"We created what we call a brand bedrock — the truth of the brand that's there to stay" — Marc Speichert, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Marc Speichert, Executive Vice President And Chief Commercial Officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, speaks to Harriet Hirschler about brand reinvention and celebrating the human element of luxury travel. Plus, he reveals the most exciting openings, experiences and updates that the brand is pushing in 2023.

You were previously Global Client Partner at Google, and the first Chief Marketing Officer of L’Oréal Group. How did working in these sectors prepare you for your role at Four Seasons?

I have always been passionate about marketing. At my first company, Colgate-Palmolive, where I was Assistant Brand Manager, I was always very good friends with my market research colleagues. Putting yourself in the head of your customers is something I thought was critical from very early on. Everybody talks about how the consumer is king, but when you scratch the surface, it’s a bit brittle. Even though I never worked in market research, I was particularly keen to understand it.

The L’Oréal journey was interesting, because I went into a new role that didn’t exist before at an incredibly successful company, and the angle was putting the consumer even more at the forefront. At the time, the CEO was talking about how we get from one billion consumers to two billion consumers — and then, how to go after the next billion consumers. That was the perfect platform for me to help them understand who their existing billion consumers were, and how we could, in the smartest, most effective way, get to the next billion. Then I went to Google, which was very much about creating teams that are looking after global clients, and being very bespoke in how you build those teams, because clients are very different from each other.

The Four Seasons role was about digging deep into understanding who the best guests are, and how we get more of them — as simple as that. It helps the bottom line, the top line, and creates this positive virtual circle. John Davison, the CEO at the time, made sure that this was the number one priority when I joined. It drives impact on not only the commercial organisation, but how we think about operations and business development. And puts that guest thinking at the forefront of the decisions we’re making. From my very early days of putting a market research hat on, and trying to get up to one billion consumers at L’Oréal, to building bespoke B2B relationships at Google — this is what I get super energised by. I felt that a luxury hospitality brand like Four Seasons was a great place to bring that all together, along with the passion of understanding and delighting guests.

Why did Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts decide to rebrand when it did? And how would you describe the Four Seasons ‘best guest’?

When I started at Four Seasons, it was like we had this beautiful Fabergé egg that was very precious. And it’s just one brand, unlike at my prior companies, or some of our competitors, where you have hundreds. I was excited about that, because it really gives you the ability and time to dig deep. And shame on us if we don’t understand our best guests better than anybody else.

We analysed two million guests over a three-year period, and looked at how we segment those guests. Unsurprisingly, we have one group — the brand lovers who repeat stays — that are a small percentage but represent a huge disproportionate amount of revenue. There was an opportunity to get more of these best guests, and drill into understanding what drives them. We’re also tracking the profile of new best guests that come through the door with wealth being passed over to millennials. This led us to ask: how do we take what made the brand so successful and package it in a way that feels modern? We create luxury with genuine heart, and that is super relevant for a boomer, but also a millennial. The core message hasn’t changed, but it’s how we make it compelling from an execution perspective so the brand feels fresh.

We tracked the new campaign against that younger audience, and were very focused on the US as an activation, because it’s still our biggest source market by far. We also looked at the past creative, new creative, and the preference shift, and saw 10X lifts, so we knew it was something special. What was also great about the campaign is our employees felt evangelist about it, because they are actually the heroes of the ads. Of course, the guests are front and centre, but we always wrap up on a moment of incredible joy: one of our employees delighting in, and creating, a small act of love for our guests. It’s a good place to start when you have employees who feel like this campaign is representing who we are.

How did the campaign offer a fresh take on the brand?

We spent quite a bit of time on which emotions or brand values should come forward in the campaign. In the past, there started to be a disconnect between what we were showcasing as a brand and the actual hotel experience. A value like joyfulness, wittiness, or playfulness is something you experience at the hotel because we give people the room to be themselves. Joy also comes with a more colourful approach, and there was a formality to some of our past colour palettes that we wanted to step away from. The music was another big element. Isadore Sharp, our founder, has a very clear view on what Four Seasons is and isn’t. When I sent him the ads, he said it felt like they were injecting joy — and he wanted to dance! Both guests and employees felt celebrated. Then there were the ‘true stays’ depicted. We enhanced some of these stories, like the snow fight in the room or the pony that had been brought over, but the underlying theme was conveying the emotions that are true to who we are as a brand.

You joined Four Seasons at the tail end of Covid restrictions. Was that also a big motivation for coming out with this rebrand when you did?

It’s almost like the world is back, and let’s celebrate it. In many instances, it’s not about the big act. The experiences that we remember most are the little details that we call the ‘small acts of love’. People want love, and that doesn’t mean throwing everything at them. It needs to be thoughtful, authentic and come from a place of empathy. We didn’t do anything for a year because we wanted to take a step back. It’s more than just a campaign — we’re looking at the brand more holistically. Guests that come to Four Seasons want to be celebrated as very special, but they also want to be welcomed as a friend — and that creates a tension. How do you treat someone like a friend, but also as someone with super high expectations? It’s about finding the right balance between the two. We create a sense of belonging. That’s always been the philosophy of Mr Sharp, from the very beginning: everybody’s welcome to Four Seasons, which is different from some other brands in the luxury space.

With such a diverse portfolio of hotels, resorts and residences, there’s still a consistency across the brand. How do you maintain that?

We created what we call a brand bedrock — the truth of the brand that’s there to stay. It’s not something we are going to change in the next year, two or three. How does that translate into an expression of what we are doing for the hotels — because that’s our core business — but onto all other lines of the business? Different lines of business have different roles to play. Some of them are relatively small businesses, and probably won’t ever be big, like our Four Seasons Jet business. I don’t think we want to have 100 jet trips a year, but we have an incredibly high repeat rate, and the halo effect on the brand is massive. When you travel the world with a group for three weeks, people leave with an amazing connection to the people they shared this unbelievable experience with. I was at the conclusion of the trip that we did back in September, in Madrid, and we had guests crying. They didn’t know each other before they went on the trip but they built really strong bonds. Other experiences we’re starting to create for our guests develop that same sense of belonging, which we think is the true definition of luxury these days.

In terms of Four Seasons’ growth in 2023, can you tell us a bit about the key updates and openings you are pushing?

The beauty of working for a privately owned company is that we are not in the business of volume. We’re very thoughtful in terms of the number of hotels that we open every year. That said, there’s lots of new things we are super proud of, such as Four Seasons Yachts, which we launched in September 2022. I think it has been our biggest PR driver of the year, because it’s creating something that never existed before. When we get into multiple yachts eventually, it will be a beautiful sized business.

We’re putting a lot of emphasis on the yacht because the first voyage is approaching in 2025. The lead times on booking trips are quite long, which we’re seeing with the jet business too — our 2023 and 2024 jets are booked already. We’re also launching Four Seasons Drive Experiences this year in Napa and between Megève and Geneva. When I was in Florence at the front-end of our first trip in 2022, it was a very eclectic group, but after five minutes, there were best friends. They also cried when they left, and now they’re coming back to Megève and Napa because of this common passion point.

From an opening perspective, we just opened an amazing hotel in Tamarindo, Mexico, which is stunning. One of the things that always amazes me about Four Seasons is how bold it is in making bets on areas and places. When we opened in Costa Rica, we were at the forefront of a destination that has now become massive. Tamarindo is another example. It’s in this beautiful, not overly developed area that we think is going to be incredible. Punta Mita was that many years ago; another Mexican destination where we were the first to go.

On the more urban side, we are taking over the Hotel Danieli in Venice. Global iconic cities are an important priority for us, because it’s not only a destination market, but a source market as well. Most of our high net-worth individuals are living in global iconic cities and so even though they might not stay at a Four Seasons, having a Four Seasons experience at a spa or restaurant creates a billboard for the brand. We didn’t have a presence in Madrid or in Spain at all. Now we see Spaniards coming through the Four Seasons Madrid network in a meaningful way. So Venice is going to be an amazing addition to the collection we already have in Italy.

What makes a successful luxury hotel in an iconic city, and what are the challenges in certain locations?

I was in Paris recently at one of our most iconic hotels, the Four Seasons Hotel George V, which is almost 100 years old. It’s always had a Parisian feel, so you have that sense of place, but with a modern twist on it, which I think is critical. Some brands have a different view on this, where they show up with their own sensibility, and it feels like you could be anywhere. With Four Seasons Hotel Madrid, we took a bet on going back into the centre of the city. It’s a beautiful historic building and we’ve added a modern twist so you feel like you’re in Madrid, but at a Four Seasons at the same time. We don’t believe a cookie-cutter approach is the right way to go in terms of what the product looks like, but we do need a common thread across all the different hotels and services. Showing up and ‘creating luxury with genuine heart’, is one of the main differentiators we push.

What about hotels in lesser-known locations?

One of the best examples is San Domenico Palace, our hotel in Taormina. With our hotel being featured on The White Lotus, it created this phenomenon of putting not only the hotel but the whole destination on the map. The hotel is on fire, and Taormina is on fire as a result of it. Suddenly, we have a huge international draw to the hotel, and a massive US draw. Four Seasons has always been very good at attracting American guests to a destination — and that’s what we’re seeing in Taormina.

Branded residences are unlocking the next level of luxury for HNWs. Can you tell us what makes the Four Seasons residences distinct?

We were the first brand that really embraced the branded residence concept, so we come with quite a bit of expertise in how you do that successfully. The majority of our branded residences are tied to a hotel — which we call mixed-use — and we have a handful of standalone residences. It’s about taking the secret sauce of the experience you have when you stay at Four Seasons and having that throughout the year.

We have a standalone residence in LA, which is right in front of the hotel and it’s become a community. They have a whole crew, including a DJ and a chef, that services just the residences. At The Surf Club, our incredibly successful hotel in Miami, you have more residences than you have hotel keys. When I went there, you could see how all these families create a sense of community. I’ve lived in many big cities around the world where you don’t even know who your neighbour is. For a lot of owners, this is not their main residence, so it’s all the more difficult to create that sense of belonging, but that extra layer of humanity has really helped.

What is your process for choosing collaborators?

We’re not going to do just any collaboration. We have to be super clear on who we are as a brand and what a partnership brings. We’re opening a restaurant at Park Lane with Chef Yannick Alléno, who has received many accolades for his work, especially at his three restaurants in Paris, which I visited to experience the concepts we are recreating in London. Yannick happened to be in the kitchen and I ended up spending the whole evening with him. He showed me a book he wrote during Covid, which is about redefining what service is for high-end restaurants and the stuffiness that you sometimes get at three-star Michelin restaurants. For me, it’s all about creating an authentic and genuine experience. The checklist was: does he create luxury with genuine heart? And the answer was yes, and he actually wrote a book about it. We want to create a community of partners that live up to the same ethos as us — and he’s a great example of that.

What excites you the most about working in this sector?

My first company, ColgatePalmolive, had three fundamental values: continuous improvement, teamwork, and caring. You could have amazing results but if you were careless, or weren’t a team player, you wouldn’t progress. That really infused me as a leader. I was always trying to choose exciting roles, but with a special company culture. Four Seasons feels like a beautiful place where you have luxury combined with humility and a sense of ambition. People have the brand in their veins and genuinely want to make Mr Sharp proud, because it’s his baby. It’s a beautiful industry, it’s great timing, and it’s a special brand.

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