Puttin’ on the Ritz now apparently includes taking out the trash at the Ritz-Carlton, which is entertaining superrich guests by asking them to help staff clean up.

“It’s strange for our employees,” said Katrin Herz, General Manager of Al Bustan Ritz-Carlton speaking at the ITB Berlin. “They think ‘why would someone spend hundreds of euros to go out to the mangroves and help us clean.’ But we fill buses with people who want to do this.”

Herz said rich guests are looking for non-luxury experiences.

“They meet us as a team, they meet other people, they feel good about themselves,” she said. “We are trying to do it more and more. We are doing beach cleanups in Oman. We are offering it at most of our Ritz-Carlton hotels, in fact.”

The Ritz-Carlton palace in Oman is also “the only hotel in the world with an employee dedicated to burning frankincense,” Herz said.

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted. Michael Scaturro is reporting exclusively for 4Hoteliers.com at ITB Berlin 2019 - www.4Hoteliers.com/itb.

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