Lodging Industry Leader Horst Schulze To Receive ALIS Lifetime Achievement Award
San Diego | Horst Schulze, former president/COO and charter member of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), January 26-28, 2009. Schulze receives this prestigious award in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments in the founding and growth of the successful Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, his outstanding business sense, and acute attention to exceeding guest expectations and needs throughout his hospitality career. Currently, Schulze is president/CEO of West Paces Hotel Group, the parent company of Capella Hotels and Resorts.
Upon joining Ritz-Carlton as a charter member and vice president of operations in 1983, Schulze created efficient and luxurious operations and service standards that have shaped the way numerous other international hotel companies structure their business models. He was appointed executive vice president in 1987, and in 1988, his role was expanded to president/COO. He also held the additional title of vice chairman of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company from 2001-2002. When he left Ritz-Carlton to form the West Paces Hotel Group, Schulze was responsible for the $2 billion Ritz-Carlton operations worldwide and was instrumental in securing two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards in both 1992 and 1999 – making Ritz-Carlton the first and only hotel company to win the award.
Prior to his long tenure with Ritz-Carlton, Schulze spent nine years with Hyatt Hotels Corporation, where he was a hotel general manager, regional vice president, and corporate vice president. Before his association with Hyatt, he worked for Hilton Hotels. Schulze currently serves on the boards of Reliance Trust Company, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, The Travel Institute, Georgia Family Council, and The InfiLaw System.
Co-hosted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and the Burba Hotel Network (BHN), the two-and-a-half-day ALIS event features an extensive array of seminars and panels hosted by leading experts and investors discussing important trends and identifying new opportunities. The conference attracts the lodging industry’s leading hotel executives, investors, lenders, developers, and professional advisory community. Proceeds from ALIS benefit the educational, research, and training missions of the Educational Institute (EI) of the American Hotel & Lodging Education Foundation (AH&LEF), AH&LA’s nonprofit affiliate.
Registration is now open for the 2009 conference via the ALIS Website at . For general event information and sponsor opportunities, please visit the Website or contact Jonathon Zink, BHN conference manager, at (714) 540-9300 or [email protected].
AH&LEF is the charitable fund-raising and endowed fund-management subsidiary of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Founded in 1953, AH&LEF is the premier organization for scholarships, professional certification, and instructional material as well as funding for hospitality industry research.
With more than two decades of experience and over 60 events completed to date, BHN is the worldwide leader in developing and organizing conferences for the hotel and tourism investment community. BHN conferences have become “must attend” events for industry leaders who come together to network, conduct business, and to learn about the latest trends. In addition to ALIS, BHN events include: the Central America Tourism & Hotel Investment Exchange (CATHIE) most recently in Guatemala City; the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC) taking place in Bermuda in 2009; Digital Discovery Day (D3) in New York; the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) in Hong Kong; the Hotel Investment Forum India (HIFI) in Mumbai; and the PATA CEO Challenge in Bangkok. The BHN Website at is the gateway for information about the conferences BHN produces, as well as a direct link to important players in the hospitality investment world.
