Four Seasons Hotels Limited , trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts , is an international luxury hotel company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. It operates more than 100 hotels worldwide. Since 2007, Bill Gates (through Cascade Investment) and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal have been the majority owners of the company.
Video Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
History
Canadian businessman, Isadore Sharp, founded Four Seasons in 1960. While a young architect worked for his father, Sharp designed a motel for a family friend; his success motivated him to try to create his own hotel. He bought a large piece of land in the slums of Toronto and planned a stopover for business travelers; Four Seasons Motor Hotel opened in 1961.
Four Seasons built more hotels, including 1963 Inn on the Park, a $ 4 million two-story resort hotel on the outskirts of Toronto that became Canada's first discotheque.
Upscale luxury became part of the brand when the company expanded to London. When a developer approached the Four Seasons about building a hotel in London, Sharp planned it to compete with the old world elite hotels, such as Claridge's and The Connaught. The hotel opened in 1970.
In 1974, the cost swelling at the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver nearly bankrupted the company. As a result, companies are beginning to shift to the current business management model, eliminating the costs associated with the purchase of land and buildings. The company went public in 1986. In the 1990s, Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton started direct competition, with Ritz-Carlton emphasizing uniform look while Four Seasons emphasized local architecture and style with uniform service; in the end the Four Seasons gained market share.
Built in 1986, Four Seasons Hotel Austin is a nine-storey hotel with 2.3 hectares of land on the northern shore of Lady Bird Lake. In 1997, Four Seasons Hotel Austin became the first hotel to have a "high-speed wireless internet network" after Wayport, Inc. install it there to test the wireless internet network. The hotel hosted Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 when she visited Texas. It was acquired by Anbang Insurance Group of Blackstone Group for $ 359.7 million in 2016.
The economic downturn in the early and mid 2000s affected the company. When the September 11 attacks caused the fall of the travel industry, Four Seasons refused to cut room prices to maintain the perceived value of the brand, which caused tension with property owners who lost money. The company recovered, and in 2007 agreed to a purchase by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia for $ 3.8 billion. The couple has 95 percent of the company, in the same stock, and Sharp owns the rest.
The challenge comes back again during the 2007-2010 financial crisis. The company made the first corporate layoffs in its history, cutting 10% of its workforce in Toronto. In April 2010, after a year-long dispute with Broadreach Capital Partners and Maritz, Wolff & amp; Co, owner of the Aviara resort near San Diego, an arbitration panel ruled that, while both sides contribute to the collapse of business relations, Four Seasons did not violate its management agreement. The arbitrators ordered Broadreach to pay Four Seasons to terminate the contract. "This resort is no longer the Four Seasons.
Four Seasons continues to add more hotels and resorts to its portfolio, especially in China. It opened a new hotel in Hangzhou in 2010 and Guangzhou, Beijing, and the second property in Shanghai in 2012. In India has one hotel in Mumbai. In 2013, he opened his first hotel in Russia at Lobanov-Rostovsky Residence in St. Petersburg. Petersburg, and then opened a second hotel in Moscow. In Indonesia has one hotel in Jakarta and two others in Bali.
In October 2012, Four Seasons opened 259 new Toronto property properties in Yorkville, designed by the internationally renowned design company Yabu Pushelberg. The hotel will include an upscale restaurant led by celebrity chef Daniel Boulud. It was praised by The Globe and Mail as "an iconic Canadian brand update in his hometown". Penthouse was bought by entrepreneur Robert ÃÆ'-sterlund, founder of Xacti, LLC and Inbox.com, for a record price of over $ 28 million
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts offers Boeing 757 rental trips with 52 seats.
Maps Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Business model
The Four Seasons does not have any of its properties (except the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver); it operates them on behalf of real estate owners and developers. The contract between Four Seasons and the property owner usually allows the company to participate in the property design and run it with almost overall control over every aspect of the operation.
Four Seasons generally generates three percent of gross revenues and about five percent of the profits from the property it operates, and property owners are also required to contribute additional money to the vast sales, marketing and reservation systems. The Four Seasons Hotel has a staff that is bigger than a competing chain, and the company maintains a separate reserve account for each hotel to cover maintenance costs. The profit margin is relatively low, but the brand attracts developers through the hotel's reputation as a solid asset for loan collateral or resale. Four Seasons also produces free magazines for guests supported by advertising revenue. Four Seasons has a fractional ownership division, Four Seasons Residence Clubs.
Residential rentals
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts start offering holiday rentals in June 2014. Entitled Residential, properties 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) and Asia (Jimbaran Bay, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui).
Housing Rentals provide the same services as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in a residential area. Customers are mainly multi-generational tourists and small group tourists.
The first self-contained Four Seasons Private Residences will open in London at 20 Grosvenor Square, Mayfair during the second quarter of 2018. This will be the third Four Seasons venue in London.
Critical reception
Leisure Leisure magazine and Zagat Survey ranked 98 hotel properties among the top luxury hotels around the world. Conde Nast Traveler magazine readers have selected Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai, Thailand as one of the top ten hotels in the world for three consecutive years. The company has been named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work" by Fortune every year since the beginning of the survey in 1998, ranked # 47 in 2015, and is praised for having one of the lowest turnover employees in hotel industry.
In recent years, restaurants at Four Seasons hotels and resorts have been recognized by Zagat and Michelin. The latter has given a total of 12 stars to six corporate restaurants, including Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong (two restaurants), Macau, Paris, Florence and Los Angeles.
The Company has been recognized by the Forbes Travel Guide with its many properties that are ranked Forbes Fives Star. By 2017, 30 properties receive a five star rating, making it the most rated five-star rating earned over any hotel brand from the start.
TripAdvisor named Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora # 1 Hotel for Romance in the World.
Philanthropy
The company and its hotels and resorts have been involved in a number of philanthropic programs, focusing on supporting sustainability, building community, and advancing cancer research. Four Seasons was one of the founders of Terry Fox Run in 1981, which has grown to become the largest single-day cancer fund in the world, with events around the world every September. To date, Terry Fox Run has collected nearly half a billion dollars.
In 2001, Four Seasons Resort Maldives began collaborating with the local environmental organization Seamarc/Marine savers, who had set up reimplantation programs for coral reefs in degraded areas. Thousands of reef-sponsored "frames" have been transplanted on the coral reefs of Hurra Horse and Landaa Giraavaru, and are being studied by marine scientists; they are a refuge for thousands of tropical species, and help to preserve and restore fragile ecosystems.
On June 19, 2002, the Canadian Opera Company announced Four Seasons Hotels as a naming donor for the new COC Opera House, also home to Canada's National Ballet, Four Seasons Center for the Performing Arts, located in Toronto, Ontario.
References
External links
- Official website
- Four Seasons: The Story of Business Philosophy by Isadore Sharp, Founder and President (Portfolio, 2009)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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