In a recent interview to the Orlando Sentinel, Isadore Sharp, Chairman & Founder of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts spoke on the eve of the opening of the Four Seasons Resort in Orlando at World Disney: ‘The (hotel) industry has recovered, so we are in a sweet spot. But that isn’t everything. You can’t really time the opening of a project like this perfectly according to the economy. We’ve opened hotels in difficult times, including one that opened a month before the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. You have to prepared for ups and downs.’
Speaking about ownership versus management, Mr Sharp said ‘When you start out in this business, like I did many years ago, you build a hotel and you own it. In my case, the 1970s came along, and inflation began. What I had accomplished in Toronto and Calgary, I could no longer do in Vancouver, so I decided to change the business model. I borrowed against 70 percent of what I expected to make in fees for the first five years of operating the hotel. That was the beginning of the management contract concept at Four Seasons.’
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