Form opinions on people’s behaviors not their appearances

Written by: Bill Sherman on Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 3:53 PM

The Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel chain has changed how it treats its guests. According to a recent WSJ article,”Takin’ Off the Ritz–a Tad”, the company recognized its assumptions about its clients were no longer accurate. “No longer is the typical luxury-hotel guest a middle-aged male business traveler or a wealthy jetsetter of a certain age. These days, the 30-year-old in a t-shirt and jeans fiddling with his Blackberry in the lobby could be worth millions.”

My friend, Dan Hawthorne, pointed me towards this article, and he’s right. The Ritz-Carlton had a corporate-level aha-moment and changed its behaviors. As the world becomes increasingly flat (and people can create wealth at any place and time), we can no longer rely on traditional cues for wealth, position, and status. When it comes to customer and client service, you have to appreciate a person’s social velocity before you can meet their real needs.

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