Ritz-Carlton's President and CEO, Simon Cooper, is Stepping Down

August 11, 2010 at 5:35 PM | by juliana | Comments (6)

UPDATE: Go HERE for details on Simon Cooper's new gig for Marriott

*A HotelChatter Exclusive*

There's a big shake-up happening in the hotel industry today. We've got extremely reliable word that Simon F. Cooper, president and CEO of Ritz-Carlton Hotels, is stepping down. In a memo sent to high-level Ritz-Carlton employees, it noted Cooper will stay on at Marriott in another capacity but Herve Humler, currently President of Ritz's international division, will assume the role of prez and CEO. And from what we've heard, it sounds like that's effective immediately.

Last year, we speculated on the Marriotization of Ritz-Carlton and since then Marriott has been making subtle changes in its corporate structure. A commenter last August offered up some interesting perspective on all the changes. Later on in November, Cooper himself admitted that there were a lot of movement in "the back of the house" as Ritz continued to undergo a serious corporate makeover.

We just never imagined he would be the one lost in the shuffle. (Although Ritz folks tell us the writing has been on the wall for Cooper since then.)

Still, despite the gripes from loyal Ritz employees about Marriott taking over, all of those changes might be working as the recent JD Power report put Ritz ahead of arch rival Four Seasons.

That's good news for Ritz for sure but it doesn't answer the question of why Cooper is leaving. We can only speculate but perhaps with all the international expansion Ritz is doing--of the future hotel openings listed on its website, only three are in North America--Herve Humler might be better suited for the gig.

Either way, we're saddened that such a savvy Twitterer like Mr. Cooper (who actually received a tutorial on Twitter from HotelChatter back in April 2009) is stepping down. We'll certainly miss his tweets from all the exotic locations he's been traveling to recently.

Looking on the bright side, if he's staying with Marriott maybe he'll have a role in Edition Hotels which we think would be way cooler than Ritz!

Anyone with more insider knowledge on what is happening with Ritz-Carlton, Marriott Hotels or Simon Cooper? Let us know!

Update: Yup, we were right. Ritz just announced that Herve Humler, one of the original founders of The Ritz-Carlton in 1983, has been named Ritz-Carlton's President and COO and Cooper is out.

Comments (6)

Return to » Ritz-Carlton's President and CEO, Simon Cooper, is Stepping Down

Marriott has taken over almost all aspects of Ritz-Carlton and all internal departments. This started in late 2008 and continued into 2009. Any remaining Ritz-Carlton Executives are really just seat-warmers in their jobs (including the esteemed Mr. Humler). It is just for show only and the executives cannot make any decisions and they all report to Marriott Executives who control the company and have made sure Ritz-Carlton is fully integrated into all Marriott Processes. Owners have also not been informed of many of these changes as some may challenge their management contracts and the fact that they signed up for a luxury product, not a luxury collection which includes JW hotels which are at best 4 star hotels, not luxury. Also, the Edition brand is Ian Schrager warming up his old concept, about 15 years later. Will not be of any significance, cities are great, locations in those cities are less than desirable. W Brand has this customer segment cornered.

he's now moving on to prez of Marriott Asia Pacific. thoughts on that?

How much I adore Simon Cooper. He is so... dapper. And delightful.

Marriott tried to capture the luxury customer and failed. That is why Marriott paid the big price tag for Ritz-Carlton and why they set it up as a separate LLC with its own Corporate structure.

Initially there were some financial benefits to the marriage. Since Horst Schulze left, each year Marriott cuts a little more of what once made Ritz-Carlton so special. The branding and marketing job they do is excellent. As such they'll hold onto their reputation for a while. But, ask any of their associates (oops, I mean Ladies and Gentlemen) when the last time was that one of their Vice Presidents really had a dialog with them about their Credo, or their Three Steps of Service. It doesn't happen. It isn't in the Marriott guys' blood. Good luck Herve, it's all up to you now. Don't embarrass Horst!

Marriott does what they do very well, but they don't do luxury. In order to save money, they cut out their employee selection process with Talent Plus. Ritz used to hire only the top talent. Now they just hire people who can do the job. When it comes to the difference between luxury and upper-upscale, should a luxury customer have to be embarrassed to say they really do want their sheets changed every day? Or, that they do want a full turndown & second service? Gone are the luxury guest room amenities and complimentary bottled water. What happened to those beautiful box presentations for in-room coffee? In order to increase RevPAR, Ritz-Carlton went after what they called the "aspirational" customer. In doing so, their Club Levels have become a dissappointing experience and not worth the price.

It's very sad to see such an icon loosing its shine. Customers are forgiving; hopefully they'll figure out the long term impact of these decisions before it's too late.

Agree completely. And, what a shame it is. Have you met many of the newly promoted Marriott guys running the hotels? They have no passion. They're milk toast policy and procedure guys. We're witnessing the death of an icon.

I am bhusan bholah i want to know about kitchen i am a cook thats why i want to know an i can apply for a job there thanks bye bye bye

HotelChatter

Select a Destination:

Hotel News / Simon Cooper / Hot Hotelier News / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Hotel Industry News / → All Tags