Four Seasons and Hotels

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Questions for the case: 1. Summarize the case. Describe the main issues (related to service industries) discussed in the case. The first Four Seasons Hotel is built in the 1960s, by an architect named Isadore Sharp. The motel is named The Four Seasons Motor Hotel, located in Toronto, near the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which regularly flew in prominent personalities for interview. The motel is designed as a structure that provided privacy and comfortable physical spaces for who is needed. By 1972, Four Seasons had five hotel properties of different types. Four Seasons executed a strategy that concentrating on the operation of hotels and resorts of modest size (on average around 300 rooms) and of the highest quality. By 2000, Four Seasons managed 50 hotels in 22 countries. Each Four Seasons Hotel or resort is independently owned, often by a major real estate investor or developer, and each bore the words “Four Seasons” somewhere in its name. Four Seasons competed against other top luxury hotels around the world. The Ritz Carlton Hotel Chain owned by Marriott was Four Seasons strongest competitor. Four Seasons’ room prices varied based on the location of a property, room type and the time of year. For example, a typical room at the Boston Four Seasons overlooking the Public Gardens for a weeknight in mid-April, 2000 had a “rack-rate” of $585. Their guests are listed as on average around forty-five years old, well-educated, actively engaged in a career, and leading a demanding, rich, full life. The only thing that their guests can’t buy more is time. Thus, the company management saw its primary responsibility as providing guests with the best use of their time. Guests are arrived from all around the world and many different time zones. The company provides services that can meet their needs, like twenty-four hour business services, such as overnight laundry service and one-hour pressing, twenty-four hour room services,...