...' Academy ol Management Executive, 2002, Vol. 16, No. 4 Four Seasons goes to Paris floger HalloweU, David Bowen, and Carin-Isabel Knoop Europe is different from North America, and Paris is very different. I did not say difficult. I said diffeient. —A senior Four Seasons manager Executive Summary Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts opened its first French property in 1999. This article presents that opening as a case study to illustrate a perspective on how a company with a strong and highly successful organizational culture might approach a new national culture when that cuhure is both distinct and intense, as is the case in France. Managers can henefit from the case by understanding this approach to organizational and national culture, which the authors believe represents a useful framework for global management. The article begins with a discussion of the linkage between corporate cuifure and competitive advantage for service organizafions. It then describes the corporate support structure and the philosophy that Four Seasons developed over two decades to support its international expansion and to manage the type of challenges its French property posed. Finally, it describes how the firm went about transforming that property into one of its crown jewels. The Linkage Between Service Culture and Competitive Advantage The enduring success of service organizations such as Southwest Airlines, The Walt Disney Company, Wal-Mart, and USAA (among others) is frequently ...
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...[pic] Marketing MK 201 Marketing of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai [pic] Lecturer: Kathryn Medico Student: Lu Yizhi [ luyi080789 ] Duy Hung Pham [ phdu271188 ] Class: 2A March 12th , 2012 Acknowledgement For the successful completion of our report, we would like to express our deep gratitude to all the people who give us help and advise. First and foremost, we are going to give our appreciation to Mr. Wang, the Assistant Sales Director of the Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai. He spent his personal time replying our email to answer our questions and gave us a lot of valuable information and instructions which keep our report going in the right direction. Secondly, we would like to thank our Marketing lecturer, Miss Medico, she provided us with many useful resources and guidance at every stage of writing the report. Clearly, we cannot finish this report smoothly without her help. Last but not least, we would like to thank all our friends for their suggestions and inspiring. Contents Aknowledgement 2 Introduction 4 Background of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai 4 The Lifecycle Stages of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai 5 Target Market 6 The Promotion Mix of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai 7 Advertising 7 Publishing pamphlets and magazines 7 Online advertising 8 Public Relations 8 Communicating with public by Internet 8 Participate in public service 9 Sales Promotion 9 Hotel packages promotion 9 Discount 10 Conclusion 10 Reference...
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...critically analyse the implications of human resource practices in the Four Seasons brand. Unless diversity is supported, discrimination can appear in some cases, having a negative effect on the running of the business. Also, working in groups makes a great contribution to the company’s performance, allowing creativity to be put into practice. Leadership is the greatest issue, as it can make the difference. Following a vision of his own, the leader can influence each department and also control staff’s and customer’s emotions as they represent the key to a better reputation of the brand. Lastly, a personal reflection upon the workshops was written, illustrating the fact that they represent a better command of the subject. 2. Diversity and Groups Nowadays, managing a hotel brand is done with the help on diversity management (Mor Barak, 2005). There exist four magnitudes of diversity: tenancy, age, sex and race. After a study conducted by Ely (2004), race and sex are not irrelevant to performance, as opposed to tenancy and age which are judged by experienced staff who believe that wisdom comes with age. Cooperation and teamwork represent the key to the issue. Banks in the USA developed diversity education programs where employees were stimulated to work with the ones they did not accept, results being highly positive and thus leading to a better collaboration in the at near future (Ely, 2004). For the Four Seasons brand, extensive research needs to be carried out, starting with the...
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...Four Seasons I chose Four Seasons for my term project because this is my dream employer, ranking in Top 100 Employers to Work For by Fortune magazine. With their long-historical success, global dominance, and impressive business philosophies, I believe Four Seasons is a very interesting company. While having a strong brand and powerful strategy tools, there is always room for improvements. Four Seasons target markets are mostly luxury travellers, families, high-class events, and business travellers. Their hotels and resorts attract customers with their luxuriousness and reputation. Four Seasons successfully built an internationally recognizable brand to be a hospitality world leader. In the recent years, they developed a policy on “Supporting Sustainability”. They bring the idea of protecting the environment into a new defining core value. The problem is how to bring sustainability and the increased revenue and marketing opportunities that it offers to all areas of their enterprise. This will cut down some of their operational costs, it will also drives the content of their social media marketing, and eventually will drive new business. At the same time, focusing on social media is one of the most advantage steps they can continuously focus on. Four Seasons Hotel Toronto successfully launched a virtual platform to highlight its food and beverage properties and drive consumer traffic as well as increase awareness. I believe if they can combine their Supporting Sustainability...
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...Case 1 : Four Seasons in Paris 1. What has made Four Seasons successful over the last 30 years? Several reasons have made Four Seasons (FS) successful: - The guarantee for the guests to receive a high-quality and consistently exceptional personal service is part of FS’s distinguishing edge. One of the most important elements of this success is the ability of employees to provide customers with an intelligent truly personalized service and to anticipate the guests’ needs. - FS has defined worldwide core operating standards. The respect of those standards is the guarantee that, all over the world, in any FS hotel, customers will be offered the highest quality. Furthermore, these standards help to shape relationship between people, and those relationships contribute to building the corporate culture. - Besides the definition of globalized standards, FS emphasizes the importance of cultural diversity. Adaptability to local culture and environment is a key to success. Each hotel is representative of its location and has its own style. When they stay in a FS hotel, guests immediately know in which country they are staying. FS is promoted in a very positive manner: it is a guarantee of quality but the brand does not rigidly define the product. - The regional management structure is a key component of FS’s ability to deliver and maintain the highest and most consistent service. In each FS property, a general manager supervises the day-to-day operations. Every morning the top management...
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...( Spacey, 2012) "Bamboo in the Four Seasons" by Tosa Mitsunobu was completed in Japan sometime in the early sixteenth century.( Bamboo in the Four Seasons, 2000-2017) This piece of artwork has impressionist ideas because the content is a landscape of bamboo, the focal point is not in the center, and the picture itself is cropped. The artwork is not a real view, but an impression of the bamboo. Here is a link to this piece of artwork: www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1975.268.44,45/ In eighteen ninety-one, Claude Monet painted "Poplars (Wind Effect)", which is very similar to "Bamboo in the Four Seasons". (Wind Effect, Poplar Series 2017) Monet's "Poplars" has the same cropped composition of the trees. The focal point is not necessarily in the center, and the content is something to be found in nature. Although both artists used a different medium, the content of trees depicted as an impression are very similar. Here is a link to this piece of artwork:...
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...He was not interested in priesthood and the only reason for joining was his financial situation. That was was the only possible way for his poor family to receive free schooling. Nevertheless, very soon, in 1704, he was pardoned from celebrating the Holy Mass because of his bad health. Later, he became a violin teacher at an orphanage for girls called Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. The orphans soon started to gain appreciation and esteem as Vivaldi wrote most of his concertos, cantata, and sacred music for them. In 1705 the first collection of his works was published. He was a prolific composer producing over 500 concertos, 46 Operas, symphonies, 73 sonatas, chamber music, and sacred music. His most famous work is believed to be the Four Seasons (Wikipedia). Vivaldi's music is especially innovative since he added brightness to the very formal and rhythmic structure of concertos. He constantly searched for harmonic contrasts, creating innovative melodies and themes. Vivaldi’ ultimate goal was to create music that could be understood and appreciated not only by an intellectual minority but also, and especially by the wide public. He loved composing and that joy gives his music the joyful appearance (Halliwell). Those factors were the main reasons for his music becoming vastly popular. This popularity soon made him famous in Italy and other countries, even...
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...objective is to present on subject “Hotel Accounting” about Four Seasons Hotel and Resort. The goal of creating this report is to study on the structure of hotels. This report presented guideline to Four Seasons hotel and Resort. Each resort and hotel in Four Seasons has different uniqueness and variation, so we provided only best branch from overall branches around the world. The branches that we bring in the project are mostly in Thailand, because the writer comes from Thailand and we want to promote the traveling industry in Thailand. Most of our research comes from internet sources and some in magazine and journals. We also appreciate Four Seasons Hotel and Resort that provided us useful information and advice. So, we hope that you will find a lot of useful information and trivia from our report and use those information in the future. History of Four Seasons Hotel 1961, The first Four Seasons hotel on an unlikely downtown site in Toronto, Canada. 1963, Four Seasons opened its second hotel, Toronto’s Inn on the Park. 1970, Inn on the Park London (later renamed Four Seasons Hotel London) opened, right at the start of the transatlantic jet-travel boom. 1972, Over its history, Four Seasons would make four strategic decisions that formed the pillars of its business platform. The first was about quality. 1976, The second key strategic decision that formed the business platform was about service. 1976, Four Seasons entered the US market with its first management contract...
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...THE LUXURY CONSUMER IN THE NEW DIGITAL WORLD: THEN & NOW 201 Four Seasons Luxury T 2 rend Report Luxury Trend Report | 1 The global luxury landscape and the luxury customer have evolved dramatically over the last tumultuous and transformative three years. The advent of unprecedented new technological innovations, coupled with the increased skepticism left over from the global financial crisis, mean that today’s consumers are demanding honest, accurate, timely and engaging information. They are looking for intrinsic value and a deeper relationship with the brands with whom they choose to support and interact. According to The Affluence Collaborative1, a research powerhouse that dives deep into the habits of high-income consumers, the affluent2 seek out companies and brands that can simplify and improve their lives. In the travel sector, this translates into increased expectations around personalization cutting across all touch points – including digital media platforms – as luxury travellers research, purchase, engage in and reflect upon their travel experiences. The Luxury Traveller Technology Survey3, commissioned by Four Seasons, coupled with leading luxury market research and brand insight, sets out to uncover how consumers want technology to blend seamlessly into their experience, and how those preferences have changed in recent years. strong performance in China and Latin America, are driving growth in the sector. All combined, the global luxury market is expected...
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...Introduction This report will give an overview of the Four Seasons Hotel London at Canary Wharf that is located on West India Quay alongside London’s thriving financial district that is Canary Wharf. The building overlooks the Thames River and incorporates a modern contemporary interior design, and an Ancient Egyptian inspired exterior design distinguished by its flared patinated copper cornice that was designed by the Renton Howard Wood Levin Partnership. It is easily accessible by public transport; the London Underground’s Jubilee and DLR lines (Docklands Light Railway) are a ten minute walk away, and Thames Clipper Boats depart frequently from the adjacent Canary Wharf Pier. It is also just 15 minutes away from London City Airport as well as the O2 Centre (Telegraph.co.uk, 2013). Target Market The hotels location in London’s booming financial district which makes the hotels target market mainly business travellers who are visiting the financial headquarters in Canary Wharf, although it does also receive a high number of affluent leisure travellers particularly during weekends and the holiday season. Events held at the O2 arena also have a big impact on the hotel’s occupancy, and often celebrities featuring at the events stay here. During the midweek almost 100% of the guests are business travellers, whereas at weekends on average a quarter of the guests stay for leisure purposes. However, Canary Wharf and Canada Square are evolving rapidly which is increasingly attracting...
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...Four Seasons Response Paper Scott Pearce The Four Seasons' approach to transferring its practices to other cultural contexts is aligned with their overall business strategy. They want to be known as the best of the best in luxury hotel service. What this translates to is not too dissimilar from Starbucks: a customized customer experience. That's not to say there aren't specific expectations and standards. But its how the customer experience is delivered within those standards that tailors the Four Seasons experience depending on where you are. If a firm expects to establish a sustainable business model in foreign nations, the firm best be a cultural chameleon, where the brand doesn't uniquely identify the company or product as one particular nationality. This particular case study calls attention to the Disney model as the antithesis of Four Seasons. While Disney is successful, it is interesting to note that Euro-Disney was a failure and it wasn't until it changed to Disneyland Paris, with a decided turn towards a more French culture, that it finally turned around. Even the comparison to McDonald's is a little tenuous, as the McDonald's experience and brand is known for the clean restaurants and cheap fast food. But, the menu does chance depending on the region and what the culture demands. Eating in a McDonald's in Thailand was very different than eating in McDonald's in Australia, or even Switzerland. By making sure the Paris hotel was a Paris experience, the Four Seasons paid...
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...Four Season Goes to Paris Four Seasons is one of the biggest midsized luxury hotels in the world. Although it is Canadian-based, it currently operates across different continents. Despite the fact that they operate in different parts of the world, they are known for its high standards of quality and providing good experience. Wherever they operate they bring their corporate culture, traditions and standards with them. Sometimes it is difficult to come and implement your corporate culture, because people are different, cultures are different, and lastly laws and regulations are different. Four Seasons faced these problems when trying to launch their hotel in Paris. When entering hotel market in Paris, Four Season faced number of problems both legal and cultural. France had its own laws regarding working hours, hygiene issues, and French people had their own moral, culture, attitude toward work, which differed from North American one. For a building they chose the building of old “George V” hotel. They tried to keep outside façade and change inside a bit. According to French hygiene laws, trash and food had to be carried via different corridors and elevators. Because of that Four Seasons had to create additional ways just for food and trash. “Right to light” law, which stated that each employee must work at least several hours a day by the window. Four Seasons management had to arrange schedules so that, no one was working all day in the basement. ...
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...Vivaldi’s violin concerto The Four Seasons (1725) is an excellent example of the music of the Baroque era. The Baroque era was a time of artistic revolution. Virtuosic concertos, especially for stringed instruments like the violin, were great examples of this. Antonio Vivaldi was known for his work on such pieces - his most well known set of concertos is considered The Four Seasons. During the baroque era, it was quite common for musical pieces to tell stories, or invoke specific emotions, also known as ‘program music.’ It was intended to tell a story, and Vivaldi became a legend in the style. The Four Seasons does this wonderfully. In fact, there were sonnets that go along with the piece, describing each season. The piece titled Summer,...
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...& Change Case 1: Four Seasons Goes to Paris 1. What has made Four Seasons successful over the last 30 years? A number of main factors have contributed to the success of Four Seasons over the last 30 years. To begin with, Four Seasons has had an exceptional management team and structure that has had the ability to deliver and maintain its highest and most consistent service standards at each property in a cost-effective manner. These top managers were all world citizen, which means that they are able to act as the local citizens in any country around the world; for example, Italian in Italy, French in France. The process for opening and operating a hotel stays the same, each of their hotels is tailor made and adapted to its national environment. Four Seasons has seven “service culture standards” which are followed by employees all over the world at all times as well as 270 core worldwide operating standards. This gives the Four Seasons a set standard for each property to follow and gives the company some sort of unity from one property to another. Exceptions to the 270 core standards are allowed if it makes local sense and will give the guests a better local feel. Due to Four Season's extensive coverage, standards were often written to allow local flexibility which has contributed their success. The main value that puts Four Seasons ahead of the competition is an exceptional, personal service that puts the customer above all. Four Seasons offers a “just for you”...
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...Marketing Analysis: Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Subject: 2012 Electif 136 : Marketing du luxe Lecturer: RIOUX Christophe Made by Erasmus student: Valeria Grinevich 2013 Content Introduction 2 History of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts chain 3 Marketing Strategy Analysis 4 SWOT analysis 7 Target segments 7 Marketing Mix (4Ps) 8 Bibliography 11 Introduction For my luxury brand marketing analysis I choosed the Four Season Hotels chain, as on my mind it is one of the most successful and well-known hotel chain, providing 5 star service all around the world. Every hotel – is a masterpiece. You won’t find two similar hotels, as all of them are unique, built in different styles, based on the part of the world, where the hotel placed. But at the same time they all combined by unrepeatable spirit of elegance and chic. “Treat others as you would like to be treated” this is the golden rule and the basis for the success and recognized service quality of the Four Seasons hotel chain. The company offers luxury accommodation and beautiful high-professioned SPA complexes, as well as catering services for different types of the events, from wedding to corporate meetings. FHS also provides leisure activities, including golfing, skiing, tennis, fishing, cooking schools, fitness facilities, family travel, dining, sailing, scuba diving, and other types water sports. Four Seasons has chosen to specialize...
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