César Ritz: Pioneer of Luxury Hotels
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Translated by
ScribdTranslationsCesar Ritz
He was born in Niederwald on February 23, 1850. He was the
founder of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, synonymous with elegance and luxury.
He was the youngest of the thirteen children of a farmer. His
personality was characterized by patience, ability to
work, ambition, ingenuity, adaptability, and energy
inexhaustible. He studied in the capital of the canton of Valais, and
he then went on to work in small hotels.
He established himself in France to learn the business
from the restaurants working as a waiter in
the most elegant establishment in Paris, the Voisin.
In 1870, he worked as the manager at the Splendide hotel in Paris. happened to
Vienna, a gastronomic temple of desserts and confectionery, where he met the
Prince of Wales who promoted him until he became the favorite of the
European aristocracy. High society followed Ritz during those decades, transformed
as the promoter and maximum representative of the luxury industry.
From Vienna he went to Nice, Switzerland, and San Remo. There he met a Swiss hotelier who
proposed to relaunch his hotel in Lucerne, the "Gran Hotel National". Later,
became the general manager of the "Gran Hotel" in Monte Carlo, where he met
Auguste Escoffier, the best chef of all time. Together they formed a
unmatched team, the Ritz-Escoffier tandem, that made of the direction and the
the kitchen of a luxury hotel is the hallmark of the era.
Ritz and Escoffier opened a restaurant in Baden-Baden in 1887. Richard D
´Oyly, owner of the Savoy Hotel in London, impressed by a party that
they gave it to him, offered Ritz his address. Thus he became one of the
best hotels in Europe. Ritz made it fashionable to dine out at home.
from the English high society. It was precisely his clients who
they encouraged to open a hotel in Paris. To make this project a reality, Ritz
He bought an old and noble building in 1896, which he later expanded. The hotel united three
buildings in one.
For two years, Ritz oversaw the staffing and decoration of the 210
rooms and personally took care of all the details. Since the opening
from the hotel, in 1898, the Monday dinners became famous, where it was
very difficult to get a table. They were the meeting point of the best society
European of the early century.
The Parisian project did not distract Ritz from the rest of the European establishments.
what had inspired, since he continued to personally take care of nine
restaurants and hotels in various countries. The Ritz Hotel in London opened in
1906 and the one in Madrid in 1910.
In June 1902, César Ritz suffered a nervous breakdown from which he never recovered.
he fully recovered. He had lost his memory and had to be admitted to a
sanatorium in Switzerland. He died disabled on October 26, 1918 in Küssnacht.
after 16 years of illness that he endured with the discretion he had
considered the key to success in the hotel business.