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Four Seasons: growth driven by development pipeline and enhanced commercial strategy

Luxury hospitality company Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts continues to solidify its position through the strategic expansion of its portfolio of hotels, resorts and residential developments.

The company is also extending its luxury lifestyle offering through the growth of Private Retreats, its portfolio of luxury villa and vacation home rentals; its bespoke Private Jet experience; and through the Four Seasons at Home luxury goods collection.

Despite industry-wide challenges caused by the pandemic, Four Seasons outlook for 2022 builds upon the success of the past year, including the addition of highly anticipated new hotels, resorts and residences in key markets, and the extension of its standalone residential collection with new properties opening last year in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Supporting this growth, the company’s longstanding shareholder, an affiliate of Cascade Investment, L.L.C. (Cascade), closed this month on its acquisition of a majority stake in Four Seasons from its long-term investment partner, an affiliate of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC). The transaction marks a pivotal point for the company, further demonstrating Cascade’s commitment to provide Four Seasons with resources to accelerate growth, support the company’s properties and owners, and expand its strategic goals. KHC retains a 23.75% stake in Four Seasons and remains strongly dedicated to the company’s considerable opportunities.

John Davison – “Always remaining focused on our long-term goals and staying true to our strategic pillars has been the key to the company’s success”.

2022 marks an important moment in the evolution of Four Seasons as we sharpen our development focus in key markets, strengthen our leadership position as an iconic luxury brand and capitalise on new opportunities that will continue to drive and diversify our growth.

Realising these opportunities means investing in our greatest competitive advantage – our people. For more than 60 years, the strength of Four Seasons has been grounded in our unmatched commitment to service excellence.

As we grow with intention, so too do the opportunities for our people, ensuring we create an environment in which they can flourish.

Thriving employees ultimately deliver an exceptional guest experience. And as we adapt to the pandemic with innovations such as our Lead With Carehealth and safety program, the deep connection between the success of our employees and the service delivered to our guests has never been more important to Four Seasons long-term success.

John Davison, President and CEO, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Private Retreats at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley

Four Seasons is building on the momentum of its successful 2021 openings in strategic markets, including in Napa Valley, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Taormina, Italy.

The company continues to accelerate expansion plans worldwide with four openings planned for 2022, including exciting new developments in Tamarindo, Mexico; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Along with the accelerated pace of new openings, the high valuations and increasing demand for existing Four Seasons properties managed on behalf of owners speaks to the strength of the Four Seasons brand.

Four Seasons has more than 50 new projects under planning or development, including in Italy, Spain, China, Japan, Colombia, Belize and across key markets in the US, all of which will add to the company’s existing portfolio of 122 hotels and resorts and 48 residential properties in 47 countries around the world.  

Four Seasons has a strong, strategic growth trajectory – an extensive pipeline of projects that will open in key global destinations, with visionary development partners who share our commitment to excellence. Our residential business in particular is a key pillar in our growth plans, with a five-year pipeline of USD 7 billion in gross sales value comprising more than 30 projects worldwide.

Our continued growth in residential, a space in which we’ve been a leader since 1985, speaks to our deep understanding of the luxury consumer – those who want to live and experience the Four Seasons lifestyle. With our development partners, we continue to capitalise on the right opportunities in markets that are relevant to luxury consumers, elevating our residential offering and ensuring that Four Seasons is the address of choice in every location where we operate.

Bart Carnahan, President, Global Business Development and Portfolio Management, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Four Seasons Private Residences Dubai at Jumeirah

New standalone Private Residences, developments not connected to a hotel or resort, set to open in the coming years include Four Seasons Private Residences Dubai at Jumeirah – a project that fully sold out before public sales began – Four Seasons Private Residences Lake Austin and Four Seasons Private Residences Marrakech at M Avenue. These new standalone developments join the company’s current collection in London, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Other upcoming residential developments connected to an existing or soon-to-open Four Seasons property include Fort Lauderdale, Minneapolis, Nashville, Mumbai, Cartagena and Belize.

As Four Seasons extends its portfolio globally, the company does so with consideration for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) priorities.

Four Seasons claims to be committed to sustainable hospitality, including reducing carbon emissions, conserving water, eliminating waste, and sourcing responsibly.

To further its commitments to address waste and protect local ecosystems, the company aims to remove all single-use plastic from the guest experience by the end of 2022.

Four Seasons has a long history of employee care, community support and philanthropy. Central to Four Seasons employee experience and social impact programming is the company’s commitment to supporting cancer research, and the advancement of diversity, inclusion, equality and belonging at Four Seasons corporate offices and properties worldwide.

Last year, Four Seasons announced the appointment of Marc Speichert as the company’s first Chief Commercial Officer.

Four Seasons’ personalisation and guest-focused lens extends to Four Seasons digital ecosystem and investments in technology across these platforms continue to roll out globally, focused on gaining deeper insights to enhance the guest experience.

The evolution of the company’s digital capabilities, driven by Four Seasons award-winning App and Chat and FourSeasons.com, will further personalise every touch point of the guest journey.

With usage growing by nearly 300% since 2019, the App’s industry-leading technology empowers guests and residents to control their Four Seasons experience, engaging with real Four Seasons employees on property who deliver curated service characterised by personal connections and emotional intelligence.

New App and Chat features to be rolled out also include the introduction of a mobile key and mobile payments, as well as enhancements to the restaurant and bar digital experience.

Contact your GTM Account Manager to book rooms at Four Seasons properties, anywhere in the world.


Gatiwck to Milan on BA

British Airways to launch Gatwick – Milan route

Customers will soon be able to reach Milan from Gatwick with a year-round British Airways route to Milan Bergamo.  The six-per-week service launches on 1 September 2019.

Milano runway

Milan is Italy’s second city and is a renowned centre for art, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research and tourism.

Bergamo Airport is conveniently nestled between some of Italy’s most picturesque lakes and Milan.  The airport is 45km from the fashion capital.  And for customers wishing to extend their business trip and to enjoy an extended sunshine escape, Bergamo is the closest gateway to Lake Como and driving distance from Lake Garda, as well as the Franciacorta Wine Region. Bergamo also borders the Alps, providing access to a number of ski resorts during winter.

Adam Carson, British Airways’ Managing Director of Gatwick, said:

Milan Bergamo adds another exciting destination to our Gatwick network and is perfectly located for a city break, a summer visit to the lakes or even a skiing holiday in the Alps.

From Gatwick we fly to over 70 destinations as our network continues to expand we’re adding new routes designed to appeal to both leisure and business customers.

Paul Baker, Sales Director of GTM, said:

Flying from Gatwick enables BA’s Milan-bound passengers additional choice and convenience.  And, as Milan Bergamo is perfectly located for the sunshine of Lake Como and Lake Garda, it’s a great way to turn a purely business trip into a “bleisure” trip – something more people are asking us to arrange for them.

Seats are available to book from today with flights operating from 1 September, every day of the week apart from Saturday. Fares start from £25 one-way in Euro Traveller and £99 in Club Europe.  They can pick from a range of savings by destination and cabin while still collecting Avios and Tier Points on their bookings.

To book a flight to Milan from Gatwick, contact your GTM Account Manager. 

Pilots of Air Dolomiti plan four-hour strike on Wednesday

Bloomberg News reported pilots of Air Dolomiti, an Italian regional airline and partner of Lufthansa, are planning a four-hour strike on 29 May, to protest the dismissal of four crew members and to express concern for the future of the airline.

Air Dolomiti, which provides services from Frankfurt, Munich and Moscow mostly to cities in northern Italy, faces a work stoppage of pilots who are members of the UGL Trasporti Union from noon to 4 pm, local time, on Wednesday, for all flights departing from Italy.

Some connections may experience delays or cancellations.

Monday 21st January – Travel Update.

Posted at 0835.

The snow and cold weather continues to affect air and rail travel in both the UK and on mainland Europe.

London Heathrow Airport has released a statement saying that due to low visibility they have again revised their schedule and will be cancelling ten percent of the airport’s operations today (Mon 21st Jan).

Elsewhere in Europe flight schedules are also being affected by local weather conditions at the following airports:

Belgium – Brussels
France – Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris & Toulouse
Germany – Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich & Nuremburg
Great Britain – Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Leedsa Bradford, London City & London Heathrow
Ireland – Dublin
Italy – Bologna & Venice
Netherlands – Amsterdam
Poland – Warsaw
Russia – Moscow
Switzerland – Basel, Geneva, Zurich.

Italy : General Strikes Called.

Please note, if you are due to travel to Italy this Thursday 29th, or Friday 30th November, that a general strike has been called by both public and private employees.

The strike will happen between 9pm on 29th November until 9pm on the 30th November. Trains, trams, ferries and planes will be affected by the strike. Also traffic wardens, employees at ticket offices and other transport workers will go on strike. The strike has been called by labour unions over government spending cuts. An additional strike has been called on the 10th December.

A word of caution though, often these strikes are called by the various unions involved, however, not all public transport operations close down completely, IE. contrary to the impression given, therefore, please also check with your local sources and if flying, please ensure you check in online.