SWOT Analysis of Ritz-Carlton

Ritz Carlton is a chain of luxury hotels across the world with operations in around 30 countries across the world. The conglomerate has under its umbrella around 20 properties in the United States of America and resorts and luxury hotels in Sydney, Australia, Shanghai, China, Bali, Indonesia, Seoul, Korea and Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean Islands. The company was founded in the year 1983 and currently, the brand is owned by Marriott International.

The hotel chain offers a wide variety of amenities such as rooms, spas, gym, conference facilities, golf courses, swimming pools, and fitness centers, restaurants serving varieties of global cuisines, destination clubs, and Jacuzzis. In addition to hotels, the properties also have residences and clubs, condominiums, villas, or estate homes. The hotels have gift programs which offer gift card options which can be used to avail accommodation in their hotel or resort. The company which registered an annual turnover of 3 billion USD and employs around 40,000 people.

Ritz-Carlton was the first and only hotel company that was twice awarded the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award from the United States Department of Commerce. The Ritz-Carlton adheres to the motto "We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen". This motto exemplifies anticipatory services provided by all staff members.

Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Ritz Carlton

The following are the strengths of Ritz Carlton Hotels :

·         Presence in the right locations: Ritz Carlton hotels are present in some of the best locations across the world. The locations of their hotels are decided based on research of where customers who prefer to avail luxury accommodation would want to stay. They do not negotiate on prices for their properties and ensure that they get the best options in their preferred locations.

·         Employee quality: Ritz Carlton believes in the philosophy that ladies and gentlemen serve ladies and gentlemen. This forms the crux of their employee selection procedure and even the training offered to their people follows this core principle. This ensures that the service levels of the hotel chain are unparalleled.

·         High synergy amongst stakeholders: Ritz Carlton follows a ritual called as line-up in order to get all their stakeholders across borders to synergize. Each Ritz Carlton employee, stakeholder or partner irrespective of the property in which they work or the shift or their job role spend the first 15 minutes of their work day talking about great things they have done as part of their job role. This not just motivates them for the day but also ensures that they feel good about themselves.

·         Trust in employees: One policy that makes the Ritz properties stand apart from their peers is the trust they have on their employees. Each employee of the hotel is given a sum of 2000 USD without prior approval of their superiors which in turn can be used for servicing guests. This not just improves service quality but also increases employee satisfaction motivating them to provide even better service.

·         Guest feedback and appraisal: The guest feedback system of all Ritz Carlton properties is very robust. In addition to feedback provided by guests, the hotel also tracks guest behavior on a regular basis maintaining a file on each guest. The data thus maintained is used to offer highly personalized services to guests.

Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Ritz Carlton

Weaknesses are used to refer to areas where the business or the brand needs improvement.   Some of the key weaknesses are:

• Decrease in tourism industry due to natural disasters, terror activities etc.

·         Providing the experience: As competition increases in the luxury hotel category, the only way to create a difference is through guest experiences. These experiences are defined individually which means that the level of customization is very high. This is not just costly but also requires high attention to detail. The difficulty to provide personalized experiences across multiple properties is one of the core weaknesses of the brand.

·         Sustaining the brand image: The millennial generation has customers who stay in luxury in their homes and thus small things like free Wi-Fi or comfortable sleeping spaces hardly would be equated to luxury. In such a situation providing luxury to customers will be a daunting task.

·         Fluctuating demands: The customer demands vary across various segments, regions, or even ethnicities. Each culture may have a different definition of luxury and thus the value they attribute to each aspect of the service may be different. For hotel chains like Ritz which have operations across the globe understanding what each group wants and providing them is near impossible.

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Ritz Carlton

Some of the opportunities include:

·         Growing preference for luxury: There is a global increase in demand for luxury products.

·         Travelers looking for novel destinations that are interesting

·         Increase clients through special packages and corporate tie-ups

Threats in the SWOT analysis of Ritz Carlton

Threats are those factors in the environment which can hamper the growth of the business. Some of the threats include:

·       Intense competition globally from renowned as well as local hotels. Some of the main competitors are:

Competitors:  JW Marriot Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels, Grand Hyatt Hotels, Manhattan Hotels, Accor Hotels, Starwood Hotels, Best Western, Hilton Hotels Corporation etc.

The analysis above concludes the Ritz Carlton SWOT analysis along with its marketing and brand parameters. Similar analysis has also been done for the competitors of the company belonging to the same category, sector or industry.