Ritz-Carlton is a hotel; and like every hotel Ritz-Carlton faces the problem of providing customers with best quality service. Hotel business is one of the very few difficult businesses of the world, as no consumer buys any physical product, but the consumer in fact pays for an experience. To come up with the right combination of elements that can create a lifetime experience for a customer is not an easy job to do. (Heizer & Render, 2011). A very famous hotelier Cesar Ritz created the Hotel, late after the death of Mr. Cesar, Mr. Albert Keller bought and franchised the hotels, under the name of “Ritz Carlton Investing Company”. The logo that we see today is the modified form of what Mr. Cesar had initially created. Today Ritz-Carlton that runs as the subsidiary of “Marriot International” owns a chain that includes around 84 luxury hotels and beach resorts in almost 26 countries of the world. Ritz-Carlton has always been famous for its quality luxury experience, but it has always been difficult for the hotel to keep a track of the quality that is being provided to the consumers. Quality is something that cannot be quantified and the management has to rely completely on the employees for ensuring the quality service (Heizer & Render, 2011). Ritz-Carlton follows the process of self-examination; it studies a number of its services on the basis of the process flow and the time it takes. The hotel uses “statistical measurement” to draw the conclusions (Heizer & Render, 2011). Since the entire reputation of the hotel is in the hands of its employees so according to Ritz-Carlton’s management the hotel doesn’t hire new employees but rather select new members for their teams (Laura Gutierrez, Director of Human Resources for the Ritz-Carlton Dearborn in Michigan). The employees go through a rigorous recruitment process, thus giving the hotel the cream of best employees.

A very important recommendation for Ritz-Carlton is to keep on taking the consumer suggestion and comments at priority. Although the company is already one of the best in market with the most satisfied customer base, but it should still not lose its focus from what the customer’s want. Because being best is not as hard as staying best.
In what ways could the Ritz-Carlton monitor its success in achieving quality? Assessing itself on the basis of consumer’ opinions as well as company’s rules and policies, will take the company to a completely new level.
Many companies say that their goal is to provide quality products of services. What actions might you expect from a company that intends quality to be more than a slogan or buzzword? A customer can easily tell when a company takes practical measures to prove that providing quality service is not just slogan for them. For example, when the company streamlines its communication channels so that it is not a hassle for consumer to log a complaint or suggest a proposition. In case of hotels, if the process of reservations, check-ins and check-outs, and billing is user friendly the consumers will know they are being given quality service.
Why might it cost the Ritz-Carlton less to "do things right" the first time? “Doing things right the first time” is the most cost effective strategy. Doing the same task repeatedly to achieve perfection is not only going to cost the company more resources but also there is a chance that the consumer might lose its potential customer. Losing a customer to competition is like a nightmare for any company.
How could control charts, Pareto diagrams, and cause-and-effect diagrams be used to identify quality problems at a hotel? Quality measuring tools like control charts, pareto diagrams, and cause-and-effect diagrams can be used to not only identify quality problems but to deal with them because maintaining quality is the best way a company can keep its competitive edge. These tools can be used to measure the quality of almost all the services that the hotel offers.
What are some non-financial measures of customer satisfaction that might be used by the Ritz-Carlton? Some non-financial measures of customer satisfaction are solving the customer’s issues in less than estimated time, providing them with a quicker service, asking for customer’s suggestions, giving customers priority treatment. These are some points that will not cost the hotel management much but the results that they will bring in will be remarkable.

References

Ford, R. C., & Bach S. A. (1997), “Measuring Hotel Service Quality: Tools for gaining the Competitive Edge”. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1277&context=hospitalityreview
Gallup Business Journal, (2006), “How the Ritz-Carlton Is Reinventing Itself”. Retrieved from: http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/24871/how-ritzcarlton-reinventing-itself.aspx
Heizer, J., & Render, B. (2011). Operations Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson