in Europe. Ritz was the first to mandate that "the customer is always right". His code was "See all without looking; hear all without listening; be attentive without being servile; anticipate without being presumptuous. If a diner complains about a dish or the wine, immediately remove it and replace it, no questions asked." According to his widow, Ritz also was a pioneer of hygiene and cleanliness in his hotels. He decorated without heavy draperies and wallpaper and replaced them with washable paint and lighter washable fabrics. In 1887 Ritz bought the Hotel de Provence in Cannes and the Restaurant de la Conversation and Minerva Hotel in Baden-Baden. Ritz and Escoffier In 1888, he opened the Conservations Haus restaurant with Auguste Escoffier as chef in Baden-Baden, and the two were then invited to London by Richard D'Oyly Carte to become the first manager and chef of the Savoy Hotel, positions they held from 1889 until 1897. Ritz put together what he described as "a little army of hotel men for the conquest of London". The Savoy under Ritz was an immediate success, attracting a distinguished and moneyed clientele headed by the Prince of Wales, including the British and European royal families. According to Montgomery-Massingberd and Watkin, "the outstanding success of the Savoy owed everything to the civilized genius of César Ritz and his brilliant chef, Auguste Escoffier, who introduced the English to the subtlety and delicacy of French haute cuisine and invented at the Savoy many celebrated dishes, including Peche Melba and the thin toast named after the same singer". Aristocratic women, hitherto unaccustomed to dine in public, were now "seen in full regalia in the Savoy dining and supper rooms." Ritz campaigned with Henry Labouchère, Lord Randolph Churchill, and others to "alter licensing laws whereby restaurants could not open on Sundays and had to close at 11pm on other nights." In March 1898, Ritz was sacked from the Savoy for fraud. He was implicated in the disappearance of more than £3,400 of wine and spirits, as well as in receiving kickbacks from suppliers. In a 1938 biography of her husband, Ritz's widow maintained that he resigned. According to a damning report by the Savoy's auditors, Carte handed Ritz, Escoffier and Louis Echenard (Ritz' deputy) letters of dismissal. Ritz threatened to sue the hotel company for wrongful dismissal but was evidently dissuaded by Escoffier, who felt that their interests would be