César Ritz

Portrait of César Ritz

César Ritz (23 February 1850 – 24 October 1918) was a Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels, most famously the Hôtel Ritz, in Paris and The Ritz Hotel in London. His nickname was "king of hoteliers, and hotelier to kings," and it is from his name and that of his hotels that the term ritzy derives.

Biography

Ritz was 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, a restaurant which closed following the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.

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. A pioneer in the development of luxury hoteliering, he knew how to entice wealthy customers and quickly gained a reputation for good taste and elegance.

In 1888, he opened a restaurant with Auguste Escoffier 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, positions they held from 1889 until 1897.^[1] Ritz put together what he described as "a little army of hotel men for the conquest of London". The Savoy under Ritz was an immediate success, attracting a distinguished and moneyed clientele, headed by the Prince of Wales. Aristocratic women, hitherto unaccustomed to dine in public, were now "seen in full regalia in the Savoy dining and supper rooms".^[1] In 1897, Ritz and Escoffier were both dismissed from the Savoy. Ritz was implicated in the disappearance of over £3400 of wine and spirits.^[2]

In 1898, he opened the celebrated Hôtel Ritz in the Place Vendôme, Paris. He went on to open The Ritz Hotel in London in 1906, which became one of the most popular meeting places of the era, for the rich and famous. The Hotel Ritz Madrid in Madrid, opened in 1910, inspired by King Alfonso XIII's desire to build a luxury hotel to rival the Ritz in Paris. Ritz enjoyed a long partnership with Auguste Escoffier, the famous French chef and father of modern French cooking. The partnership lasted until Ritz had to retire in 1907 because of deteriorating health.

Ritz died in Küssnacht, near Lucerne, Switzerland at the age of 68. He is buried in the village of his birth.

See also

• Charles Ritz

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Ashburner, F."Escoffier, Georges Auguste (1846–1935)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2006, accessed 17 September 2009
2. ^ Brigid, Allen. "Ritz, César Jean (1850–1918)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edition, May 2006, accessed 18 September 2009

References

• Ritz, une histoire plus belle que la légende - Claude Roulet - Editions Quai Voltaire - 1998 ISBN 2912517044
• Ritz, The King of Hoteliers and Host of Kings, Film by Frank Garbely, r-film Zurich 2007, ISAN 0000-0000-62E8-0000-U-0000-0000-L

External links

• Site dedicated to the life of César Ritz
• Hotel school in Switzerland

Persondata
Name	Ritz, Cesar
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 February 1850
Place of birth
Date of death	24 October 1918
Place of death