Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Four Seasons

Four Seasons hotels

The Golden Rule shapes a personal welcome, treating guests and staff with the same care.

Four Seasons makes a personal welcome the constant across a wide range of city hotels, destination resorts, and restored historic buildings. The settings and residential-style interiors change from one address to another, while attentive service gives guests a familiar sense of ease wherever they stay.

145 Four Seasons hotels in 53 countries on the Luxury Hotels Atlas (5 not open yet), each placed on the six LHA Tiers.

Owned by Cascade Investment
Worldwide: 135 hotels and resorts across 47 countries, plus 55 branded residential properties, as of mid-2026 — with a published target of 180 properties by 2033 as the world's largest operator of ultra-luxury hospitality under a single brand.
On the atlas: 20 Apex Luxury, 85 Grand Luxury, 34 High Luxury, 6 Core Luxury

History

Isadore Sharp made the Golden Rule central to Four Seasons: treat guests and employees as you would wish to be treated yourself. Hiring for character and maintaining attentive service helped carry that principle across very different hotels. The collection’s growth retained one shared name, with the welcome providing continuity from one destination to the next.

Timeline

1961 — Isadore (Issy) Sharp, a young architect and builder working with his contractor father Max Sharp, opens the first Four Seasons hotel in Toronto, a motor-court property on Jarvis Street, with no ambition to build a global chain. It is March 21, the first day of spring.
1961–1969 — Sharp opens two additional Four Seasons hotels in Canada during the decade, each time refining his central thesis: luxury should feel residential, not institutional, and service culture determines differentiation.
1970 — Four Seasons opens in London, the brand's first European hotel and the defining pivot toward pure luxury. The London opening pioneers numerous service standards still used system-wide.
1970s — The portfolio grows to ten hotels across Canada. The brand secures its first U.S. management contracts in San Francisco and Chicago.
1976 — Four Seasons opens the Inn on the Park in Houston, accelerating the brand's shift from a Canadian chain to a continental luxury operator.
1979 — Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC opens, the first property in the United States to carry the Four Seasons name, designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill on the edge of Georgetown.
1980s — A dozen flagship U.S. hotels open across a single decade: Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, and others. Four Seasons deliberately divests lower-tier properties and transitions from hotel owner-operator to management company. Mixed-use developments integrating luxury residences with hotels become a defining growth format.
1986 — Four Seasons Hotel New York opens, the company's first purpose-built Manhattan hotel.
1989 — Four Seasons Hotel Chicago opens at 900 North Michigan, occupying floors 30–46 of a 66-story Magnificent Mile tower. The first Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond ratings for a Four Seasons U.S. property are established in this era.
1990 — Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea opens February 9, the brand's first Hawaii property and only its third resort anywhere in the world, beginning a resort-led expansion decade.
1991 — Four Seasons Resort Nevis opens February 14 as the first Five-Star hotel in the Caribbean and the first Four Seasons in the region.
1993 — Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay opens, bringing the brand to Asia for the first time at resort scale, modelled on an authentic Balinese village with over 300 Hindu shrines.
1996 — Four Seasons Resort Hualalai opens September 27 on 865 acres of lava field on Hawaii's Big Island.
1997 — Kingdom Holding Company (Kingdom Hotels) and Cascade Investment acquire major stakes in Four Seasons, establishing the ownership partnership that will define the company for decades.
1999 — The Hotel George V in Paris, acquired by Kingdom's Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal in 1996, reopens as Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris following a USD 120 million restoration. It immediately becomes the brand's European crown jewel.
2000 — The portfolio passes 50 properties operating on every inhabited continent.
2002 — Four Seasons is taken fully private, with Cascade, Kingdom Holding, and Isadore Sharp's Triples Holdings acquiring the company outright, freeing it to focus entirely on long-term strategy.
2005 — Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong opens within the IFC complex, in 2009 becoming the first hotel in history to hold two 3-Michelin-star restaurants simultaneously: Lung King Heen (the world's first Chinese restaurant awarded three stars) and Caprice.
2010s — Accelerated resort and heritage-conversion openings: Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest, Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet (former Ottoman prison), Four Seasons Hotel Milano (15th-century convent), Four Seasons Hotel Firenze (Renaissance palaces), San Domenico Palace Taormina (14th-century Dominican convent). Four Seasons Private Jet Experience launches in 2015.
2015 — Four Seasons Private Jet Experience launches, a dedicated A321neo configured exclusively for around-the-world luxury journeys, reaching roughly 30% repeat-guest rate by 2025.
2019 — Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens opens on the site of the 1960s Astir Palace, itself a playground of Aristotle Onassis, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Kennedy, and The Beatles.
2020–2021 — COVID-19 forces temporary closures across the portfolio; the company launches its LEAD WITH CARE health-safety protocol. São Paulo property (opened 2018) closes permanently and transitions to JW Marriott in January 2022.
2021 — Cascade increases its ownership by an additional 23.75%, purchasing the interest from Kingdom Holding and reinforcing its majority position.
2022 — Four Seasons announces a strategic growth plan targeting 180 properties by 2033. Robert Fritz, Cascade Investment executive, joins the Four Seasons Board as Lead Director.
2023 — 40th anniversary of the Four Seasons branded residences programme; 55 residential properties across 20 countries in operation.
2024 — Four Seasons Hotel New York reopens following a full reimagining. Four Seasons Resort Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol opens. Four Seasons Yachts announced with a January 2026 inaugural voyage target, built by Fincantieri, in partnership with Marc-Henry Cruise Holdings.
2025 — Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort opens on Florida's Gulf Coast. Four Seasons Hotel Mykonos opens. Four Seasons and Residences Puerto Rico opens November 20 (former St. Regis Bahia Beach). Four Seasons Hotel Madinah opens near the Prophet's Mosque. Forbes Travel Guide acknowledges 65 Five-Star rankings across 44 hotels, 17 spas, and 4 restaurants, a decade of unbroken Five-Star leadership. 69 properties earn MICHELIN Keys totalling 113 keys, with 24 restaurants holding 33 Michelin stars.

The houses to know

Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens, Vouliagmeni, Greece — The 1960s playground of Onassis, Sinatra, Jackie Kennedy, and The Beatles, reborn as a Five-Star hotel ranked No. 17 in the World's 50 Best Hotels 2025.
Four Seasons Hotel Firenze, Florence, Italy — The hotel occupies two Renaissance palaces beside a private garden in Florence.
Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris, Paris, France — The 1928 Art Deco palace brings Four Seasons’ service tradition to Avenue George V.
San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel, Taormina, Italy — The hotel is in Taormina, Italy.
Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club, Surfside, Surfside, United States — Harvey Firestone's 1930 members' club, where Churchill painted seascapes and Sinatra held court, with Thomas Keller's Michelin-starred restaurant beneath Richard Meier's white towers.
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Kailua-Kona, United States — The resort occupies 865 acres of lava-field landscape around the ancient Ka‘ūpūlehu fishing village.
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi, Tokyo, Japan — The No. 1 hotel in Japan (Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice 2025), crowning the Otemachi One Tower above the Imperial Palace.
Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet, Istanbul, Turkey — A 65-room former Ottoman prison whose cells once held Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk's literary forebears, now holding Three MICHELIN Keys.
Four Seasons Hotel Megève, Megève, France — The hotel is in Megève, France.
Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France — A 1908 Riviera palace with a Gustave Eiffel–designed rotunda, where Churchill painted and the Kennedys summered.

Newest openings

Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Cartagena — Cartagena, Colombia — opened April 2, 2026 — Restores a cluster of landmark buildings including a 16th-century temple and the 1920s beaux-arts Club Cartagena by French architect Gastón Lelarge; workers uncovered a centuries-old fresco hidden inside a brick dome during restoration. Interiors of the signature suites are among the final commissions of the late designer François Catroux. 131 rooms; F&B concepts by Major Food Group (New York).
Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort — Naples, Florida, USA — opened 2025 — The brand's first Gulf Coast property, redeveloping the storied Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club site on 1,000 feet of white sand beach in Old Naples, with 220 rooms and a new Tom Fazio golf course (opening 2026).
Four Seasons Hotel Mykonos — Mykonos, Greece — opened summer 2025 — Cycladic-architecture clifftop resort above Kalo Livadi Bay with infinity pools, spa, and direct beach access; the brand's first stand-alone Mykonos property deepening its Aegean portfolio alongside Athens, and now Porto Heli.
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Puerto Rico — Río Grande, Puerto Rico — opened November 20, 2025 — The former St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, originally opened November 2010 as the first St. Regis in the Caribbean, reopened under Four Seasons after a USD 60 million post-hurricane restoration on 483 acres bordering El Yunque National Forest; 139 rooms and 85 residences on the only Gold-certified Audubon Signature Sanctuary in Puerto Rico.

Opening next

Danieli, A Four Seasons Hotel, Venice — Venice, Italy — opening August 26, 2026 — Confirmed. The legendary Hotel Danieli, uniting three historic Gothic palaces on the Riva degli Schiavoni with water arrivals and lagoon views, reimagined by Pierre-Yves Rochon; reservations already open. The brand's fifth Italian address.
Four Seasons Resort Red Sea at Shura Island — Shura Island, Saudi Arabia — opening mid-2026 — Confirmed. Beachfront resort within The Red Sea Project; six dining venues (alcohol-free); hammam and spa; three pools; framed by the Hijazi Mountains and Hijaz Cove. Red Sea International Airport now receiving domestic and international flights.
Four Seasons Resort and Residences AMAALA at Triple Bay — AMAALA, Saudi Arabia — opening 2025/2026 — Confirmed. 220-key regenerative-tourism resort on the AMAALA masterplan; 27-hole oceanfront golf course; organic spa; 26 branded residential villas.
The Park Gstaad, A Four Seasons Hotel — Gstaad, Switzerland — reopening Winter 2026/2027 season — Confirmed. Alpine landmark under extensive renovation; dedicated event rooms; spa; multiple dining outlets blending Swiss mountain tradition with Four Seasons contemporary style.