SPECIAL REPORT
needs . He doesn ’ t think about the mattress . He thinks about the heart .”
Just as important , Schulze says , “ he is willing to give other people credit . Not many people do that .”
THE RITZ-CARLTON PATH McBride ’ s first job in the U . S ., in the mid- ’ 80s , was at a timeshare resort in southern California (“ it had a ping pong table ,” he notes dryly ). But he worked hard and soon joined a larger property in San Diego .
Then he saw an ad for a new hotel in Palm Springs , at about the time that his parents were visiting from his native South Africa . “‘ Let ’ s drive to San Francisco , and we ’ ll go through the desert and stay at this beautiful hotel ,’” he told them . “ Once I checked in there , I said , this is the company I need to work for .”
The hotel was the Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage , one of a handful belonging to a small , new company . McBride joined as a management trainee and moved up the ranks . “ I must have opened about 20 hotels ,” he says . His path intersected with its purchase by Marriott International and growth under Schulze , whom he calls a visionary and a mentor .
McBride with Bill Marriott in
Kuala Lumpur in the late 1990s . Marriott International had earlier purchased the Ritz-Carlton brand .
McBride flexed his management muscles at the Ritz-Carlton Washington , D . C ., a mixed-use development – this time , he employed a musician at a grand piano at Reagan National Airport to greet potential guests . “ Everyone told me I was crazy , like most things I ’ ve done in life , and it actually works out ,” he says . “ A lot of it is just because you have a vision , stick to it and go for it .” His leadership of the process to transform employees into “ ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen ” became a Harvard Business School case study .
“ The 14 years at the Ritz-Carlton was a great foundation of my life ,” he says . It sent him to places like Boston , St . Louis , San Francisco , Los Angeles , Hawaii , Hong Kong and Singapore , and made him a mentor , in turn . He demanded excellence from his reports , whom he says have told him that they appreciated the experience – mostly in hindsight , he says with a laugh . He ’ s watched many of them move into leadership roles . “ You see them five years or six years later and they ’ re like , you know what , it was an amazing time ,” he says .
THE CARLYLE JOURNEY Amid changes at Ritz-Carlton in 2002 ,
HIS FAVORITE HOTELS :
The Upper House in Hong Kong is “ relevant , cool but just cool enough , designed , but designed just enough .” African ecolodges remind him of his native South Africa . London ’ s Dorchester : “ You can close your eyes and know you are at the Dorchester . It makes you feel happy and warm .” And the Beverly Hills Hotel . “ I love the look , the smell , the feel ." He adds : " I ’ ve got touchpoints in each of them that make them special .”
HIS PHILOSOPHY :
“ As Horst ( Schulze ) used to say , success is not somewhere in the future . If you ’ re successful at everything that you do today , it naturally accumulates and you become successful . Those who are always questioning when it will be , that ’ s when it never happens . Those that endeavor , work hard every day , focus on what ’ s important , be disciplined , be energized , are successful . And you can give that message to anybody because it ’ s pertinent regardless at what level or what job or what they doing .”
McBride got an offer from hotelier Jürgen Bartels to move to a new luxury property in a new city : Grosvenor House , on London ’ s Park Lane . “ It was after September 11 , and what we went there to do was to spend £ 100 million and redo it , but we went into receivership instead ,” says McBride , who calls Bartels an extraordinary leader .
In 2003 , he got the call to lead New York ’ s The Carlyle for Rosewood Hotels
26 hotelsmag . com November 2016