Ritz-Carlton

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

Type	Subsidiary of Marriott International
Industry	Hospitality, tourism
Founded	1983 (1983)
Headquarters	Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States
Number of locations	91 hotels worldwide in 30 countries.
Key people	Bill Marriott, (Chairman) Arne Sorenson, (Chief Executive Officer) Herve Humler, (President & Chief Operating Officer) Kathleen Oberg, (Chief Financial Officer) Bob Kharazmi, (Global Officer, Worldwide Operations) Ed French, (Global Officer, Sales & Marketing
Revenue	US$ 3 billion (2012)
Owner	Marriott International
Number of employees	35,000 (2016)
Parent	Marriott International
Website	www.ritzcarlton.com
Footnotes / references

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. is the parent company to the luxury hotel chain, The Ritz-Carlton Hotels. Ritz-Carlton operates 91 luxury hotels and resorts in cities around the world and resorts in 30 countries and territories.

The current company was founded in 1983, when the previous owners sold the brand name to create The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., based in Boston, Massachusetts, which expanded the brand to other locations. The hotel company is today a subsidiary of Marriott International.

The story of The Ritz-Carlton begins with Swiss hotelier César Ritz who was well known in the hotel industry as the "king of hoteliers and hotelier to kings". Ritz redefined luxury accommodation in Europe with his management of The Ritz in Paris and the Carlton Hotel in London, among others. He and the renowned chef from his hotels, Auguste Escoffier, opened a la carte restaurants known as Ritz-Carlton on board the Hamburg-Amerika Line ocean liners SS Amerika in 1905 and SS Imperator in 1913. The restaurants on those ships ceased operating in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I. Although Ritz died in 1918, his wife Marie continued the tradition of opening hotels in his name.

In 1911, the Ritz company announced its intention to expand to North America. The Ritz-Carlton Investing Company was established by Albert Keller, who bought and franchised the name in the United States. The first Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the U.S. opened in New York in 1911. It was located at 46th Street and Madison Avenue. Louis Diat ran the kitchens and invented Vichyssoise there. The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia followed in 1913 at Broad & Walnut streets, designed by Horace Trumbauer and Warren & Wetmore. The Ritz-Carlton Montreal opened in 1912, not owned by Keller as it was located in Canada. Keller's Ritz-Carlton Atlantic City opened in 1921.