The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company has been named the number one company by Training magazine in its Training Top 125 2007 survey. The coveted listing selects the 125 best global companies for employee-sponsored workforce training and development. A winner in 1992 and 1999 of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company moved up from their 2006 number four Training ranking to score top honors this year.

In the March 2007 edition of Training magazine, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company was cited for several innovative and highly successful initiatives.

Since this luxury hotel chain developed and implemented its proprietary customer relationship management software `Mystique` -- which makes it easy to call guests prior to arrival -- in 2005, it has seen an 81 percent user satisfaction rate. To effectively expand use of the system last year, the company`s learning division partnered with operations to hold weekly training conference calls, distribute technical training manuals, deploy localized training environments, pre-record Web demos, and deliver knowledge assessments and training dashboards, according to the magazine`s editors.

We are extremely proud and gratified that our nearly quarter century commitment to quality training processes has yielded such outstanding recognition. Looking at the other iconic international corporations in the `Training Top 125` listing, and knowing our quantitative and qualitative scores put The Ritz-Carlton at the top of the list, is independent confirmation that our strategy to stand out as a service leader is working very well, said Simon F. Cooper, president and chief operating officer.

In addition to the internal programs offered by the trainers and certified speakers located at The Ritz-Carlton corporate office, and at hotels and resorts around the world, the company also offers organizations the services of its corporate university, The Leadership Center, under the direction of Diana Oreck, vice president, global learning and Leadership Center.

Since its inception in 1999, The Leadership Center staff has provided training and guidance to more than 3,000 firms, from airlines to health care facilities, seeking to benchmark The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and its techniques for delivering service excellence to its customers.

The extraordinary success of The Leadership Center is the major reason The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company earned the top ranking in training. Diana Oreck`s leadership, her passion for teaching, and her ability to encourage corporations to make service excellence a priority, has made The Leadership Center the premiere program for Training executives, said Kathy Smith, senior vice president of Human Resources.