TORONTO — Luxury hospitality company Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts this week announced plans for the strategic expansion of its portfolio of hotels, resorts, and residential developments. The company is extending its luxury lifestyle offering through the growth of Private Retreats, its portfolio of luxury villa and vacation home rentals, its Private Jet experience, and the Four Seasons at Home luxury goods collection.
Over the past year, the company added new hotels, resorts, and residences in key markets—including Napa Valley, Calif.; New Orleans; and Taormina, Italy—and extended its standalone residential collection with new properties opening in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Supporting this growth, the company’s longstanding shareholder, an affiliate of Cascade Investment, L.L.C., 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 providing Four Seasons with resources to accelerate growth, support the company’s properties and owners, and expand its strategic goals. KHC retains a 23.75 percent stake in Four Seasons and remains strongly dedicated to the company’s considerable opportunities.
“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 capitalize on new opportunities that will continue to drive and diversify our growth,” said John Davison, president and CEO, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. “Realizing 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.”
Davison continued, “Thriving employees ultimately deliver an exceptional guest experience. And as we adapt to the pandemic with innovations such as our ‘Lead With Care’ health 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.”
The company continues to accelerate expansion plans worldwide with four openings planned for 2022, including in Tamarindo, Mexico; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Nashville; and Minneapolis.
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 United States, 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,” said Bart Carnahan, president, Global Business Development and Portfolio Management, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. “Our residential business, in particular, is a key pillar in our growth plans, with a five-year pipeline of $7 billion in gross sales value comprising more than 30 projects worldwide.”
Carnahan added, “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 capitalize 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.”
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 is focusing on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) priorities, 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.
Guest Experience
Last year, Four Seasons announced the appointment of Marc Speichert as the company’s first chief commercial officer with the goal of driving commercial initiatives to enhance brand value and market share, accelerate revenue growth, and deliver on a vision to affirm Four Seasons as the most guest-centric, digitally-driven luxury brand.
To better understand the drivers of guest satisfaction, the company is rethinking how processes, data, and technology fit together to enable a holistic guest view. In doing so, Four Seasons aims to deliver more personalized experiences and establish a new industry standard for guest satisfaction and service excellence.
This personalization and guest-focused lens extends to Four Seasons’ digital ecosystem, and the company is continuing to roll out investments in technology across these platforms globally. The evolution of the company’s digital capabilities, driven by Four Seasons App and Chat and FourSeasons.com, will further personalize every touchpoint of the guest journey. With usage growing by nearly 300 percent since 2019, the App’s technology allows guests and residents to control their Four Seasons experience, engaging with employees on property who deliver curated service characterized 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.
