Photo Finish For Ritz, Four Seasons

<B>Photo Finish For Ritz, Four Seasons</B>

By Bruce Serlen

If competition in any segment of the Top U.S. Chain Survey could be said to constitute a rivalry, it would be at the top of the deluxe segment, with Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. and Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts as the two contestants. Ritz-Carlton captured the number-one spot in 1997 and again last year; Four Seasons won the gold in 1998 and 1999. In 2001, the two competitors finished in a dead heat. The Luxury Collection brand, including St. Regis Hotels, which is a unit of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, was a close runner-up, moving up from the fifth position last year. In the number-three spot was Mandarin Oriental Hotels, followed by Conrad International, which is a unit of Hilton Hotels Corp., and Regent International, which is part of Carlson Hotels Worldwide. It was Conrad's first appearance on the deluxe list.

Ritz-Carlton placed highest in four of the survey's 13 criteria, while Four Seasons placed highest in three; one was a draw. Ritz-Carlton scored highest for ease in arranging individual travel, helpful and courteous staff, physical appearance of its properties and quality and variety of its in-room amenities. Four Seasons, meanwhile, outpaced the field for price-to-value relationship, facilities for resort meetings and facilities for meetings overall. Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton tied for their ease in arranging group travel. Runner-up Luxury Collection/St. Regis placed highest in three areas as well: timely commission payments and the quality of both its food and business amenities.

Both Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton have built their reputations on delivering very high levels of personalized guest services. This consciousness not only defined the deluxe segment of the lodging industry, but also created the standard against which other industry segments measured themselves.

This focus on stellar service was a hallmark of both brands in 2000. "Four Seasons had its origins in trying to provide the business traveler with a quality of experience not generally available at the time," said Barbara Talbott, executive vice president of Toronto-based Four Seasons, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. "In fact, at the time, only independent European hotels with their emphasis on the concierge offered truly 24-hour service." Today's global economy has made this a priority again. "With business travelers working around the clock, that 24-hour support system and the Four Seasons promise it implies--'whatever you need, whenever you need it'--is more relevant than ever," Talbott said.

The chain reemphasized guests' physical comfort in the past year, starting with a great night's sleep, and has upgraded the bed product. "The fundamentals of being a guest in a hotel have hardly gone away," Four Seasons' Talbott said.

In introducing new services for the business traveler, Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton pride themselves on their ability to anticipate guest needs, as opposed to strictly reacting to needs as they surface. "Whether the issue is in-room tech or the expansion of health and fitness facilities, we try to focus on the end-traveler and see how we can make their stay with us more beneficial," said Mark Ferland, vice president of sales for Atlanta-based Ritz-Carlton.

Ritz-Carlton made headlines in 1999 with the introduction of the technology butler, an onsite staff person dedicated to dealing with travelers' computer woes. Last year, with the personal comfort of the guest in mind, the chain introduced the bath butler, a staff person who would come to the guest room and prepare any one of a series of specialized baths. "Initially, we were surprised at the tremendous response the program was having among business travelers," Ferland said. "But given the stress many frequent travelers are under today, it shouldn't come as a surprise that they welcome this opportunity to unwind."

At the individual property level, this intense service consciousness plays out in a very direct way. "Frequent guests want to know we know who they are, that we're aware of their preferences and are responsive to them," said Lisa Bailey, director of marketing at the Four Seasons Chicago. Frequent guests, in fact, are given the name of their own guest-services contact whose job it is to smooth the way.

As in all lodging sectors, repeat business is crucial at the local level. "We're about building long-term relationships," said Kelly Wood, director of sales and marketing at the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, which opened in June. "Travelers appreciate services like the complimentary door-to-door car service on weekday mornings, for example, because it helps them conduct their business more effectively. Once they understand the level of service available here, they return again and again."

Given their recent success, deluxe hotels are expanding at a rapid clip to extend their well-known brand names into new parts of the world. Internationally, Four Seasons, which is opening properties in Caracas, Prague and Dublin in 2001, plans to enter Amman and Riyadh in 2002, and plans in 2003 to open a property in Budapest and a second hotel in Cairo. For its part, Ritz-Carlton in 2000 opened a hotel in Wolfsburg, Germany, and is scheduled to debut in Istanbul in the next few months.

In the United States, Four Seasons last month committed to building a property in Miami, a market where Ritz-Carlton also will have a major presence with three properties in that area. Ritz-Carlton also is creating two properties in New York, a new build downtown and a conversion in midtown. "Markets like these are deep enough to accommodate more than one Ritz-Carlton," Ferland said, "especially when you think in terms of sub-markets."

Ironically, both Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton are working with the same real estate developer, New York-based Millennium Partners, on mixed-use projects in gateway U.S. cities that include both a hotel and luxury condo apartments. Ritz-Carlton's two New York developments are part of this arrangement as are the Washington, D.C., complex that opened in November and a Boston project now under construction. Four Seasons is working with Millennium in Miami and San Francisco.

Not that these two chains are the only deluxe brands in the survey with aggressive expansion plans. Regent International's new president Thomas Huffsmith, for example, expects to double the number of properties in the system to 26 within a year, 60 percent to 70 percent of which will be new builds. And at Conrad International, Hilton Hotels Corp. late last year entered into an agreement with Hilton International to co-market and grow the brand around the world.