One-on-one with a Legend: Horst Schulze, Ritz-Carlton Hotel

Paparelli Podcast

Horst Schulze created the Ritz-Carlton Hotel brand single-handedly. After twenty years as an international hotelier, this was his chance to put his mark on his industry by injecting his core values and beliefs. He took one failing and decrepit hotel in Boston called the Ritz-Carlton and grew it into fifty hotels rated #1 or #2 in their respective markets worldwide.
He dedicated his life to excellence in all he did. Horst is a respected leader by all leaders in all industries. But in the hotel business, Horst is a legend.
But where did his principles and beliefs originate? I wanted to know, and that’s why I asked him to join me in a conversation on his life and career.
He started in a small village in Germany. There was no hotel in the town. Yet, he told his mother and father he wanted to be a hotelier at eleven years old. It was crazy. He didn’t even know what that meant. Was this a God calling?
The story of Horst meeting his mentor, Herr Zeitler, is worth your time to listen to this conversation. All successful people I know have a Herr Zeitler in their lives, and the stories of their influence are inspiring. At eighteen years old, Horst wrote an essay on what he learned in Hotel school from sixteen to eighteen. He thought of what made his mentor successful and wrote this sentence…
Damen und Herren im dienst zu damen und herren. (Ladies and gentlemen in service to ladies and gentlemen.)
How he implemented this simple sentence. The principles he developed. The methods that followed. The people impacted worldwide. This is the incredible story of a man called by God to transform an industry.
Come join us in this conversation.