The young man who had endured a difficult childhood, moving house 15 times in his first 16 years, finally achieved real success through an impressive philosophy of life and action.
At 29, young Issadore ‘Issy’ Sharp started a hotel business that later became Four Seasons, one of the world’s most successful hotel chains.
The Four Seasons hotel chain now employs a total of 33 thousand people across all countries. Annual revenue exceeds USD 3 billion.
The young man who had endured a difficult childhood, moving house 15 times in his first 16 years, had achieved a great deal.
Issadore “Issy” Sharp turns 80 this year. He was born on 08/10/1931. His father was a Polish Jew who moved to Palestine in 1920, then to Canada 5 years later, where he worked as a builder.
Isadore Sharp studied hard and gained admission to the architecture department of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, Canada.
Isadore Sharp consistently proved himself an outstanding student in his department, with grades always among the highest. After finishing his studies, he returned to help with his father's business.
From 1930 to 1940, using his accumulated capital and experience, he bought old houses, renovated them, and sold them for profit. This was also why Issadore ‘Issy’ Sharp’s family moved constantly.
The opportunity to befriend the founders of the Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy chain came when his sister married Eddie Creed, owner of a major Toronto fashion store.
Issadore Sharp's ambition to establish a hotel faced a difficult reality: insufficient capital. Only after tremendous effort did the young man obtain the necessary funds.
Isadore (Issy) Sharp had no plans to enter the hotel business on a large scale when, as a young architect and civil engineer, he worked with his father to build his first hotel. During the 1960s, he opened 3 hotels named Four Seasons. His experience paved the way for a new kind of hotel that placed guests at the center.
The First Days
The Year 1961
With an investment of USD 1.5 million and 126 rooms, the first Four Seasons hotel opened on the first day of spring in 1961 in a central Toronto area known for prostitution and many homeless people, but thanks to creating a luxurious atmosphere and very distinctive décor.
It took Issy Sharp 5 years to persuade others to support his view. From the start, this 125-room hotel under the Four Seasons brand had its own distinctive service style.
The hotel was near the Canadian broadcasting company, attracting many of its employees after work. This also marked the beginning of Four Seasons' association with famous and influential people worldwide.
Issy Sharp, who helped build the hotel with his first partners Murray Koffler, Max Sharp, Eddie Creed and Fred Eisen, said: “We opened the hotel with a simple principle: treat every customer as a special guest.
The Year 1963
Four Seasons opened its 2nd hotel, Toronto’s Inn on the Park. The architect was the same person who had designed its first hotel 2 years earlier. Located on a hill, with one of the city's best restaurants and an urban resort style, the hotel was an immediate business success.
By the late 1960s, the company opened its 3rd hotel, paving the way for expansion in the 1970s.
The 1970s – Service quality comes first
The 1970s began with an important milestone: Four Seasons opened a hotel in London, United Kingdom. It laid the foundation for the group's future direction and introduced many services that later became common across Four Seasons hotels worldwide.
In 1970, the Inn on the Park London, later renamed the Four Seasons Hotel London, opened during a boom in transatlantic travel. At a meeting in the mid-1960s, Issy Sharp met a British family with land in Hyde Park and a plan to build a hotel.
The family felt London already had enough large hotels and wanted to create a specialized no-frills alternative offering guests 3 luxuries: good bathrooms, good beds, and room security. Some standard hotel amenities, such as coffee makers or telephones, are unlikely to be found in this type of hotel; many travelers see it as a budget option for their holidays.
Sharp, however, offered a different view: “A truly friendly hotel. Not for dukes, but for customers who want to be served that way, without the formality of conventional large hotels.”
His British partner was truly convinced. After competing with established hotel names such as the Savoy, the new hotel was always fully booked, and London’s Inn on the Park won the European Hotel of the Year award.
Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong
4 decisions for success
Over its history, Four Seasons made 4 important decisions that later became the foundation of this hotel group's business model.
The first decision concerned quality.
Rather than offering everything to everyone, Four Seasons focuses on a single goal: becoming the best hotel in each area, a medium-sized hotel with outstanding quality.
The second decision concerned service.
By the mid-1970s, the company was heading south. Success in that market required a strength, and Four Seasons chose service—the factor behind its London hotel's success. True luxury came not from architecture or decor but from service. Four Seasons therefore aimed to make service its distinguishing feature and competitive advantage.
Within a few years, the group's hotel portfolio included 10 hotels across Canada and in San Francisco and Chicago. By the end of the 1970s, Four Seasons had entered the US market under its own brand in Washington, DC.
Ngọc Diệp
Chương trình liên quan tại YUP Education: X-Startup – khóa học khởi nghiệp «Khởi Chánh Nghiệp» · The Journey – lộ trình phát triển doanh nhân
