Four Seasons Goes to Paris

Four Seasons Goes to Paris: 53 Properties, 24 Countries, 1 Philosophy Four Seasons is the world’s leading operator of luxury hotels and resorts. They are well known not only in the U. S. but they are a huge international hit. They have been successful over the last thirty years because of their strengths of diversity and originality. Four Seasons does not want to be a globalization of markets like McDonald’s, where everyone is the same. They are not a “cookie-cutter company. This is a great tactic to have because then you would not be such a high class hotel and resort. Also, when you go international you have to be in touch with all of the cultural changes which can make or break your business. They have done an exceptional job of adapting to the different cultures. When you walk into a four seasons hotel “it does not scream four seasons at you. ” Another reason why they are so successful is because the top management have been around for over 25 years.

This means that they are extremely familiar with to the company and how everything works and they can easily train the new employees. Once trained then they become part of the family. “Both corporate and field managers often referred to the firm as a family, complete with rules, traditions, and tough love. ” I believe this is a one of the main reasons why they are so successful. If your employees are happy to wake up and come to work in the morning knowing everyone is basically a family member makes them work a lot harder because you do not want to let down a family member.

The workers made the guest feel so comfortable and at home that the guest wanted to buy the linens to remind them of the stay. The seven four seasons “service culture standards” rules make the guest always feel welcome in the hotel and make them always want to come back and tell people how well of a stay they had. The last and I think the most important reason why the four season have been successful for the past four years is because the emphasis on the golden rule. “one should treath others as one would wish to be treated. If you work in a people oriented business where you need to please your guests, this is the mindset you should be in for a successful business. “Despite the success of four seasons, approach and philosophy, management knew that entering France would be a challenge. ” I feel that how they entered was perfect. They entered in a very powerful manner by deciding to manage the George V which is right in the middle of the French capital and is the “highest possible quality asset in the best location. They basically came in and took over and told everyone how it is going to be run. They did respect a lot of the working hour rules, and the hours by a window rules and stuff like. I really liked the aspect that they kept the hotel running like it always has been even though in France they do things a lot differently with customer service. It was good that they hired depending on the attitude. “What we need is people who can adapt, either to guests from all over the world or to operating a variety of countries. I like this because it says that the workers need to adapt to the guests no matter where they are from because that is how the four seasons does it. If they would of came into this situation any different, I feel that they would have been pushed out and the hotel would of turned bad. They only bad thing I can come up with is that they did change a lot of the culture around because the French are different on their customer service than Americans. They are polychromic people compared to how we operate as a monochromic people.

If you are a firm entering a market you have to be very familiar with what the culture is your are dealing with. Some cultures are very religious and if you try to change their ways then it could be going against their religion. But in the lessons from this case I believe you can enter a market like they did but you have to be cautious of what you change because if it goes bad then your reputation could go under and then you are bankrupt in that market.