My Hotel Geek

After a tortuous two-decade endeavour to break into the world’s second-most-populous country, the founder and CEO of Toronto-based Four Seasons, Mr Isadore Sharp, is finally opening the finest hotel in Mumbai in the emerging Worli district of India’s largest city.

For those that have travelled to India, you know that ‘’emerging district’’ does not have the same signification here. Poverty is visible everywhere. When I stayed at a 4-star hotel in New Delhi, I did not go outside the gate. There are millions of people living on the streets and slums right next door.

Inside the Four Seasons Mumbai, the smallest room is 388 sq ft, much larger than many poor Indians’ homes. Each Four Seasons room comes equipped with a separate shower stall and bathtub; but across the road, many residents are lucky if they have running water for two hours a day, and flush toilets are, in many places, a frill. Social inequality confronts you everywhere you go in India. That does not stop the country to become a financial empire. In the same district, Deloitte are setting up offices as well as Goldman Sachs.

It took three different deals involving 22 prospective hotels for Four Seasons to close the deal in a country of congealing bureaucracy and inefficiency. India is one of the most difficult large economies in which to do business. The hotel was supposed to open 2 years ago.

To find the staff to work at such luxurious hotel is also a huge challenge. For every 50 candidates who applies, Four Seasons hires one.

I could have talked about the hotel’s 202 guestrooms, spa and restaurants but we all know it’s fabulous, it’s Four Seasons! My interest is the process in which western hoteliers have to go through to open a hotel in such a complex and fascinating country.

If you are interested, I checked for price online for next month and got a rate of 20 500 Indian rupees ($2000 USD) per night. Like the Indians would say: ”Chalta hai” roughly translated to ”that’s the way it is”. Four Seasons has more hotel projects for India but we’ll have to wait and see when, where and how long it’ll take to seal the deal!