Renaissance man: parlaying his personal motto into professional practice, globe-trotting hotelier Gerard van Grinsven 'seized the day' and put the wow! back in the Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn.

When The Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn opened in 1989, it was truly the best of times for the hospitality/travel industries. With the economy on a seemingly endless roll, the new hotel was primed to capitalize on its enviable position as one of the first luxury properties of its kind in the Detroit market.

That, as they say, was then. When Gerard van Grinsven took up his duties as the hotel's new general manager in April 2002, he faced a starkly different picture. The economy was stalled on the tracks, the once-carefree travel industry was reeling in the aftermath of September 11 and the hotel itself was starting to look a bit frayed around the edges.

Carpe diem -- Latin for "seize the day"-is van Grinsven's motto. Within a month of his arrival, he launched an innovative quality and service initiative dubbed "The Ritz-Carlton Reborn." Its goal was nothing short of propelling the Dearborn hotel into the No. 1 spot in guest satisfaction among the 53 international properties of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Co. LLC, the Atlanta-based parent company.

With an extensive background in successful hotel launches and a reputation for innovative restaurant concepts and exacting standards for banquet and catering operations, van Grinsven knew the only way his initiative could succeed was to first get the complete buyin of his staff--his "ladies and gentlemen," as he calls them.

During the week of Sept. 23-Oct. 1, 2002, The Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn was re-launched, complete with a ribbon cutting and rededication ceremony.

The renaissance was so impressive by every benchmark--guest satisfaction, employee satisfaction, bottom-line performance and community involvement--that van Grinsven received both the Innovative Practices and Excellence in Performance and the Cobalt Best Practices awards from his parent company this February.

It was a fitting tribute to the Netherlands native who began his career as coffee shop manager at a Holiday Inn in Canada. His expertise in food and beverage ultimately sent him on an incredible global odyssey throughout many of the world's most acclaimed hotels, including. The Mandarin in Jakarta, The Oriental in Bangkok, The Ramada Renaissance in Hong Kong, the Peninsula in Manila and the Hotel Inter-Continental in Berlin.

Van Grinsven joined The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. in 1994 as executive manager in charge of food and beverage at The Ritz-Carlton, Seoul, where he led the successful opening of the largest food and beverage operation in the company. Prior to taking the helm at Dearborn he was vice president of food and beverage and vice president of pre-opening operations at the parent company in Atlanta.

Detroiter: You've worked in top hotels all around the world. Do you see different leadership styles here in the United States?

van Grinsven: From when I was relatively very young I knew already exactly what I wanted to do from a career point of view. So I started specifically to observe certain leaders, and when you do a lot of observing you learn from the good and you learn from the bad in terms of behaviors and styles. What you see in this hotel today is a combination of lessons I learned while I was developing my own career--especially in Asia and especially the hotel Industry. I highly recommend that anybody in the industry go to Asia and spend some time there because the Asian people are so good in "wowing" people, In embracing people and making them feel welcome and warm and special. And it comes naturally--it's just in their culture. For a hotelier, it is the best experience to work for. I was delighted to work for 2 1/2 years at The Oriental in Bangkok, which for 10 consecutive years was voted by different institutions as the best hotel in the world.

Detroiter: Would you agree that customer service--or lack of it--is a critical issue we face in this community?

van Grinsven: This community is one of the most unrecognized jewels in the United States, and I can say so because I have traveled everywhere, I have lived in eight different countries, I have traveled all around the world and I have opened 20 Ritz-Carlton hotels in the last six years. It hurts to see this city with so much potential that hasn't been realized. One of the reasons for this is a lack of focus on the basic service element.

Detroiter: You clearly decided to do something about it. What got you motivated?

van Grinsven: When I went to the Detroit Regional Chamber's 2002 Leadership Policy Conference, I was the new kid on the block. I wanted to learn what's important here and spoke to everybody. I brought 500 business cards back after two days on Mackinac Island! And this is what I heard: We need to revitalize Michigan, we need to revitalize Detroit and we need to change the perception that the Detroit Region has in the United States. So I asked myself, "How can I do my part? What is it I need to do with my organization to make a difference?" I came back to the hotel, sat down with my whole senior team and said, "This is the message I heard. Now, what are we going to do?" I came up with this idea: If we're all talking about revitalization, maybe it has to start with me, with this hotel. The Ritz-Carlton has a great name but I feel that a healthy organization constantly looks in the mirror and asks, "Are we really as good as we think we are? Are we really doing what we are supposed to be doing?" So I decided to create the Ritz-Carlton REborn program.

Detroiter: What was your game plan?

van Grinsven: We wanted to revitalize this organization by expanding the basics of what it takes to "wow" a customer, what it takes to really drive service excellence. So we brought in 30 trainers from the company, and the qualification for each trainer was that at one stage they had to work in this company in a junior position. We totally went back to the fundamental belief in how you treat people, how you show respect, how you treat a customer, how you look a customer in the eye, how you anticipate his or her unexpressed wishes. We did that for 10 days. We also created a day-and-a-half Legendary Service Symposium for the whole community that drew nearly 400 to address the service aspect of business, not only in the hospitality industry but also across the board. We donated a percentage of the proceeds--$15,000--to Focus: HOPE's Service Education Fund. Our dream with Focus: HOPE is to ultimately build a facility where organizations can send their people to be taught how to drive service excellence.

Detroiter: This initiative must have involved a certain element of risk. Would you describe yourself as a risk-taker:

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van Grinsven: A leader who's not willing to take risks does not deserve to be in a leadership role. You try to take calculated risks, but it's critical to take risks in moving your organization forward. I believe that if you are a leader who wants to have all the data, who wants to have all the proof, who wants to have all the details that this decision is going to make sense, is going to be an ineffective leader because by the time you have all that data, have all that proof and then you finally feel comfortable to make the decision, you probably are already much too late in making the decision. So I believe in "speed to market," which means you need to make decisions that make sense for the market you operate in, and at times you have to take risks. So yes, I am a risk taker. I believe if you have a great foundation and a great force of people in place, you should be comfortable taking those risks.

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Detroiter: What is the greatest leadership challenge you have faced in your career?

van Grinsven: It was right here in this hotel. When I came here I saw a hotel with a tremendous amount of potential but I needed to use my leadership to unleash my ladies and gentlemen, to make them believe that they were underselling themselves, so to speak. My challenge was to take this hotel with so much potential but which in a way was under-performing and turn it around and make it one of the leaders in the company. But I didn't just' come in here the first day and say, "This is what we're going to do." That would have created a lot of turmoil, anxiety and unhappiness in the workforce. I took the time to create relationships, to meet my ladies and gentlemen. I found out what makes them tick, what's important in their lives. It's amazing what you learn about people once you show an interest. I realized that if I didn't have their trust, they would never support me on the changes I wanted to make. Then, when we got to know each other, I said, "Now tell me, what is it you expect from me?" And what they expected from me was amazing: "We want this to be the best hotel in the country." So I got buy-in for the new vision--to offer the finest service in the industry. I had no resistance because they said, "Teach us; show us the way." It's all about how you inspire people.

Detroiter: As a new member of the Detroit Regional Chamber's Board of Directors, what advice would you give the executive management team?

van Grinsven: I would encourage them to create an environment where each individual in the organization is going to be able to look beyond the immediate expectations of their organization for their own personal gain or benefit and to be able to look into the future and be able to see a much more total vision. If you were able to do this you would be surprised at how much more you can accomplish. My experience with The Ritz-Carlton REborn is a good example. If I had looked at it only in the short term I might have said to myself, "It's not worth it. Don't take the risk. Don't stick your neck out." But you're putting blinkers on yourself with this short-term outlook. You do a disservice to your own organization and you do a disservice to your community. You need to be a futurist.

Legendary Service Symposium

The Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn will hold its second Legendary Service Symposium on Oct. 21-22. For more information, call [phone] or visit www.ritzcarlton.com.

RELATED ARTICLE: File on: Gerard van Grinsven

Title: General Manager, The Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn

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Born: Nov. 17, 1960, in Mastricht, The Netherlands

Family: Wife Elspeth (who is English); daughter Natasha, 15 (born in Bangkok), Francesca, 13 (born in Manila) and Rebecca, 11 (born in Manila)

Home: Farmington Hills 

First job: Chef in a one-star Michelin restaurant in Holland

Favorite movie: Dead Poets Society

Last book read: "How to Become a Rainmaker," by Jeffrey Fox

Greatest challenge: Being a good dad while being ambitious

Awards/honors: 2002 Tibbitts Foodservice Hospitality Award for Excellence as an Operator; The Grill at The Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn named The Detroit Free Press Best Restaurant, 2003; The Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn named the Best Place to have Sunday Brunch by The Detroit News; The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company Award of Excellence - Recognizing Innovative Practices and Excellence in Performance, February 2003