Valuetainment - February 18, 2026


“Hospitality CANNOT Be Replaced” - Ritz-Carlton Founder DRAWS A HARD LINE On Hotel AI Automation


Episode Stats

Length

7 minutes

Words per Minute

150.34314

Word Count

1,183

Sentence Count

114

Misogynist Sentences

1


Summary

The Ritz-Garten is one of the most iconic luxury hotels in the world. It was founded in the late 1800s by Alexander Ritzenberger, who was the first person to open a hotel. He was also the first man to introduce the concept of the RitzGarten, and the first hotel to offer Wi-Fi. He is also the founder of Capella Group, a hotel technology company that has become a global leader in the field of AI. In this episode, we talk about how AI is revolutionizing the hospitality industry, and how it can be applied in hotels.


Transcript

00:00:00.680 It's the family and friends event at Shoppers Drug Mart.
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00:00:16.640 So how do you differentiate between the speaker that came before you,
00:00:20.640 where he says new, new, new?
00:00:22.440 What principles are evergreen and what principles are changing?
00:00:27.700 What's changing that you have to adapt to?
00:00:29.400 The way it is done changes.
00:00:31.760 The way it is done, and of course, customers' expectations will change.
00:00:36.260 I tell you a funny story on customer expectation.
00:00:39.440 When I opened the first Ritz-Garten, at that time, the first plastic card keys came out,
00:00:45.760 which today is norm.
00:00:48.160 Well, this was nearly unheard of.
00:00:50.860 They called them wing cards at the time.
00:00:52.780 And I said, since this is new, we do that.
00:00:55.400 You were the first.
00:00:56.380 I was very early.
00:00:57.520 This wing card.
00:00:58.840 And it was, it's a good security piece.
00:01:01.280 But our guest checked in and said, you're a luxury hotel.
00:01:03.760 They give me a plastic piece.
00:01:05.580 Wow.
00:01:05.980 So six months later, we changed the locks.
00:01:10.020 Because that was, this silly thing was overwhelming to customer that I would give them a plastic.
00:01:16.240 Wow.
00:01:16.760 So they saw it as cheap, not as a.
00:01:19.340 But wait a minute, three months later, three years later, they said, you're giving me a hard key?
00:01:25.380 That is very dangerous.
00:01:26.420 What if I lose and they come into my room?
00:01:28.420 So we changed locks again.
00:01:30.880 Yes, you have to go with the customer.
00:01:33.020 But on the end, it's how I do it.
00:01:37.960 It's how they feel what I'm doing.
00:01:41.100 In the end, I have to tell them, I care for you.
00:01:43.960 By that action, they don't know that I care.
00:01:46.560 I just responded.
00:01:48.860 But by me saying, friendly, instead of saying, hi, hey.
00:01:54.600 Saying, good morning, sir.
00:01:55.740 How are you today?
00:01:57.560 And tell you with my eyes, I am here for you.
00:01:59.980 I respect you.
00:02:00.980 So, amazing.
00:02:03.320 So the question, here's a question I got for you.
00:02:06.060 You go from keys to card to what is this?
00:02:10.860 I want a key.
00:02:11.900 Back to key.
00:02:12.780 Back to card three years later.
00:02:14.060 Back to the card, yeah.
00:02:14.640 Question for you is, who do you listen to?
00:02:18.280 How do you know the right move is to go back to keys and the right move is to go back to cards?
00:02:22.680 That's it.
00:02:23.160 Is it the complaining customer?
00:02:24.580 Is it majority?
00:02:25.460 Is it employees?
00:02:26.680 What patterns help you make that decision?
00:02:29.480 You don't listen to your mother-in-law.
00:02:32.220 That's a study of one.
00:02:34.960 A complaint is also a study of one.
00:02:37.200 You make customer service thoroughly ongoing.
00:02:41.040 You have to understand what the market wants.
00:02:43.920 It's not the individual.
00:02:45.000 And that's a bad thing companies do, particularly entrepreneur owners, the billionaire owners.
00:02:51.360 His friend tells them, and then he comes and changes it all because my friend told me.
00:02:56.180 That's a study of one that you just don't respond to.
00:02:59.020 You have to understand what the market as a whole wants.
00:03:01.600 How do you do that?
00:03:04.120 By my customer studies.
00:03:06.360 We, of course, it was easy in a hotel.
00:03:09.000 We had a, I had a customer analysis done for, I knew every month in every hotel in the world what the customer satisfaction was,
00:03:20.040 what the employee satisfaction is, what my economics are, and what my future indicators are.
00:03:25.660 That's the only thing I need to know.
00:03:27.280 The rest are delegate.
00:03:29.080 The rest are delegate.
00:03:30.180 But if the customer satisfaction intended to return was not there, we then could dig in why into the various studies.
00:03:40.060 And we analyzed if there are in every hotel the same trend.
00:03:45.200 Got it.
00:03:46.000 So we know what is there.
00:03:47.200 We then tweak constantly.
00:03:48.760 You tweak so that you keep on serving the customer the way the customer wants to be served.
00:03:55.660 Like, what is AI doing right now to the hotel and hospitality business that some people are using that you'll say I'll never do?
00:04:04.940 And what is AI doing to the hospitality business that you love?
00:04:08.720 Well, I'm not there.
00:04:12.360 I mean, I'm generationally cannot quite accept it, AI, yet.
00:04:18.280 Oh, but I'm saying I work with a technical group, and we are leader in the technology that has created for hotels.
00:04:25.540 That's Capella.
00:04:26.700 No, that is the hotel company.
00:04:28.500 I'm working with a group, KYC, that puts technologies into hotels so we know everything.
00:04:38.600 And we are partially AI.
00:04:40.420 For instance, in AI, I can do everything.
00:04:44.640 But what is happening because of the AI is nearly every brand, larger brand, is becoming a commodity now.
00:04:56.940 It means you check in with your iPhone.
00:05:00.660 That's what you do.
00:05:02.360 You check in.
00:05:03.300 You call the elevator.
00:05:04.380 You go into your room.
00:05:05.280 You check out and so on.
00:05:06.380 That means it is a commodity that offers shelters, sleep.
00:05:15.040 Hospitality cannot be replaced by AI.
00:05:18.040 I still have to have a human being.
00:05:19.740 I would still have, if I was running a hotel, I would do that.
00:05:24.760 But I would have somebody on the front door that says, welcome, and walk to you to the elevator and say, I'm here for you.
00:05:31.060 You respect it here, and not just the AI.
00:05:36.340 But it's driven, of course, the company has to make a three-month report to Wall Street.
00:05:45.420 So I have to have people staying in front door.
00:05:47.260 But that's the end of hospitality.
00:05:49.460 But that's why small hotels who do it will be the leader of excellence.
00:05:54.020 Small hotels?
00:05:55.060 That do it, yeah.
00:05:56.220 Because they're able to control more of it?
00:05:57.800 They will control more of it, and they will be successful because of their hospitality and not just because of shelter.
00:06:05.740 So then scale is harder today the bigger the company is, because you can't maintain customer service.
00:06:10.980 You could if you're willing to spend the money for it.
00:06:13.960 On what?
00:06:14.600 But large companies don't because they're pushed by shareholders to make a little more profit.
00:06:20.420 Who's the bigger company today, like, you know, that you still look at and say, wow, good for them.
00:06:26.720 Big companies still maintaining customer service.
00:06:30.820 Aubergh is pretty big, becoming big, but there's still attention.
00:06:36.880 Rosewood is still paying attention to the customer somewhat.
00:06:40.980 But, you know, you see most big names that you know, and I will not repeat the names, are becoming commodities very fast.
00:06:48.740 Do you, when you sold, when you stepped away from Ritz, what year was that, when you stepped away from Ritz?
00:06:56.700 Well, I have finished my work with Ritz in 2002.
00:07:01.740 2002.
00:07:02.520 Yeah.
00:07:02.900 And you went to Ritz what year?
00:07:07.020 1974.
00:07:08.200 From 74 to 2003.
00:07:10.740 End of 73, yeah.
00:07:12.040 Success is built on how you think.
00:07:16.140 Influence is built on how you show up.
00:07:20.620 Every detail matters.
00:07:23.460 Because presence speaks before you do.
00:07:27.480 This is more than style.
00:07:31.780 The future looks bright.
00:07:33.880 If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this, click here.
00:07:41.420 And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.
00:07:44.200 Thank you.