1998 Annual Report - Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

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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.
FOUR SEASONS MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ROUND TABLEFour Seasons Management Committee consists of:Isadore Sharp, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; John L. Sharpe, President and Chief OperatingOfficer; H. Roger Garland, Vice Chairman; Antoine Corinthios, President, Europe, Africa and MiddleEast; Wolf H. Hengst, Executive Vice President, Operations; Douglas L. Ludwig, Executive VicePresident, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; Anthony Sharp, Executive Vice President, VacationOwnership; Barbara M. Talbott, Executive Vice President, Marketing; Kathleen Taylor, ExecutiveVice President and Chief Corporate Officer; Christopher Wallis, Executive Vice President, Designand Construction; and John W. Young, Executive Vice President, Human Resources.QThe rapid expansion of the Four Seasons portfolio expected over the next few yearsmust be a significant operational challenge. How will you ensure that the FourSeasons guest experience is not diluted?AOver the next three years Four Seasons will undergo the largest expansion of its hotel andresort portfolio in its history. Planning for this program began a number of years ago toensure that we remain focused on maintaining and enhancing Four Seasons’ service culture,the high quality of our employees and our industry-leading service standards. This process isintended to ensure that our clients’ expectations will be met or exceeded in both existingproperties and new hotels and resorts.Four Seasons’ involvement in a hotel begins long before its opening day. We place a significantemphasis on the design and layout of properties to provide demonstrably superior physicalcharacteristics and facilitate effective service delivery. Although no two Four Seasons hotels arealike, each new hotel includes the ongoing design improvements and quality standards that ourdesign and construction team has accumulated over the past three decades.Another critical factor in a hotel’s opening and ongoing success is the execution of a salesand marketing plan designed specifically for that hotel. To support the hotels under management,Four Seasons has a dedicated global support network that includes corporate brand activities,13 worldwide sales offices and a worldwide reservation system. Over the past several years we havesuccessfully introduced many new Four Seasons hotels, and also rebranded existing properties inlocations such as Lisbon, the Maldives and Atlanta. Our marketing plans include specific salesobjectives for each of the new hotels, both for local sales people and for the support network. Publicrelations and advertising programs, as well as the sales effort, generally begin 12 to 24 monthsprior to the opening of the hotel.John L. Sharpe,President andChief Operating Officer5Four Seasons Hotels Inc.
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1998 Annual Report - Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

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