and his people are what turned the Ritz Shanghai to an award winning establishment.

The main source behind the turnaround and continued success of the hotel starts with business and talent requirements of the hotel. This is all centered on the hotels mission. “To provide the finest personal service and facilities to our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed yet refined ambience.” In Mark’s view this can only be carried out by employees, who need to be satisfied and engaged in their work. The three goals of the organization are financial results, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. The success of the hotel depended upon these three things working in perfect harmony together. Mark placed major focus on the people aspect in order to yield the results he wanted at every angle. Placing emphasis on people led the hotel to focus on hiring individuals that shared the same values. People who care and respect others, who smile naturally, who seek a long term relationship and those who have talent for the job. The hotels focuses on these employee attributes are what lay the foundation for the success of the hotel.

Mark also set up a unique value proposition to his employees enabling them to set them up for success. He called it “setting up our ladies and gentlemen for success”, which applied principles of trust, honesty and commitment. In many businesses at home or abroad corporate credos, codes of conduct and the like are merely words on a piece of paper that employers have because they “have to have something in writing” and that employees “say they have read” and have not. Most companies lack the trust between employer and employee due to the lack of consistency with the so called guidelines of all employees. For the Ritz Shanghai, this is what has fueled their growth and made them who they are today. The key factors here are daily execution and the reciprocation of the commitment. There is a promise made by upper management to employees and vice versa. This promise is to take care of employees, trust them, develop them and provide a happy place to work.