Horst Schulze

Horst Schulze is the German-born hotelier who led the founding team and then ran The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company as president and chief operating officer. He says he left home at 14 to start as a busboy in a hotel about 60 miles away, worked in Germany and Switzerland, and spent nine years with Hyatt before joining Ritz-Carlton in 1983 as vice president of operations. He became executive vice president for operations in 1987 and president and COO in 1988. The company won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1992 and again in 1999. One biography says he founded and chairs the Capella Hotel Group (2002); other sources describe the company he formed after Ritz-Carlton as the West Paces Hotel Group, so the exact vehicle is unclear. Some sources list him as vice chairman from 2001 to 2002. His education and net worth were not found in the sources reviewed.

• Busboy, then hotel roles in Germany and Switzerland · Various hotels
• Nine years · Hyatt Hotels Corporation
• 1983 · Vice President for Operations · The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
• 1987 · Executive Vice President for Operations · The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
• 1988 · President and Chief Operating Officer · The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
• 2002 · Founder, Capella Hotel Group (per one biography) · Capella Hotel Group

• Led the four-person team that built the Ritz-Carlton brand in Atlanta (Wikipedia)
• Ritz-Carlton won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1992 and 1999 while he was its president and COO

• The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company