Activities

Four Seasons is a Canadian-based company that manages an international portfolio of luxury five-star hotels and resorts.

The brand which has become a byword for comfort and service started out with a modest motel in Toronto.

The turning point came 10 years later in 1970, when the group opened its first overseas hotel in London.

The success of this hotel set the future course for the company. It prompted a shift in focus towards medium-sized properties of exceptional quality offering personalised service around the clock.

In the early 1990s, a second shift in focus saw Four Seasons start to move from hotel ownership towards management contracts.

The group has three main business divisions:

• Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts: five-star hotels in major city centres and resort destinations
• Four Seasons Residential Properties: luxury serviced homes
• Four Seasons Residence Clubs: luxury timeshare properties

Timeline

• 1960: Isadore Sharp, who graduated as an architect and started his career in the construction industry with his father Max, founds Four Seasons Hotels.
• March 1961: Sharp builds and opens his first hotel, the modest Four Seasons Motor hotel on Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto. The property is leased to another operator in 1977.
• January 1970: The group makes its first move overseas move when it opens its fourth hotel, Inn on the Park, in London, which becomes the Four Seasons Hotel London. Its success prompts Sharp to refocus the company on medium-sized hotels of exceptional quality and service. The group sells its 50% interest in the property in 1988 but retains the management contract.
• February 1986: Four Seasons floats on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
• February 1990: The group’s first resort, the Four Seasons Resort Maui in Wailea, opens. In the early part of the decade, the group starts to shift its focus from hotel ownership to hotel management.
• August 1992: Four Seasons buys Regent International Hotels, which has 10 hotels hotels in Auckland, Bangkok, Beverly Hills, Fiji, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Singapore, Sydney and Taipei.
• 1993: Four Seasons opens the Regent hotel in London but discontinues its management in 1995.
• November 1994: Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal makes his first investment in Four Seasons.
• February 1997: Four Seasons is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and laucheds the Four Seasons Residential Properties arm.
• November 1997: Four Seasons sells Regent International to Carlson Hospitality Worldwide. It continues to manage some of the hotels. 
• December 1999: The group opens the Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf in London’s redeveloped docklands.
• September 2000: Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal pays US$165m (£78m) for a 25% stake in Four Seasons, two months after he acquires a 50% stake in Fairmont. The prince provides another US$100m (£47m) to finance expansion.
• August 2000: The developers behind the new Four Seasons Hotel Dublin go into receivership.
• February 2001: The Four Seasons Hotel Dublin opens, almost a year later than planned and just one month after it is bought out of receivership by local property investor Derek Quinlan.
• February 2005: The Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire opens in Hook.
• June 2005: Capitaland, owner of the Canary Wharf hotel in London, puts the property on the market for a rumoured £55m. Four Seasons is to continue managing the property after a sale under a 50-year management contract. 
• January 2006: The group opens its first tented hotel, the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, in northern Thailand. It comprises 15 luxury air-conditioned tents.

Financial snapshot

Full Year

Consolidated revenues: US$339.8m* (2003: US$313m)
Pre-tax earnings: US$49.5m (2003: US$12m)

* 64% of turnover comes from management operations and 37% from ownership and corporate operations

Half Year

Consolidated revenues: US$137.6m (2004: US$128.5m)
Pre-tax earnings: US$16.9m (2004: US$27.6m)

Financial year end: 31 December 2004
Half year end: 30 June 2005

Operating data

Operating figures for the half-year to 30 June 2005:

Worldwide occupancy: 69.2% (2005: 65.2%)
Worldwide average daily rate: US$349 (US$327)
Worldwide revenue per available room: US$228 (2004: US$201)

European occupancy: 62.2% (2004: 64%)
European average daily rate: US$ 533 (2004: US$503)
European revenue per available room: US$348 (2004: US$331)
 
Number of hotels: 69 hotels in 31 countries, including 13 resorts
Number of bedrooms: 17,311 bedrooms
Total number of employees: 31,633
Number of employees in the UK and Ireland: 1,078 (Dublin – 449, London – 325, Canary Wharf – 204, Hampshire – 100) 

The group also manages four Regent hotels:  in Los Angeles (The Regent Beverly Wilshire), Singapore (The Regent Singapore and The Regent Kuala Lumpur)) and Taiwan (Grand Formosa Regent, Taipei)

The group has 12 properties in Europe, including four in the UK and Ireland and hotels in Budapest, Geneva, Istanbul, Lisbon, Milan, Paris, Prague and Provence.

The hotels in Dublin, Budapest, Milan and Prague are owned by Irish property investor Derek Quinlan whose Quinlan Private also owns the Maybourne Group (formerly the Savoy Group).

Hotels in the UK and Ireland
Four Seasons Hotel London, Park Lane (220 bedrooms) – five AA red stars
Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf (142 bedrooms) - five AA red stars
Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire, Hook (133 bedrooms)
Four Seasons Hotel Dublin (259 bedrooms)

Strategy

“Our goal is to grow by five to seven new properties per year.”

Source: Four Seasons annual report for 2004

Chief executive

Isadore Sharp

Key directors

Chairman: Isadore Sharp
President, worldwide business operations: Kathleen Taylor
President, worldwide hotel operations: Wolf Hengst
Chief financial officer and executive vice-president: John Davison
President, hotel operations, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA): Antoine Corinthios
Senior vice-president, food and beverage: Alfons Konrad
Senior vice-president, rooms: Ivan Goh
Vice-president, sales and marketing, EMEA: David Crowl
Regional vice-president and general manager: John Stauss

Contact

1165 Leslie Street
Toronto
Ontario
Canada
M3C 2K8

Tel: 001 416 449 1750
Fax: 001 416 441 4374

E-mail:
Website: http://www.fourseasons.com