Running head: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company Case Analysis: HR Dilemmas at Five Star Hotel 1
The Ritz–Carlton Hotel Company Case Analysis: HR Dilemmas at Five Star Hotel
Briana Hammond, Denise Mugabe, Xinrui Elmer, Joy Osuofa, & Heather Miller
Texas Woman’s University
The Ritz–Carlton Hotel Company Case Analysis: HR Dilemmas at Five Star Hotel 2
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company Case Analysis: Human Resources Problem Areas
Introduction
After the reviewing The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company article, the most notable human
resource problem that was discovered was in several different parts of their training process. The
“Seven Day Countdown” is the training process used by the Ritz–Carlton Hotel for all their new
employees. The human resource problem within the Ritz-Carlton Hotel training process is deficit
in offering additional skills and development training, practice and feedback methods, and real
working environments to train in.
Background
This training process is broken down into two parts over the course of the seven days.
The first two days are entirely devoted to orienting employees to the Ritz-Carlton culture, and
days three through seven involve more specific skills training and trial runs of service delivery.
During this Seven Day Countdown training process, new employees are trained in a hotel that is
still under construction that is not ready for the public yet. Both factors play a huge role in the
training of the Ritz–Carlton employees.
On the first day, the new employees join other members of their division outside the hotel
for a “pep rally.” After the pep rally, the day is full of informational segments from Ritz–
Carlton’s president and COO, Horst Schulze, which included introductions of the “Gold
Standards” guidelines, the “Service Philosophy” of the company, and concluded with the
“Leadership Orientation” for all new managers (Sucher & McManus, 2005).
The Ritz–Carlton Hotel Company Case Analysis: HR Dilemmas at Five Star Hotel 3
On the second day, all the new employees meet with their respective departments for an
introduction which explains what customers are looking for in the different settings that have in
the hotel. Sucher and McManus (2005) explain how an employee at the Ritz–Carlton would treat
a customer who goes to the bar for a drink differently than a customer having room service
delivered to their room.
The third and fourth day are filled with scheduled uniform fittings, personal grooming
sessions, and introductions on the daily lineup procedures. There is also a session that all new
employees must attend on the “instant guest pacification,” which is the procedure to use when
handling difficult guest (Sucher & McManus, 2005). The last three days of the Seven Day
Countdown is when the departmental technical training takes place helping employees learn the
details involved in their new roles. These new employees are expected to learn and master this
process by going thru multiple trial runs.
After reviewing the breakdown of the Seven Day Countdown, there are several problems
within the process. One of the first problems with the Seven Day Countdown is that only allows
three days for actual skill and development training. We also don’t know if the company trainers
have much experience in delivering on-the-job training for new hire since all there training is
done in a location still under construction (Mathis, Jackson & Valentine, 2016, p. 103).
Therefore, the best fit for training would be for the new employees to use the practice and
feedback method. This method allows the learner to practice what they have learned and get
feedback on how they have done, so that they can improve if necessary. (Mathis et al., 2016,
p.101). In addition, the new hires are training in are hotels that aren’t functioning hotels which
leads to the trainees not having realistic training situations that they could be placed in nor any
The Ritz–Carlton Hotel Company Case Analysis: HR Dilemmas at Five Star Hotel 4
real hands on experience. The Ritz–Carlton new hire employees aren’t getting to see the full flow
of the business until the hotels are fully functional which is outside of their Seven Day
Countdown training methods to learn essential skills.
Alternative Solutions
Fortunately for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, the human resource problem areas are
adjustable with a few necessary accommodations and changes to the company’s training and
hiring practices. Below are the alternative solutions that we have proposed.
Increase training period to fourteen days
The analysis described a rigorous training process that was centered on communicating
and teaching the Ritz-Carlton Hotels’ values and customs. The Seven Day Countdown aimed to
