Horst Schulze – Ritz-Carlton CoFounder – Part 1

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Horst Schulze is the creative force behind The Ritz-Carlton hotel chain we know today. As President and COO, Horst grew The Ritz-Carlton hotel chain to approx. 50 hotels by his retirement in 2000. And shortly after, Horst founded an ultra-luxury hotel chain called Capella Hotel Group. Capella is also known as the hotel where President Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un shook hands for the first time at their 2018 historic summit. While Horst is widely known as the legendary luxury hotelier and for his contributions of excellence to the hotel industry – there is so much more to who he is.

One way to get to know Horst is to listen to his incredible career story that involves faith, hard work and business sense. This first episode of a two-part special on Horst Schulze covers the stories and work highlights that he navigated through in the early part of his career. On Faith Collides, Horst shares some interesting highlights:

• Born in Germany when World War II started, Horst grew up in a small village yet knew he wanted to work at a hotel at 11 years old.
• At 14 years old, Horst was trained by the head waiter, the maître d’, who taught and modeled excellence in whatever work he did, even as a bus boy.
• At 16 years old, Horst was inspired to write an essay at the trade school on defining himself at work.
• At 19 years old, Horst visited America for the first time. He worked as a waiter for the Holland America cruise ship. And visited the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan to check off a top destination from his bucket list.
• In his early twenties, Horst moved from job to job in order to gain experience in the hospitality industry. He worked in the finest hotels in Europe such as The Savoy in London and the Bellevue Palace in Switzerland.
• At 25 years old and with $40 in his pocket, Horst took a one-way cruise to America to work at a new hotel in Texas. He quit after a few days and moved to work at a French restaurant in San Francisco.
• By 27 years old, Horst did not receive a highly coveted promotion to be room service waiter.
• From his late twenties to early thirties, Horst used vacation dates to enroll in hotel management courses at Cornell University for seven consecutive summers.
• In his mid-30s, Horst turned down an offer to be General Manager at Hyatt Hotels Corporation because he believed he needed one year of work experience in rooms management.
• In his late 30s, Horst was the General Manager for the most challenging Hyatt (former Howard Johnson hotel) in Pittsburg. It was also when he met his wife Sheri, who would impact him to apply faith into his life at work.
• At 45 years old, Horst became a founding member of The Ritz-Carlton Hotels.

 

This episode is packed with how Horst navigated through the early part of his career. We hope it will encourage you to remember how the path to achieving career success took a lot of hard word for even the most celebrated industry leaders and outspoken Christians like Horst Schulze.

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Like what you’ve heard? Get Horst Schulze’s “Excellence Wins” on digital or print: https://amzn.to/37UWG11

Special thanks for this episode: Horst Schulze, Kathy Wiggins, Patricia Robson, Jaime Roque

 

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Faith Collides podcast is hosted by Grace Huang from Lux Mundi.  More information: www.lxmundi.com