Isadore Sharp at home in September. Sharp founded Four Seasons in Toronto in 1961, and says the most important of his hotels is the one he opened in London, which became the prototype for his hospitality empire.Gabriel Hutchinson/The Globe and Mail
Stepping into the living room of Isadore Sharp’s home in north Toronto is like stepping into a resort hotel. At first, I can’t take my eyes off the view: A wall of glass frames the lush greens of Rosedale Golf Club suffused with morning light. Like every good luxury hotelier, Sharp lets his guest take it all in before offering a welcome drink. Coffee? And please try the homemade rugelach.
“Do you play?” I ask, nodding to the course. “No,” he smiles sheepishly as we settle in amongst his wife Rosalie Wise Sharp’s prolific art and delicate pottery collections to talk shop instead of golf.
Mr. Sharp is celebrating 65 years of the brand he founded: Four Seasons started with a small inn in an area of downtown Toronto most hoteliers wouldn’t walk alone in at night. Now the brand boasts 140 hotels in 47 countries, more than 60 more in development, not to mention 61 private residences, Four Season private jet tours and earlier this year, floated its first luxury yacht for guests.
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After so many interviews over so many years (at least 13 features in The Globe and Mail alone), I wonder what the 95-year-old chairman emeritus might want to share now. We talked about legacy, pride in the brand and its current leadership (“We’re on the threshold of what will be Four Seasons’ greatest era,” he says of current CEO Alejandro Reynal). He’s also got a few things on his mind about the last season of The White Lotus, the TV series that propelled each Four Seasons property where it was filmed to the top of every jet-setter’s list.
Does it feel like 65 years have gone by?
No, because, where did the time go? You don’t keep track. You don’t forget events along those 65 years but like most people, it’s hard to feel the time two months ago because we’re always dealing with the present.
You once said that the role of the founder never ends. Do you still feel that now?
Even though I gave up the day-to-day, I still retained an important role dealing with owners and dealing with future hotels. So, I’ve always kept an interest.
What is your influence now at the company?
As a founder, you speak from a different pulpit, because you are aware of every detail of how we got to where we are.
I have a good relationship with the controlling shareholders. I know they want my opinion and abide by it.
The original Four Seasons motor inn in Toronto, with founder Isadore Sharp on a ladder.Four Seasons/Supplied
It’s a good place to be in the company. I know more about the company than anybody, so my opinions about actions still carry the weight of when I was in control. An owner does not ever lose control. It’s always there to be used.
You’ve won six lifetime achievement awards and landed in multiple halls of fame. Is there anything left to achieve?
I think I’m content. You know, it’s been my life’s work. I am content that the company is in the hands of people, the controlling interests, that are going to preserve the legacy of Four Seasons.
You must be thinking a lot about legacy now. What is yours?
It’s interesting that you raise that. Recently I started working on a very thin booklet recording the history through my eyes. I’m doing that for my future generations, my great-great-grandkids.
I decided I would record my involvement and how Four Seasons became what it is.
Every hotel has been an important building block at its time. You can’t talk about 200 hotels, but there were some that really were giant steps forward.
Is it just for your family or will you publish it?
I’m going to share it with the senior people in the company. And then I’m leaving it up to my sons to make sure they see that it will be handed down generationally. I’m proud. It’s really been my and Rosalie’s life. It’s really a story of our lives together. Because the family will be using the hotels, they’ll have something in their hands to say, “Well, this is what he meant.”
You have three surviving children, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren – none of whom work for Four Seasons.
All the kids found what they feel they are best suited for. Working in the company has no meaning to me or Rosalie. It’s better they find what they can do. So that’s why I say, we are both content.
Did you watch The White Lotus at all?
I did.
And was that a good thing for the brand, or what did you think?
Until the last event. Up until then it was a funny thing but the last one, I said, “That’s it!”
The last season?
The last part of it was just terrible. I said, you know, No, that’s it.
The beginning was lighthearted and sort of a spoof of things. And even when they got into a spoof on sex, it was funny and that was no big deal. But then it took a turn.
So I said, look, that’s not for Four Seasons.
The popularity of the hotels where the TV show filmed soared. Had you ever seen anything like that affect business?
Well, it does [improve business] in the short term [but] it’s not something you can rely upon. It’s what happens day in, day out, building a reputation, that is sustainable.
Part of that reputation is employing the golden rule as a workplace culture, but how does that translate for a guest?
We got to a point in time when I said that service is going to be our competitive advantage. Architecture and decor are not what luxury will be all about, it will be the quality of our service and we should be able to distinguish ourselves. When I put that forward initially, it was laughed at. Everybody gives good service, they said. I said everybody tries to give good service, but not everybody succeeds in always giving good service.
All the employees, not just the general manager, must abide by it. Everybody. The person working in the steward department, washing dishes, the waiter, the doorman. Every individual must agree it’s their responsibility to do what they can to make the guest experience memorable. Culture based upon the golden rule gives everybody a clear message.
Do you think that we should be investing more in hospitality in Canada?
Yes, it’s a growth industry. And I think we’ll always be a growth industry. Because as good as technology can be, I’m not sure AI is going to change much more in travel.
Hospitality is a huge industry, which I think won’t be outdated or become obsolete even with AI.
Do you have a favourite Four Seasons location?
Well, obviously I’ve been asked this 1,000 times, To this day, it’s the same answer: The hotel I’m in is the favourite of the day. Remember, I’ve been responsible for creating every hotel. I know it from the beginning. When I’m in that hotel, it truly is the favourite because it brings back all the memories. Ask me a different question, ask which has been the most important hotel.
Okay, which has been the most important hotel?
There is only one. It was called the Inn on the Park [in London, England] and now it’s called the Four Seasons London at Park Lane. That hotel changed my career. That was the third hotel and it became the prototype for all future hotels. What we accomplished in that hotel gave me a clear insight into how I thought we could compete.
That was in 1970 and it’s still in my mind, it’s very special. It will always retain that status of the most important.
What did Four Seasons do differently? I have read you were the first to put shampoo in hotel bathrooms.
I changed the industry to be better. What I’ve been able to do is get all the other hotel companies – whether it’s mid-range, budget – to keep improving. Innovations that we started with from day one were things the industry thought were frivolous: Bigger bars of soap. Soft toilet paper. Towels that you could dry yourself with because they’re all cotton. We were the first to put shampoo in the bathroom. Practical things that weren’t gimmicks. Why was there a doily under a coffee cup? Because the customer ordered decaf coffee and the waiter would know.
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It’s being able to think about things that would be useful for the staff and also what would be appreciated and of value to the customer.
And yes, some of them did cost. People said: “He’s going to go bankrupt.” “He’s a dinosaur.” “He’s doing things that just won’t last.” Well, they eventually copied all those things, they became part of the industry.
So when I said we’ve helped the industry become better, I’m not talking high-end travel but also people on a budget. Everybody can have a better experience in their travels.
This interview has been edited and condensed.