Four Seasons Hotels Ltd.

, trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is

a Canadian international luxury, five-star hospitality company.[2] Travel + Leisure magazine
and Zagat Survey rank the hotel chain's 98 properties among the top luxury hotels worldwide.[3]
[4]

Readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine have voted the company's Camp Golden Triangle

in Chiang Rai, Thailandas among the top ten hotels in the world for three consecutive years.
[5]

The company has been named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" by Fortune every

year since the survey's inception in 1998, ranking #47 in 2015,[6] and is lauded for having one of
the lowest employee turnover rates in the hospitality industry.[7][8]
Contents
[hide]

1Business model

2History

3Residential Rentals

4Philanthropy

5References

6External links
Business model[edit]

Four Seasons Hotel inFlorence, in the historicPalazzo della Gherardesca

Four Seasons does not own most of its properties; it operates them on behalf of real
estate owners and developers. The contracts between Four Seasons and property owners typically
permit the company to participate in the design of the property and run it with nearly total
control over every aspect of the operation.[9]
Four Seasons generally earns 3 percent of the gross income and approximately 5 percent
of profitsfrom the properties it operates, and the property owners are required to additionally
contribute money for chain-wide sales, marketing and reservations systems. Four Seasons hotels
have larger staffs than competing chains, therefore they create separate reserve accounts to cover
upkeep costs. While profit margins are relatively low, the reputation of the brand and the value of
the hotel for sale as well as loan collateral generates developer interest.[9] Four Seasons also
produces a complimentary magazine for guests that is supported by advertising revenue. Four
Seasons has afractional ownership division, Four Seasons Residence Clubs.
History[edit]

Four Seasons Hotel (left) and Marina Tower (right) inBeirut Central District
Canadian businessman Isadore Sharp founded Four Seasons in 1960. While a young architect
working for his father, Sharp designed a motel for a family friend that succeeded and inspired
him to try creating his own hotel in Toronto. As the only large parcel of land he could buy was in
a disreputable area, he designed the hotel as an oasis for business travelers; the Four Seasons
Motor Hotel opened in 1961. Sharp built more hotels, but upscale luxury did not become part of
the brand until the company expanded to London. When a developer approached Four Seasons
about building a hotel in London, Sharp argued that the hotel should compete with the city's oldworld, elite hotels, such as Claridge's and The Connaught, which he felt treated customers based
on their social class. The hotel opened in 1970.[9]

Four Seasons Hotel and Tower in Miami, Florida

Interior of the Four Seasons Hotel & Resort in Macau. The lead consultant was the architecture
firm Aeadas[10]
In 1974, cost overruns at a Vancouver property nearly led the company into bankruptcy. As a
result, the company began shifting to its current, management-only business model, eliminating
costs associated with buying land and buildings. The company went public in 1986.[9] In the
1990s, Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton began direct competition, with Ritz-Carlton emphasizing a
uniform look while Four Seasons emphasized local architecture and styles with uniform service;
in the end Four Seasons gained market share.[9]
The first full-service spa was introduced in 1986 at Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las
Colinas and today, nearly all Four Seasons hotels and resorts have spa facilities, and the

remainder offer spa services. In recent years, restaurants at Four Seasons hotels and resorts have
been recognized by Zagat and Michelin. The latter has awarded at total of 12 stars to six of the
company's restaurants, including Hong Kong (two restaurants), Macau, Paris, Florence and Los
Angeles.
Recent economic downturns have affected the company. When the September 11 attacks caused
the collapse of the travel industry, Four Seasons refused to cut room prices in order to preserve
the perceived value of the brand, which caused tension with property owners who were losing
money.[9] The company recovered and, in 2007, it agreed to a buyout by Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal ofSaudi Arabia for $3.8 billion.[11] The pair owns 95
percent of the company, in equal shares, Sharp owns the rest.[9]
Challenges returned again during the financial crisis of 20072010. The company made its first
corporate layoffs in its history, cutting 10% of its Toronto workforce. In April 2010, after a yearlong dispute with Broadreach Capital Partners and Maritz, Wolff & Co., owners of the Aviara
resort near San Diego, an arbitration panel ruled that while both parties contributed to the demise
of the business relationship, "Four Seasons didn't violate its management agreement, as
Broadreach had alleged, according to a joint statement released by the companies. The panel
ordered that Broadreach pay Four Seasons to terminate the contract."[12] The resort is no longer a
Four Seasons.
Four Seasons continues to add more hotels and resorts to its portfolio, notably in China. It
opened a new hotel in Hangzhou in 2010 andGuangzhou, Beijing and a second property
in Shanghai in 2012. It will also open new hotels in India to add to its one hotel in Mumbai.[13]In
2013, it opened its first hotel in Russia in the Lobanov-Rostovsky Residence in St. Petersburg,
and announced an opening in Moscow in 2014.[14] In October 2012, Four Seasons opened a

new Toronto property in Yorkville, designed by internationally renowned Yabu Pushelberg.[15] At

259 rooms this "marked the renewal of an iconic Canadian brand in its hometown. It also
heralded the entry of celebrity chef Daniel Boulud."[16] This property also hosted the sale of its
vaunted penthouse to entrepreneur Robert sterlund, the founder of Xacti, LLC and Inbox.com,
for a Canadian record price of over $36M. This penthouse was designed by Isadore Sharp's
personal designer, William Mockler, of Toronto's Drawing Room Architect, Inc. and was
constructed by Menkes Developments Ltd.[17]
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts offers trips in a company-owned Boeing 757 with 52 seats.[18][19]
Residential Rentals[edit]
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts expanded their business into vacation rentals, titled Residential
Rentals, in June 2014.[20] These rentals are available in:

North America (Costa Rica, Houston, Jackson Hole, Nevis, Punta Mita, San Diego,
Whistler, Vail)

Africa (Marrakech, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sharm El Sheikh)

Europe (Cap-Ferrat)

Asia (Jimbaran Bay)

The model of Residential Rentals is based on providing the same services as Four Seasons
Hotels and Resorts in a residential setting. They were created as a way to target multigenerational and small group travel according to Jose Sorian, the VP of Worldwide Residential
Operations for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.[21]

Philanthropy[edit]

The resort island of Landaa Giraavaru in the Maldives

Four Seasons Hotels in Amman

The company and its hotels and resorts have long been involved in philanthropic programs, with
a focus on supporting sustainability,[22]building communities,[23] and advancing cancer research.
[24]

Four Seasons was one of the founders of the Terry Fox Run in 1981, which has since grown

into the world's largest single day cancer fundraiser with events around the world every
September. To date, the Terry Fox Run has raised close to half a billion dollars.[citation needed]
In 2001, Four Seasons Resort Maldives started collaborating with the local environmental
organization Seamarc/Marine savers, which has set up an ambitious program of reimplantation
of coral in damaged areas (known onsite as Reefscapers).[25] Many thousand of guest-sponsored
"coral frames" have been transplanted with success in Kuda Hurra and Landaa Giraavaru resorts

reefs, and are under close survey by marine scientists ; they constitute a refuge for thousand of
tropical species, and participate in the preservation and recovery of these fragile ecosystems.
On June 19, 2002, the Canadian Opera Company announced Four Seasons Hotels as the naming
donor for the COC's new Opera House, also home to the National Ballet of Canada, the Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, located in Toronto.[26]
In 2011, Four Seasons celebrated its 50th Anniversary and announced through
their livingvalues website that they had launched the 10 Million Trees campaign in which they
committed to plant 10 million trees around the world over the next few years.[27]