 Swiss hotelier César Ritz , the former manager of the Savoy Hotel , opened the hotel on 24 May 1906 . It was built on the site which had been the Old White Horse Cellar , which by 1805 was one of the best known coaching inns in England . The financial backers of the Ritz felt that they had secured one of the prime sites in London for their project . They began negotiations in 1901 , and completed the transactions for the simultaneous purchase of the leasehold for the Walsingham House Hotel and the adjacent freehold estate of the Bath Hotel for £ 250 @,@ 000 in 1902 . Demolition of both of the hotels began in 1904 . 
