César Ritz

**César Ritz** (23 February 1850 – 24 October 1918) was a Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels. He gave his name to the Hôtel Ritz Paris and The Ritz Hotel in London. His motto was "king of hoteliers, and hotelier to kings". His name is the origin of the word *ritzy*.

## Biography
At fifteen Ritz was apprenticed as a *somelier* (wine waiter) at a hotel in Brig. Ritz put together what he described as "a little army of hotel men for the conquest of London".  The Savoy under Ritz was an immediate success, attracting a distinguished and moneyed clientele, headed by the Prince of Wales. Aristocratic women, hitherto unaccustomed to dine in public, were now "seen in full regalia in the Savoy dining and supper rooms". The following report is from the London *Daily Telegraph*:
:"They were accused of nicking “£3,400 of wine and spirits in the first six months of 1897” and “wine and spirits consumed in the same period by the Managers, staff and employees amounting to £3,000” – more than half-a-million pounds in today’s money.
:"Escoffier, moreover, confessed to taking “commission”, gifts or kickbacks from the Savoy’s suppliers (a regular 5 per cent in the case of Messrs Hudson Brothers, grocers on the Strand) amounting to a whopping £1.4 million in today’s values. The board first became suspicious in 1895 when, although overall receipts increased greatly, the profits from the kitchens fell. In 1897, the kitchen actually showed a loss...
:"The board of the Savoy, led by Richard D’Oyly Carte, decided to deal with the matter privately".

## Independent entrepreneur 
Later in 1898, he opened the celebrated Hôtel Ritz in the  Place Vendôme, Paris. He went on to open The Ritz Hotel in London in 1906, which became one of the most popular meeting places of the era, for the rich and famous. The Hotel Ritz Madrid in Madrid, opened in 1910, inspired by King Alfonso XIII's desire to build a luxury hotel to rival the Ritz in Paris.  Ritz enjoyed a long partnership with Auguste Escoffier, the famous French chef and father of modern French cooking.  The partnership lasted until Ritz had to retire in 1907 because of deteriorating health.

## Towards the end 
Ritz himself withdrew progressively from the affairs of his various companies, selling out his interests in hotels at Frankfurt and Salsomaggiore in 1905 and retiring from the Ritz Hotel Development Company in 1907, from the Carlton Hotel Company in 1908, and from the Paris Ritz Company in 1911.

By 1912, according to Marie-Louise Ritz, to all intents and purposes his life had finished. In 1913 he was placed in a private hospital at Lausanne, and the following year he was moved to another on Lake Küssnacht in Canton Schwyz. He died at Küssnacht on 26 October 1918. Although from a humble Swiss background, César Ritz and his luxurious hotels became legendary, and his name entered the English language as an epitome of high-class cuisine and accommodation. He is buried in the village of his birth.

## References 
* *Ritz, une histoire plus belle que la légende*. - Claude Roulet - Editions Quai Voltaire - 1998 
* *Ritz, The King of Hoteliers and Host of Kings*, Film by Frank Garbely, r-film Zurich 2007, ISAN 0000-0000-62E8-0000-U-0000-0000-L

## Other websites
*Site dedicated to the life of César Ritz
*Hotel school in Switzerland