Renowned for his gift of creating service benchmarks – notably the multi-awarded Ritz-Carlton brand of hospitality – Horst Schulze tells Margie T Logarta the essence of inspiring and motivating staff.
On your reputation and track record, you could go anywhere, and yet, here you are starting something new.
I have no interest of being an employee anymore, if not, then I would have stayed on at the Ritz-Carlton. The magic in life is to create things, and I’m creating something in an industry I love and for people (in general) who I love.
Which market segment will Capella, the luxury hotel brand you’ve just launched in the Asia-Pacific, appeal to?
It’s the top three percent of the FIT market we’re aiming at.
Actually, you cannot put these travellers in a segment. They are all so different. They have a uniqueness that has to be understood.
And there is a dichotomy about them too – they want to be totally private, and yet want activity around them. They want to interact with people, and yet be able to step away. From many, many focus groups, we’ve learned they want a boutique infrastructure with the buzz and happening of a big hotel.
We thought we’d get a different response in Asia but the customers here are the same!
So do we see a return to the “inn” concept?
I remember this lady guest, who was a regular at the spa hotel where I worked as a bus boy many years ago. She would always write to us to warn us of her arrival date; the specific table in the restaurant she wanted (table number three); tulips on Mondays and roses on Thursdays; and which wine to serve at the meal she was hosting for some guests.
She was paying for her stay so she wanted us to serve her not the way we wanted to serve her, but the way she wanted to be served.
Yes, we are returning to this kind of individualism.
How did you come to form your standards of service that later on became industry standards?
I started in this business when I was 14 years old. It’s all I know. I left home to work in the hotel in a small town near Cologne because since 11 I had been pestering my parents about working in the industry. Of course, they wanted me to be an architect or a doctor, but I insisted they find something for me.
And you found it was your calling and stayed.
The person who had the most impact on me was the maitre d’. When he entered the restaurant, it was very clear that he was there, all the guests wanted to talk to him and were proud if he came to their table. He was so well respected by everyone. I even wrote about him in an essay we had to submit for a class in hotel school. I said that he was important even if he wasn’t a guest.
He made me proud to be part of the industry –?we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen, I wrote. I kept that homework because it’s the only “A” I ever got!
And it became the motto of the Ritz-Carlton.
Even to this day.
Getting employees to think like Horst Schulze is a challenge. Let’s say you were interviewing us for a position in your new hotel chain, how would you ascertain if we were the right “material”?
First, I would tell you who we are, then I would share our objectives and dreams for tomorrow. One shouldn’t be there merely to fill a position, but to create excellence. If you accept my offer, you’re saying you’re going to be the very best there is.
Adam Smith wrote that human beings cannot buy into orders and directions; they buy into objectives and beliefs. My responsibility is to give people a purpose and sustain what I have taught and shown them during orientation as well as put a system in place that will remind daily of why they joined the company.
But won’t people join on the strength of Horst Schultz presence in the company?
Vision and personality are of course non-transferable, and that’s why systems and processes are necessary to keep the objectives alive and relevant.
You survived cancer and continue to travel endlessly. You’re living your second life to the fullest like you did the life before.
Thirteen years ago I was told I only had a year to live. But the hotelier in the sky helped me.
Cancer has had a definite impact. Everything and everybody looks more beautiful now.
Anything to stay healthy?
I take my vitamins and work out.
How do you keep your sanity travelling so much?
I tell you it’s tough. Yes, it’s a bit too much right now. I try to be home on weekends – I still have a small one at home, who’s 14 – which doesn’t always work, but I try.
I have a great family that supports me; a wife who has accepted my hectic schedule. You have to have a partner like that. Our life together is one of values and respect.
When you’re at the end of bad service, do you complain?
All the time. My wife gets so embarrassed. I try to correct everybody. I can’t help it.
