Budget Sector Proving Resilient

Findings from an analysis of data provided to the HotelBenchmark Survey

Our research examines the relative performance of the European hotel sector over the last 12 months and highlights strategies that have been adopted to cope with 9/11 and the deteriorating economic conditions.  To mitigate the impact of seasonality we have tracked the performance of a consistent sample of hotels between January 1999 and September 2002 and analysed the data on a rolling 12-month basis.   

Our analysis looks at hotel performance data for both the UK and continental Europe by segmenting the hotels that contribute to our survey into four different categories – namely luxury, first-class, mid-market and economy/budget.  Since there is no official grading system across Europe, Deloitte & Touche have applied a classification to each brand in the survey, which broadly recognizes the positioning of each of the brands.   

Our research reveals, as illustrated in Chart A, that on a rolling 12-basis the luxury, first-class and mid-market sectors have all experienced significant occupancy declines post 9/11 across continental Europe.  In the case of first-class and mid-market hotels this decline actually started at the beginning of 2001, in the main caused by a slowdown in the world economy, which lead to curtailing of travel budgets, although the events of 9/11 exacerbated the decline.  Prior to 9/11 luxury hotels managed to maintain occupancy levels but in the wake of changing travel patterns post 9/11, as non-essential travel plans were scaled back, this sector came under the most pressure with occupancy levels falling rapidly from 70 percent to 62 percent. 

By contrast, the budget sector has proved very resilient with occupancy levels actually increasing, albeit marginally (up one percent) to 63 percent.  One reason for this is that budget hotels are generally located in either suburban areas or on motorways, and as consumers have preferred to stay closer to home and travel by car or rail, these properties have been well located to attract this extra demand. 
 

Chart A – Continental Europe rolling-12 occupancy analysis by grade of hotel

Source:  HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte & Touche

Despite this fall in demand, all sectors in continental  Europe have managed to improve average room rate when measured in euros between January 2000 and September 2002.  First-class, mid-market and budget hotels have all witnessed rate growth of circa 12 percent, whilst the luxury sector, which trades at a 100 percent premium to the market average has experienced a 31 percent increase in average room rates as demonstrated in Table 1.

Table 1 - % change in KPI’s between January 2000 and Sept 2002 on a rolling 12-basis

Note: Continental Europe data in calculated in euros, UK data calculated in UK£

Source:  HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte & Touche

The resilience of the budget sector is further demonstrated by the performance of the UK hotel market where occupancy has moved ahead five percent between January 2000 and September 2002.  This sector is the only market sector in the UK to have exhibited an occupancy increase, and its performance contrasts particularly with the luxury sector which has seen occupancy levels plummet 15 percent from 77 percent to 63 percent (see Chart B).  Despite an overall fall in UK average room rates of 1.3 percent, the budget sector rates have held up well with room rates improving by 2.5 percent over the same period. 

             Chart B – UK rolling 12 occupancy analysis by grade of hotel

Source:  HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte & Touche

One of the reasons that UK 

hotels have experienced average room rate declines whilst their continental neighbours have reported significant real average rate growth has been due to the relative strength of the UK pound against the euro.

Chart C – GBP-EUR Exchange rate

Source:  The Bank of England

As a result, the UK has become comparatively more expensive relative to other European destinations.  In addition, with the introduction of the euro in January 2002 this has created further transparency in the marketplace, allowing consumers to more readily identify the relative cost of a room in each country.  However, despite the falls in occupancy, UK hoteliers have remained relatively robust in keeping price discounting to a minimum, especially in the luxury sector where average room rates are just 0.1 percent below their January 2000 levels, despite the 15 percent fall in occupancy. 

Commenting on the findings, Julia Felton, director travel, tourism and leisure at Deloitte & Touche says: “The budget sector has proved the most resilient across Europe during the recent tough trading conditions.   These properties have been well located to benefit from increased travel by road and rail, as consumers have opted to engage in intra-regional travel rather than fly to destinations further afield.  Depressed economic conditions have also encouraged business travellers to seek more reasonably priced accommodation, and so we have witnessed a trading down effect occurring across the spectrum of hotel types.  What will be interesting to observe is what proportion of these travellers trade up once economic conditions improve in the future.”

The HotelBenchmark Survey contains the largest independent source of hotel performance data outside of North America and tracks the performance of over 6,000 hotels every month.  To complete this analysis data for a consistent sample of hotels across Europe was collated between January 1999 and September 2002. To mitigate the impact of 9/11 data was computed on a moving 12 basis so that the real underlying trend in performance could be analysed.  For further information please see www.HotelBenchmark.com. 

Deloitte & Touche is the UK’s fastest growing major professional services firm.  It is based in 23 locations, has over 10,000 staff nationwide and fee income of £713.6 million in 2001/2002.  Deloitte & Touche is the UK practice of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a global leader in professional services with over 98,000 people in 140 countries and fee income of $12.5 billion for the year ended 31 May 2002.

The dedicated Travel, Tourism, and Leisure practice serves owners, investors, operators and developers throughout Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa.

Authorised by the Financial Services Authority in respect of regulated activities.  The information contained in this article is correct at the time of going to press. For further information on Deloitte & Touche, you can access our website on www.deloitte.co.uk .

News @ PATA

HASTINGS TO LEAVE PATA

PATA Managing Director Europe and The Americas, Mr. Bill Hastings, has announced his resignation, effective January 23, 2003. During his eight years with PATA, Mr. Hastings served as Director of Communications, Director-Americas and Managing Director-Europe & The Americas and was involved in the revamping of PATA's communications efforts and the move into consumer marketing with a US advertising and promotional campaign. PATA President and CEO, Mr. Peter de Jong, said: "Bill has contributed to the work of PATA in many important ways. With his positive energy and professional communications skills, Bill developed important new relationships and initiatives for our Association. We wish him every success as he explores new professional horizons."

PICOLLA INTERNATIONAL TO ASSIST PATA

In early January, Picolla International will assume the interim management of the PATA Americas Division. The company will ensure that PATA’s services to its Americas and European members continue without interruption and that preparations are made for the selection of a new director. Mr. Jerry Picolla and Mr. John Semone will work with outgoing PATA Managing Director Europe and the Americas, Mr. Bill Hastings, to ensure a smooth transition.

PATA MEETING AND HEALTH EXHIBITION DOVETAIL IN BAHRAIN

It is not too late for PATA members to participate in the First International Health Tourism & Holidays Exhibition. The event will be held in Bahrain, January 20-23, 2003 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre. PATA member exhibitors will receive a 20 percent reduction on space rates. The health event follows on the back of the PATA Board of Directors meeting, January 17-20, also in Bahrain. For the health exhibition contact Amadeus International Fairs Group, P.O. Box 5098, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain. Tel (973) 530-430. Fax (973) 533-944 or e-mail info@amadeusifg.com.

GOLD AWARDS ENTRIES OPEN UNTIL JANUARY 10

January 10, 2003 is the final deadline for PATA to receive entries for the 2003 PATA Gold Awards -- the premier awards programme that recognises excellence and innovation in the Pacific Asia travel industry. In order to attract entries by smaller operators, as well as larger ones, PATA has introduced awards in new sub-categories such as Government/Destination (National or State/City); Carrier (Regional, International, Domestic); and Industry (Hotel, Car Rental, Attraction, Tour Operator/Travel Agent/DMC/PCO, Distribution Network, Convention/Exhibition Venue, and Credit Card Company). Award recipients will be honoured during a gala luncheon at the 52nd PATA Annual Conference in Bali, Indonesia (April 13-17, 2003). PATA's Gold Awards are sponsored by the Macau Government Tourist Office. Details and entry forms are available at www.pata.org. For more information, contact PATA Manager-Communications, Ms. Paveena Olansuksakul. Tel: (66-2) 658-2000 ext. 116. Fax: (66-2) 658-2010. E-mail: g oldawards@pata.th.com.

EXECUTIVE TRAINING IN HAWAII

The 25th Executive Development Institute for Tourism (EDIT) Programme will be held at the School of Travel Industry Management (TIM), University of Hawaii, June 9-27, 2003. The intensive three-week programme on professional tourism studies will foster innovative ideas on destination management and marketing arising from new industry trends. Since 1979 EDIT has helped over 500 participants from 49 countries share tourism management knowledge in a multi-cultural environment. For further information and an online application form, visit http://www.tim.hawaii.edu/edit. For further information contact Ms. Rachel Soma. Tel: (1-808) 956-4902 Fax: (1-808) 956-5378 E-mail: rsoma@hawaii.edu.

PATA TRAVEL MART FLOOR PLANS AVAILABLE

Floor space for the 2003 PATA Travel Mart (October 1-3, 2003 in Singapore) is open for bookings and reservations. To enjoy a prime location with high visibility, PATA member organisations are encouraged to book their space early. Prospective sellers who would like to see a Mart floor plan should visit http://www.pata.org/events/ereg.cfm?ebid=37. Downloadable buyer and seller registration forms are also available on the same page. Or e-mail sheila@pata.th.com.

PATA STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE CENTRE WORLDWATCH

United Airlines is losing about US$20-22 million per day. Operating under bankruptcy protection laws the airline will offer fewer flights, smaller planes and eliminate some routes. UAL's filing for bankruptcy worries some Asian carriers who expect a drop in UAL air fares as it tries to attract passengers on Asian routes. UAL's international operation is generally more profitable than its domestic one.

** The Sri Lankan government said it would support the establishment of a federal system through which it would share power with the Tamil rebels and end 19 years of civil war.

** The Indonesian government and rebels from Aceh province have signed a landmark accord to end the 26-year separatist war on the northern tip of Sumatra.

** In November, China (PRC)'s industrial output grew at the fastest rate in almost seven years. The surge was led by a 49 percent increase in demand for cars.

** Vietnam Airlines is currently studying the feasibility of routes to Indonesia and Germany. The results should be known first quarter 2003.

** The Asian Development Bank has raised its Asian growth forecasts for 2002 to 5.6 percent from five percent but has lowered its estimate for 2003 to 5.6 percent from 5.7 percent

Cornell Report shows how to boost restaurants’ efficiency, improve profits

Now there’s help for professionals whose restaurants may be losing customers and revenues because they don’t work as efficiently as they could.

A team of Cornell researchers has developed an innovative process to help restaurant operators isolate and assess the management decisions that lead to productive, or unproductive, restaurant operations.

Dennis Reynolds and Gary Thompson, two hospitality operations faculty members at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, propose a three-step process, or economic model, that allows them to help operators compare productivity at different restaurants and assess the management decisions that enhance, or interfere with, that productivity. “The idea behind our model is to identify the best practices of the most productive restaurants and apply them to the less-efficient operations,” said Reynolds, an assistant professor.

For a copy of the report on the process, “Multiunit Restaurant-productivity Assessment: A Test of Data-envelopment Analysis,” visit the Hotel School’s Center for Hospitality Research Web site:  http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/chr

The researchers’ new, analytical approach to assessing productivity is a shift from past practices in which restaurant operators have measured efficiency mainly by ratio of sales per labor hour and other similar input-to-output comparisons. “The problem with the old approach is it doesn’t give the total picture,” said Reynolds. For example, it fails to account for wage variations among a chain’s restaurants.

A restaurant’s success – or failure – depends on both controllable and uncontrollable factors, the researchers reasoned. Examples of uncontrollable factors include the size and location of the restaurant and the number of local competitors, while examples of controllable decision-driven factors are the number of servers on a given shift and the number of overall server hours. An operator, however, can only correct the controllable factors.

“Since most managers don’t want to admit that their own decisions are bad ones, they usually blame uncontrollable, external factors for poor restaurant performance,” commented Thompson, an associate professor. The trick is to determine which factors really are involved.

The researchers’ model is innovative in that it allows them to take both sets of factors into account but also to separate out the effects of uncontrollable, external factors from the results of internal decisions. This gives a truer picture of the effectiveness of those decisions in diverse restaurant operations.

Making use of a technique known as data-envelopment analysis (DEA), which allows simultaneous consideration of multiple factors, their process works this way: One, it allows them to test which factors actually influence restaurant performance measures, such as sales and tips; two, it lets them analyze only the external, uncontrollable factors as they relate to those performance measures; and three, it helps them assess the effects of the remaining, controllable factors on a restaurant’s comparative efficiency and then determine best practices.

Reynolds and Thompson demonstrated their model in a study of the relative efficiency of restaurants in a 60-unit dinner house chain. The data were drawn in part from actual point-of-service information in the database maintained by Gazelle Systems, which allows confidential use of its data through a research alliance with the CHR.

The researchers found a wide range of efficiency levels in the chain. A dozen restaurants were operating at maximum efficiency, but a few were below 60 percent efficiency. Overall, the chain was operating at 82 percent efficiency – not bad, but leaving room for improvement. Applying the model, “operators of the least efficient units can compare their practices with those at the most efficient units to learn what they might be doing better,” explained Reynolds.

The Center for Hospitality Research conducts and sponsors research studies aimed at improving the hospitality industry’s fundamental operating knowledge.

European Hotel Transactions Country Analyses UK and Scandinavia and Central & Eastern Europe

The fourth and fifth in the series of European Hotel Transactions - by country analysis, which have taken place between 1999 and September 2002. This week's edition focuses on the UK and Scandinavia and Central & Eastern Europe.

Each week we intend to focus on a specific country or region. The criterion set for the single asset transactions to be included within our survey, is that each asset has transacted at or above €7.5 million. All sales transactions are either in the public domain or researched by HVS International.

For the UK report, Click Here

Australia Tourism falls to new low 

Herald Sun (Melbourne)  -  Australia’s  tourism industry will suffer the effects of a slump for at least a decade, according to predictions in a new Federal Government report.

In the aftermath of the Bali bombing, the Tourism Forecasting Council has slashed its earnings predictions for the sector by more than $ 7 billion over the next 10 years.

It has also scaled back expected visitor arrivals by more than 20 per cent.

Chris Brown, chief executive of industry lobby group the Tourism Task Force, said yesterday the outlook was grim.

"They're scary statistics, not just for tourism but also the national economy," he said.

However, if the Federal Government released its long-awaited tourism white paper and helped the industry restructure, "this is one nightmare that need not come true", Mr Brown added.

The Tourism Forecasting Council report said terrorism fears, an unstable aviation industry and low consumer and business confidence would have a lasting impact on the sector.

Tourism generates more than 10 per cent of the nation's wealth.

Over the next decade international visitors are predicted to increase by 4.8 per cent a year -- revised down from the April forecast of 7.3 per cent.

About 8.1 million tourists are tipped to visit Australia in 2012 -- down from the April forecast of more than 10 million.

Forecasts of tourism export earnings in 2012 have been wound back from $ 34.9 billion to $ 27.7 billion.

Predictions that tourism would bounce back this year have not eventuated, with international visitor arrivals for 2002 on track to fall by about 1 per cent to 4.8 million.

Spas gaining in popularity in Dubai

Spas throughout Dubai, and the treatments they offer, are gaining in popularity with regular male users now visiting spas at least once a month, according to an industry survey.

The survey, conducted by the MKM Group, which owns and operates the luxury Cleopatra's Spa brand, revealed 74% of those interviewed frequent spas, a third of them men

"The aim of the survey was to establish and benchmark the reputation of the industry within Dubai," said Daniella Russell, Director, Health & Leisure, MKM Group and the Middle East’s first board representative on the International Spa Association (ISPA), the global industry body committed to raising world-wide awareness of the spa leisure sector. ISPA members in the Middle East commissioned the survey.

"The results are healthy and show that spas are being increasingly used by diverse groups of people but we still have work to do in differentiating ourselves from beauty salons and in correcting the misconception that spas are expensive."

The survey, carried out via face-to-face interviews with 350 UAE residents of mixed nationalities, and both men and women aged 25 and over, revealed that of eight Dubai spas mentioned, awareness of Cleopatra's Spa was the greatest.

"The good news," said Russell, "is that only 26% of those surveyed had never used a spa. Of the 74% that do use spas, a third were men."

Almost a third of the spa users interviewed admitted to using spas only on "special occasions," the remainder attended monthly.

"What was particularly surprising is that the majority of male users are the clientele that is regularly using spas at least once a month," explained Russell. Lack of time was cited as one of the main reasons for not spending more time at spas.

Preferred spa treatments turned out to be massages and facials with more than a third of users, on average, spending between 1-2 hours at a spa. UAE nationals were exceptional in spending more than six hours in a spa.

More than two-thirds of those surveyed said they spend Dhs250 or more during each spa visit while UAE nationals and Western expatriates were more likely to spend more than Dhs350.

"One of the most heartening of the survey results was the fact that all spa users interviewed were happy with the level of service provided by spa professionals in Dubai," explained Russell.

In 2004, Dubai will host ISPA’s Annual Spa Congress 2004 when around 500 delegates from 30 countries across Europe and Asia are expected to attend. The move has been hailed by the UAE spa industry as a major boost for Dubai and the regional wellness industry.

Tourism: Region comes to Bali's rescue

Two months after the Bali blasts, Southeast Asian countries are busy working on a homemade remedy - regional travel - to make up for the slack on tourism during what should be a much busier travel season.

After reeling from the shock of the car bomb attacks on a Bali nightclub on October 12, which killed nearly 200 people, and the travel warnings by Western governments, including Australia, the Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai governments not been taking matters sitting down.

Last week, Indonesia organized a two-day tourism promotion meeting in Bali, attended by senior officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan to work out ways to restore regional tourism.

There may be some encouraging signs in the fact that a special promotion offered recently by Singapore International Airlines (SIA) to Bali from here was snapped up by 10,000 people in just 11 days. Planeloads of Singaporeans have been traveling to Bali on a special package starting at S$288 (about US$170), which includes airfares, hotel transfers and two nights' accommodation. Singapore Airlines says its flights to Bali are running at almost full capacity and see this as an encouraging sign that "tourism will, over time, return to previous levels in Bali".

Since the October blast, Bali's hotels have been all but deserted. Ricardo Castaneda, general manager of Melia Bali hotel, told Singapore's New Paper that the SIA promotion has helped to get the hotel industry to breathe in some fresh air. After all, his hotel's occupancy rate dropped from between 85 and 93 percent before the October blast to 14 percent in November. The occupancy rate has now climbed to 83 percent with "majority of the guests coming to the resort SIA passengers", he said.

A travel consultant for Kent Holidays tour company here added that the Bali packages are fully booked for December and only a few are still available for January. "Many come to us and ask for the package, but we don't have any available," she said.

"We were planning to go to Australia, but decided to take the Bali package with two days' extension," explained Dallas, a young Singaporean checking in at Singapore Airlines' counter at the airport here. Asked about the safety factor, she replied, "I think the security will be stricter there." Her boyfriend Gopal added, "Every country is the same now, even Australia is not safe any more."

It is this factor of feeling safe in your own backyard that the region's governments are trying to tap into by offers like that of Singapore Airlines. Tourism, after all, is a major dollar earner for ASEAN countries, bringing in some US$26 billion annually.

Last year 41 million tourists visited the 10 ASEAN countries, including 10 million who flocked to Thailand. Cash-strapped Indonesia is expected to lose as much as $1 billion in the coming year after the attacks on Bali, which as the country's top tourist destination had 1.35 million foreign visitors last year.

Many countries have been unhappy with the haste with which Western countries issued travel warnings to Southeast Asia - a sentiment aired publicly by ASEAN diplomats at the group's summit in Cambodia in November.

"This time last year, the world was recovering from the shocks of the World Trade Center attacks," remarked Karim Raslan, a Malaysian lawyer, in a column in Singapore's Straits Times newspaper a few days ago. "An outpouring of support, both moral and economic, came when it was needed most ... visitors came in droves to show their support.

"But, two months after the bombings in Bali, the silence here is almost deafening. Where are the Bali boosters?" he asked. "No one in London or New York has talked about rallying around a scarred Bali, a deeply traumatized Indonesia or even a shaken Southeast Asia."

The difference may lie in the fact that Western governments fear that developing and Southeast Asian countries are not able to counter security threats as well as they do, said Benjamin Goldsmith, a political science lecturer at the National University of Singapore. This attitude was reflected in threats made by Australian Prime Minister John Howard this month to make preemptive anti-terrorism strikes in ASEAN countries.

Last week, the retired commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Dennis Blair, told a regional security conference here that ASEAN and the ASEAN Regional Forum, its forum for security dialogue, are moving too slowly and ineffectually to counter security threats in the region.

But rather than wait for Western governments to declare the area safe for travelers, Southeast Asian countries are encouraging Asians to spend their holidays in the region, or even within their own countries.

Indonesia is altering its national holidays next year to move these to Mondays, so that Indonesians can travel within their country during these long weekends. During the six-day holiday for the Hari Raya festival early this month, marking the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the Indonesian government encouraged them to visit Bali to support the ailing tourism industry.

Meanwhile, Bali is sending a team of 18 performing artistes and two child painters with 50 children's paintings on a tour of Japan starting this week. The mission aims to persuade the Japanese - who traditionally account for the largest number of tourists visiting Bali - to come back to the idyllic island.

"The event will be a good opportunity for us to show the world that the terrible tragedy has failed to destroy us, that life in Bali goes on," said I Gde Pitana Brahmananda, chief of the Bali Tourism Authority.

Source:  Inter Press Service

Malaysia tells tourists to cover up

BBC News  -  Malaysia has seen a sharp fall in the number of tourists visiting its resorts.

Tourist arrivals have fallen by almost a third to between 100,000 and 300,000 visitors a month.

The whole of South East Asia has seen a similar pattern since the terrorist attacks on Bali in neighbouring Indonesia two months ago. And now Malaysia's tourism industry - the country's second largest foreign exchange earner - is facing new challenges as the government asks sunbathers on its golden beaches to cover themselves up.

Unimpressed

It may be the off-season in Terengganu, but the beaches are even more deserted than normal. Two months ago the hardline Islamic state government announced that sunbathers would be asked to dress modestly.

Sunbathers were not impressed.

"For a man to come up to me on a beach and tell me to cover up I would be very embarrassed," one visitor said. Another agreed. "I wouldn't feel very good to be told that you should cover up on a beach. It would be a different matter if you were outside a mosque or a religious place."

Sensitivity

By the time I caught up with the state's chief minister, Abdul Hadi Awang, who also leads Malaysia's Islamist party PAS, he had toned down his message. "In isolated places, as in the beach where women and husbands want to enjoy themselves, it is OK to us," he said.

"But in public areas I think that tourists should understand that they must take care also about the sensitivity of the people." The owner of a local resort said he wished the local politicians would think before they speak.

"It is not very helpful when they make certain statements knowing that the regional and the world tourism industry is in such a sensitive situation. Anything that is misconstrued will actually add to the already grim picture of the worldwide tourism scenario," he said.

"Terengganu does not need more statements like that."

Key industry

The order for tourists to cover up came just two days before the Bali bombings. A spokesman for the state's tourism industry confirmed the attacks have had a profound effect.

According to the country's tourism minister, Abdul Kadir, visitor numbers have dipped by as much as 30% in the past two months and that is serious, he said, because tourism is one of Malaysia's key industries.

Domestic tourism in India grows sharply in 2002

Despite a general gloom in the wake of a series of terrorist attacks, domestic tourism in the country has registered a 23 percent increase over last year, Union Tourism Secretary Rathi Vinay Jha said today.

"In spite of what is happening around us, tourist traffic is on the rise in the country. This holds good post-Akshardham and other terror strikes," Jha said in an interaction with members of the Indian chapter of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) here. She, however, said lot more needed to be done in terms of improving infrastructure at tourist spots, road connectivity and other facilities to attract more number of foreign tourists.

"Unfortunately, Indians do not come across as a welcoming people because of lack of cleanliness, proper sanitation conditions at tourist places. They are in bad shape and we need to change this," the secretary said.

Union Tourism ministry has embarked upon an ambitious programme to develop a series of tourist circuits across the country and upgrade tourist infrastructure and road connectivity, she said adding that state governments had a major role to play in improving the infrastructure at major tourist destinations.

Calling for streamlining the system of government clearances for tourism projects and rationalisation of taxation to promote development of tourist infrastructure and bring down the cost of travel, Jha said her department was in continuous dialogue with state governments on issues having a bearing on development of tourism industry.

Source:  Asia Pulse/PTI

Four Seasons appoints two members to Board of Directors

/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Four Seasons Hotels Inc.  - Isadore Sharp, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts today announced the following appointments to the Board of Directors of the Corporation, effective immediately:

Heather Munroe-Blum, Ph.D. has held the position of Vice-President, Research & International Relations at the University of Toronto from 1994 to 2002. In January 2003, she will become the 16th Principal and Vice Chancellor and a professor in the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University. An accomplished epidemiologist and academic leader, Dr. Munroe-Blum is often consulted by governments and organizations around the world in the development of public policy in support of science, research and higher education. She is an active member of numerous boards and public organizations.

Brent Belzberg has more than 20 years of executive management experience in finance, acquisitions, corporate restructuring and operations. In February 2002, he founded Torquest Partners following the success of Harrowston Inc., which he founded in 1993. Prior to that, he served as President of First City Financial Corporation. An active community leader, Mr. Belzberg served as co- chair of the Toronto United Jewish Appeal in 1999. He is also a director of Mount Sinai Hospital, Baycrest Hospital Foundation and serves as an advisor to several faculties at the University of Toronto.

"Heather Munroe-Blum and Brent Belzberg bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Board," said Sharp. "I'm pleased to welcome them both to Four Seasons."

With a history spanning four decades and a portfolio that now extends around the world, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is the world's leading operator of luxury hotels, currently managing 56 properties in 25 countries. In 2002, the company opened its second property in Tokyo, in the heart of Marunouchi district, as well as properties in Shanghai and Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts continues to expand, with more than 20 projects in development stages in choice locations around the world. Four Seasons has claimed first position on many prestigious lists. Recent honours include top ranking in the J.D. Powers Guest Satisfaction Survey and AAA Five Diamond awards (receiving more than other any hotel company for the 21st consecutive year). Information on the company and its 41 years of achievement in the hospitality industry can be accessed through the Four Seasons Web site at www.fourseasons.com.

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