TORONTO—Kathleen Taylor knows it’s difficult to generalize what’s going on in the global hotel industry because it’s a street-corner business, but also it’s hard for the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts CEO to look past the current conditions and not like what she sees.
“There is a lot of optimism. Booking paces are strong, demand remains strong,” Taylor said during a November interview with HotelNewsNow.com. “We don’t see a slowdown yet.”
She remains “cautiously optimistic” about the industry’s outlook despite the European debt crisis and the ongoing congressional political battles in the United States. Yet she sees plenty of opportunity for her brand to increase dramatically its global footprint.
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Kathleen Taylor |
Taylor, who is considered by many as one of the most influential women in the global hotel industry, is leading Toronto-based Four Seasons into new territory. The company primarily focuses on management contracts and owns little in the way of real estate and physical assets. Yet its 86 luxury hotels scattered in 35 countries are considered by most industry observers as trend-setting bellwethers of the hotel landscape. Taylor, who has spent 23 years with Four Seasons, sees a day when the company has 150 properties in its portfolio while dominating the markets in which it operates.
“The biggest opportunity for Four Seasons is to make continued market share inroads in the markets we operate—to continue to get the message out that the value experience in our hotels is the best one,” she said. “The greatest challenge in all that is making sure you have those (employees) to ensure guests have that experience.”
Four Seasons has approximately 50 projects in various stages of design and construction, Taylor said.
“In the fullness of the 50-project pipeline, the vast majority will come outside the U.S., with a focus on China, India and Latin America,” Taylor said. “There are lots of cities in those areas where Four Seasons needs to be.”
The Four Seasons leader said the greatest driver in determining where a property should open is figuring out which markets its target guests are visiting.
“To a large extent that’s the business were in … serving customers where they want to be,” Taylor said.
She also mentioned “new and exciting places to be,” including Africa, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and the southern part of Europe.
Scott Woroch, executive VP, worldwide development at Four Seasons, said during a panel at last month’s European Hotel Investment Conference that the company is looking to expand its presence in markets it serves—particularly large markets that have one Four Seasons property. The brand’s development team is looking at downtown New York and wants to add a third property in London.
Specific markets meet specific needs
Taylor said approximately two-thirds of the company’s portfolio is in urban areas; the rest is in resort markets.
“We don’t have a specific formula relative to that,” she said. “What we do see as we’re developing hotels is maintaining a balance between urban and resorts.”
After recently opening the Four Seasons Hotel Marrakech in Morocco and the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore in Maryland, the company expects five properties to open in 2012:
• St Petersburg, Russia
• Baku, Azerbaijan
• Shanghai (Pudong)
• Toronto
• Guangzhou, China
The Four Seasons Hotel Guangzhou will be housed in floors 69 to 100 in a 103-story IFC Guangzhou building. The 177-room Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg will be housed in a 19th-century royal palace.
Also on the docket is the US$360-million, 444-room Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort, which is set to open in 2014. The project is a joint venture between Four Seasons, New York-based real estate and development management company Silverstein Properties and Dune Real Estate Partners, a New York real estate private equity fund.
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| The 399-room Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong is one of the brand’s 86 properties. |
“We’ve been after a project in Orlando for a long time,” Taylor said. “Orlando is one of the most visited destinations in the world, and our customers are going there for business, leisure, golf.”
She said the site secured for the project is “spectacular,” and the property will be the first branded hotel inside Walt Disney World. Four Seasons acquired the land from Disney in 2008 and will retain a 30% ownership stake in the project in addition to operating it. The project is being partially funded through a US$190-million construction-financing program from Mexico City-based Grupo Financiero.
The property will include 37,750 square feet (3,500 square meters) of meeting space, a 14,000-sqare-foot (1,300 square meters) spa, an 18-hole championship golf course, up to 40 Four Seasons Residence Club units and up to 90 Four Seasons Private Residences.
“There’s no theme for the hotel—the design for the hotel has been created to fit within the wonderful setting we’ve been given,” she said, adding the property also will include some Disney residential units.
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Giving customers the experience they want
The success of Four Seasons comes through its brand vision that revolves around the guest experience, Taylor said.
“Guests are coming to Four Seasons because they know they get highly customized experience,” she said. “We want their experiences to be authentic—truly experiencing the location.”
Taylor said high-quality sound proofing and great water pressure are examples of things the brand can’t take lightly.
“The distinct feel is built around function, the quality of service, the quality of experience, the quality of our people,” she said. “We’ve never had a cookie-cutter approach to hotels.
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| The Four Seasons Baltimore, which houses 256 guestrooms, is the newest property in the Toronto-based brand’s global portfolio. The hotel opened on 18 November 2011. |
What we’re trying to be more reflective of its surroundings, history, architecture …whatever it is about the (market location) that is attracting our guests.”
Tweaking the focus of management
To continue growing Four Seasons’ global footprint and to continue the innovative practices of founder Isadore Sharp, Taylor introduced a new corporate executive structure at the beginning of this year at Four Seasons, which marks its 50th anniversary. Taylor, who said the three years she spent as chief operating office of the company before assuming the CEO role “gave me a sense of what it was like to have my hand on the tiller,” said the new executive leadership team structure is in place to get most senior leaders closest to their business as possible.
Sharp remains actively involved in the company, Taylor said.
Among the moves she made was to appoint Chris Hunsberger to the newly created role as executive VP, product and innovation. “That’s going to become a global platform,” Taylor said.
Part of the reason to add “innovation” to the senior leadership lineup can be attributed to weathering the recession. Taylor said beginning in 2009, Four Seasons management took time to reflect on relationships with guests and owners.
“We took a lot of time trying to get to the heart of what they needed the most,” she said. The idea was to ensure the brand’s hotels are successful over the long term.
“We experimented a lot … trying to find new ways of doing business, new ways of approaching old traditions,” Taylor said. “We were looking for not only a more cost-effective solution but one that makes sense.
“The innovation spirit in the company is so strong,” she added. “Figuring out how to harness it is not something that will happen by accident.”
Two areas in constant flux are technology and marketing, which more than ever go hand-in-hand, Taylor said.
“Marketing is so different. The whole digital age has made the relationship with the customer, consumer, guest so much more intimate. The total market spend has shifted hugely to the digital platform,” she said.
She said 50% of the company’s digital marketing budget is spent on social media, and the company is reinventing its relationship with public relations to combine it with social media.
The brand also embraces the online-travel-agency model for selling rooms. “Our inventory is available,” Taylor said. “That has been fine with us. We have price parity at Four Seasons. … Transparency in pricing is so very important.”
All of this fuels the desire of the value-conscious consumer to be more transparent. Even in the luxury segment, consumers are looking for value.
“(Social media) has taken luxury from exclusive to inclusive,” Taylor said. “Four Seasons is the model for value-oriented luxury. Our whole premise, our brand promise, is we will provide you with more value for your time. Time is our scarcest asset … even the wealthy can’t buy more. Making the most of it, making sure that time is used wisely and valuably, is truly very important. It’s in our DNA, the value proposition.”