Four Seasons

Six decades of sharp style and superlative service

The Ferrari Trento Most Admired Hotel Group Award was introduced to spotlight pioneers of the hospitality sector, whose ground-breaking initiatives or mould-breaking methods have made a significant impact on guest experiences around the world. In its second year, the winner, as voted for by the 800-plus experts that make up global Voting Academy of The World's 50 Best Hotels, is Four Seasons.

Four Seasons' inception was discreet, small even, starting life as a single hotel in Toronto in 1961. According to its founder and chairman, the living hotel legend Isadore Sharp, "there was no vision, there was no grand dream – but there has always been a consistent thread and it propels us forward today, as we continue to grow globally, and that's service."

It was never even intended to be named Four Seasons, as Sharp's first choice for the title of the inaugural property was The Thunderbird Inn, and is still used at Four Seasons Home Office as the name of the employee cafeteria to this day in tribute of what might been a very different hotel franchise.

The world of hotels came accidentally to Sharp, who had no plans to enter the hospitality business, but who quickly discovered as a young architect and builder working with his contractor father, Max Sharp, that hotel construction fulfilled previously unknown desires around form, function and truly guest-centric spaces. It was this ethos that would guide the growth of the hotel group over the following decade, as the Four Seasons name became synonymous with service.

The brand started to take shape in the 1970s with its first global outpost established by the opening of the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane in London. It was a property that would set the tone for the future direction of the company and pioneered many of the signature Four Seasons services now delivered worldwide. Founded right at the start of the transatlantic jet-travel boom, Sharp wanted to create a no-frills alternative to the old money grande dames that dominated the London luxury scene. In short, a place not for dukes and duchesses but for ordinary people who wanted to be treated like royalty without the trappings of stuffy formalities.

The 1980s saw flagship hotels open in a dozen US cities, including Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago. Before long, the brand began to branch out, eschewing the typical hotel model to dabble in mixed-use environments that allowed it to extend into residential environments that delivered all the glamour of a hotel without the restrictions they imposed.

Fast forward to today and the group operates 133 hotels and resorts and 55 residential properties across 47 countries, including one of the most exciting divergences in hotel history – the launch of Four Seasons yachts and private jets, plus a thriving business selling Four Seasons-branded bed linen, pillows, robes and furniture.

Now entering its 65^th year under the stewardship of CEO and president Alejandro Reynal, and with a development pipeline of over 60 additional projects on the way, it's clear Sharps' ingenuity and adventurous spirit is still manifest at the group, which is named the deserving winner of the Ferrari Trento Most Admired Hotel Group Award 2025.

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