Top 10 Legendary Hoteliers

Cesar Ritz.

Putting this list together was one of the hardest and most interesting things Hotelier Middle East has had to do.

Aside from trawling the internet for information, we asked people’s opinions and delved deep into the history of the hotel industry.

We were greeted with stories of ambition, luck, humour as well as sadness and intrigue as we carried out the research.

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The following list is our opinion and we have given the justifications for our choices, however, we know that you will have your own valid opinions so please feel free to comment.

Our biggest challenge was choosing just 10 as we started with around 30 viable candidates for out Top 10 Legendary Hoteliers.

You will notice some big names haven’t made it onto the list such as Las Vegas legend Steve Wynn and South African legend Sol Kerzner. Some wonderful stories won’t be told in this list such as Dusit Thani’s founder Thanpuying Chanut Piyaoui’s.

There is no ranking order, it's simply a group of 10 legends.

We hope you enjoy reading the list as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

1. Cesar Ritz

If there was ever a name that was synonymous with the very best of hotels it’s Ritz.

And the man responsible for this was hotelier Cesar Ritz.

Born in Niederwald, Switzerland, to a farming family, he began his career at Le Splendide, a hotel in Paris and was maître d'hôtel at Chez Voisin.

In 1878, he became the manager of the Grand Hôtel National in Lucerne and held the same position, in parallel, at the Grand Hôtel in Monaco until 1888.

Ritz’s strength was his ability to understand the needs and desires of wealthy customers and this led to him pioneering the foundations of what we would come to know as luxury hospitality.

In 1888, he opened a restaurant with Auguste Escoffier (thought of by many as the father of modern French cooking) in Baden-Baden, and the two were then invited to London by Richard D'Oyly Carte to become the first manager and chef of the Savoy Hotel.

Ritz is quoted as saying that he put together "a little army of hotel men for the conquest of London".

Under Ritz, The Savoy went from strength to strength and royalty, extremely rich clientele and the powerful could be seen frequenting the hotel and its supper rooms.

In 1898, he opened the celebrated Hôtel Ritz in the Place Vendôme, Paris, France. He went on to open The Ritz Hotel in London, United Kingdom in 1906, which became one of the most popular meeting places for the rich and famous.

The partnership lasted until Ritz had to retire in 1907 due to deteriorating health. Ritz died in Küssnacht, near Lucerne, Switzerland at the age of 68.

Many of the touches that Ritz introduced to his hotels are still standard practice in today’s modern luxury hotels. That is why he has secured his place in the Top 10 Legendary Hoteliers.