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Four Strategic Values: The Success Of Four Seasons Hotels And Resorts

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Starting as a domestic Canadian company in 1960, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts have built an internationally brand not only through exceptional luxury in beautiful locations all around the world, but through understanding that while each of their properties provides guests an “unique experience the success of the company is guaranteed.” (www.wearedevelopment.com). Four Seasons concept was to create a chain of luxury hotels in which excellence in service and amenities was literally present and linear.
Over its operating history, Four Seasons would analyze the market intensively and come out with four strategic decisions that would later define their business platform’s pillars.
While expending, founder Isadore Sharp observed the travel …show more content…

By the start of the 80’s, both inbound and outbound tourism was booming all over US and Europe (rita.dot.gov). The company developed their third of the four strategic decisions based on expansion of their business – culture. Their credo was shaped as the Golden Rule that is nowadays embraced by all their employees worldwide – “we treat others – all others: customers, employees, partners, suppliers – as one would wish to be treated”. (COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE)
As stated on businessweek.com article entitled “Creating the Four Seasons Difference”, the company’s competitors considered their guests needs differently from Sharp. His view was more “nuanced and humane” than that of his rivals. (COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE)
As the company’s objectives are focused on maintaining a strong relationship with their guests that value their luxury services, Four Seasons staff consider their guests expectations, doing their best into delivering immediate solutions to their guests’ negative encounters, in order to win back their trust. …show more content…

Ramanujam and Varadarajan (1989) consider that the desired diversification could focus both internal business development and venturing into new business activities through mergers and acquisitions.
By considering the aforementioned terms, the Four Seasons’ imaginative effort of launching the hotel industry's first fully branded private jet in 2014, in partnership with TCS Expedition can be considered an internal business development. Using differentiation as a mean to create added value for guests is yet confirmed by Susan Helstab, Executive Vice President Marketing, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts: "Taking our legendary service to the skies is a natural extension of what we've been doing in our hotels for more than 50 years," (Four Seasons Press Release, 2014).
Each journey is focused exclusively on Four Seasons – enhancing the expected guest experience - from air travel to ground transportation, meals, luxury accommodation and planned excursions. The possibility of private charting can be considered an option as well.
According to Ansoff (1957), there are three types of generally accepted diversification opportunities: vertical, horizontal and lateral, applicable mainly to product-oriented

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