Simon Cooper is currently anticipating a bestseller. Twenty-five years since his company purchased the first Ritz-Carlton flagship hotel in Boston, it is now proud to share a number of trade secrets with the general public in The New Gold Standard (McGraw-Hill 2008).

"We continually get approached by authors wanting to write a story about our company," said the Ritz-Carlton president and chief operating officer in an exclusive interview with The Jakarta Post last month.

"The Ritz-Carlton legacy dates back to the days of The Ritz in Paris, but internally we are celebrating a quarter of a century of hotel-running; which proves to be perfect timing with the book's release," he added.

Cooper's recent regional visit to Asia coincided with the publication of The New Gold Standard, the latest hospitality industry "bible" offering a peek into the service philosophy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC.

Written by Joseph A Michelli, whose The Starbucks Experience has remained on top of bestseller lists for the past two years, the book breaks down Ritz-Carlton's key success virtues into five leadership principles labeledand Refine", "Empower through Trust",Not about You",*Wow!'" anda Lasting Footprint".

"Whileand Refine' describes a continuous evolution and restless renewal and revolving of the brand, I findthrough Trust' personally very interesting because a guest's trust is vital to a company's long-term success," Cooper elaborated.

Conversely,Not about You" is a means of reminding theand Gentlemen of the Ritz-Carlton" - as the company calls its employeesthat they arestage and not on the seats". Having luxury customers also challenges the hotel chain to continue deliveringfactors to guests who've apparently seen and had everything.

Last but not least,a Lasting Footprint" is about making a mark with one's employees and community. Cooper was quick to compliment the two Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, which have won this year's Ritz-Carlton international community footprint award for all their ongoing community schemes.

Cooper, who earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Toronto, was born and educated in England and immigrated to Canada in 1972, when he started working for Canadian Pacific Hotels & Resorts.

Ever since joining Ritz-Carlton from Marriott International in February 2001, he has been leading the chain on a number of expansions and product diversification together with overseeing all brand operations, development and strategic positioning. He is also responsible for the development of Bulgari Hotels, a joint venture between Marriott International, Inc. and Bulgari S.p.A.

One specific direction that he has been urging the company toward is the establishment of private residential units under The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton (serviced residences) and The Ritz-Carlton Club (fractional ownership). Examples of the former can already be found imbedded with the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Tokyo, Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur and, most recently, at Pacific Place in Jakarta.

"We started delving into private residences about four years ago. Ours is a very strong global brand that can transcend beyond the hotel industry," he said.

"Having private residences does a number of good things asnot totally reliant upon hotels to earn fees for our shareholders. If you need to have double-digit earning every year from hotels, at some stage you will run out of places to do luxury hotels."

Talking about the more specific market trends catering toward business and leisure travelers, Cooper acknowledged that today's global business traveler is expecting more.our largest segment is for leisure, groups and individual travelers, we have things like Club Floors, awithin a hotel' concept which makes for a competitive advantage especially in this part of the world," he said.

Even so, the Ritz-Carlton still believes in a less overt presentation of business facilities. "Think of it as hardware and software: on one hand there is the hard service - broadband, satellite, business centersto guarantee efficient business," Cooper explained. "On the other, there is also our guest service and recognition that function as softwarethough in slightly different context since it involves everything else around it."

Another hospitality trend that's been burgeoning over past years is the concept ofresorts", whereby top-rate metropolitan hotels play out the role of an oasis of calm right in the heart of the city.

Cooper named The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo as a prime embodiment of the trend, what with the hotel's spa occupying the whole 46th floor of the building.spas are now becoming more common. It's something 10 years ago you wouldn't even have contemplated: that a city getaway hotel would have a spa."

On a similar note, private butlers have also become a more prominent service feature,mainly in resorts and villa-type hotels, as these environments are better for intuitive service," he said.

Asked about the Ritz-Carlton approach toward customer loyalty rewards such as rebates and discounts, Cooper said frankly: "Many hotel chains are using customer schemes as smart way of engendering loyalty when loyalty perhaps wasn't deserved. This is why we choose not to reward customers in the sense of customer loyalty schemes. Instead of spending our money rewarding guests, we actually spend it recognizing guests."

To this end, the chain operates a comprehensive guest recognition program, Mystique, to record as much information as possible about guests' preferences, even when it comes to as specific parameters as preference of high or low floors, allergic reaction to peanuts, and much more.

"Mystique represents things that are intangible, those you can't touch and can't describe but find appealing," Cooper said.people have different ideas about their mystique and it is our duty to tap into each one of them in order to deliver the best experience for guests."

Commenting on the 2006 purchase of The Ritz-Carlton Boston by the worldwide Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, Cooper said:found that our old flagship hotel was starting to become uneconomical to run, which prevented us from delivering theexperience to our guests. So we decided to let it go."

Before one could grieve over losing a landmark hotel that helped build the Ritz-Carlton legacy, Cooper pointed out that the action only strengthened the company's vision to continue evolving, empowering and leaving a lasting footprint in the community - exactly as recorded in its newly published "bible".

Experience:

1972: Started work for Canadian Pacific Hotels & Resorts

1998: Appointed president of Marriott Lodging Canada and senior vice president of Marriott Lodging International responsible for Canada and New England

2001: Joined the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C in February as president and chief operating officer

Achievements:

1995: Received honorary fellowship from Ryerson Polytechnical University 1996: Awarded the 1995 Commitment to People Award by the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers

1999: Appointed chairman of the board of governors of the University of Guelph

2004: Appointed to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

2005: Elected to the board of directors of First Horizon National Corporation.

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