1998 Annual Report - Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

MESSAGE TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS(continued)The Era of the BrandOur fourth significant decision was to concentrate on leveraging our brand name, by extendingour hotel management business throughout the world, thereby making the name Four Seasonssynonymous with the highest standard of quality in the international lodging business.Brand power, once gained, creates tremendous momentum, as those who have reaped therewards of a strong global brands can attest. Accordingly, Four Seasons has invested enormouseffort in its brand. By laying a strong foundation, and remaining consistent in our approach,we have gained a substantial head start in the most stable sector of the world’s largest industry.In the future, the strength of the Four Seasons brand should help to ensure that we areconsidered for almost all new luxury hotel projects throughout the world, and that we have theopportunity to extend the Four Seasons brand into complementary businesses, as we did withluxury vacation ownership, where such endeavours support and enhance our core business strategy.We believe that our strong cash flow position and our special relationships with significantcapital sources should help to ensure that we are able to capitalize on these opportunities as well.Moreover, our ability to leverage the Four Seasons brand when introducing and stabilizing newhotel properties, should help to build on our existing foundation for long term success,contributing to the ongoing prosperity of Four Seasons and the enhancement of shareholder value.ConclusionAccording to many management experts, companies that enjoy strong reputations and outstandingbusiness performance over several generations of management have strong and consistent corephilosophies and values that are preserved over the long term, through good times and bad.These companies also relentlessly experiment and improve the way they do business, never beingsatisfied that things are being done as well as possible. We believe that Four Seasons demonstratesboth of these characteristics.We at Four Seasons all share strong core values, where the pursuit of excellence is a neverendingjourney, where respect for each other is paramount, and where achieving profitabilityis a consequence of, not an alternative to, our beliefs. We also are committed to promotionfrom within, with each level of management, even at the most senior levels, being drawn frominside Four Seasons. It is our view that these people, those who share our core value system, andwho are committed to sustaining it, are in the best position to ensure the success of Four Seasonsas we move confidently into the 21st century.ISADORE SHARP (Signed)Chairman and Chief Executive Officer4Four Seasons Hotels Inc.