Friday newsletters all the time function luxurious journey contests, suggestions, or information.
Today: How to e book a room at a Four Seasons Hotel on the least expensive price?
Four Seasons is likely one of the world’s premier ultra-luxe hospitality manufacturers and the corporate is quickly increasing its already spectacular international portfolio which consists of 100 properties in additional than 40 international locations (with many extra developments within the pipeline). A favourite among the many wealthy and well-known, Four Seasons’ goal is to be acknowledged as the corporate that manages the best lodges, resorts and residence golf equipment wherever they find. Four Seasons properties are created with enduring worth utilizing superior design and finishes, and supported with a deeply instilled ethic of unmatched private service, which might be the model’s most profitable promoting level. Doing so permits Four Seasons to fulfill the wants and tastes of discerning vacationers, and to keep up its place because the world’s finest identified luxurious resort model.
But with the group’s stellar fame additionally comes a heavy price ticket and staying at a Four Seasons Hotel requires deep pockets (with most entry room charges properly above $750 USD per night time, excluding taxes and any extras). Unfortunately, Four Seasons at the moment lacks a loyalty program – in all probability as a result of its rich friends preserve returning anyway and since the model’s focus is on visitor recognition slightly than the normal idea of a resort’s level scheme. But whereas Four Seasons doesn’t have a loyalty program, the fact is that there are a number of suggestions & methods that may prevent a whole lot of {dollars} when staying at one of many model’s properties and that each one friends can obtain elite-like perks simply by reserving within the instantly. I hereby share with you one of the best strategies- for reserving a room (and even suite) at a Four Seasons Hotel & Resort. You can share your individual methods within the feedback under.
In this text:
1. Book a room by way of the Four Seasons Preferred Partner program
The finest method to maximize worth at Four Seasons properties is to e book a room or suite by way of the the Four Seasons Preferred Partner program. The latter is an invitation-only program obtainable by means of choose journey advisors, providing extra perks for stays at Four Seasons properties. These perk rely from property to property, however most Four Seasons Preferred Partners lodges typically have the next advantages:
- Daily full American breakfast for 2 individuals per bed room,
- A resort or resort credit score of $100 USD
- Upgrade of 1 room class, based mostly on availability at time of check-in (excluding signature suites and villas).
- Complimentary high-speed Internet entry for all suite bookings.
Four Seasons Preferred Partner perks might be utilized to just about any price bookable instantly on the Four Seasons web site and are legitimate at any Four Seasons Hotel & Resort. The upgrades by means of the Four Seasons Preferred Partner program are prioritized forward of upgrades for resort stays booked by way of bank cards and Virtuoso (cf under), so probabilities for an improve are all the time the best by way of the Four Seasons Preferred Partner program.
Classic Travel is a Four Seasons Preferred Partner company and I’m all the time pleased to introduce you to them if you end up keen on reserving a keep at a Four Seasons Hotel (contact me right here).
2. Book a room by way of Virtuoso
Virtuoso is just not your traditional resort reserving engine web site. It’s the business’s main community of luxurious journey advisors, spanning over 26 international locations and 9,000 journey advisors. So while you e book your vacation with Virtuoso, more often than not, you may be in contact with a Virtuoso journey agent and never make the reserving on-line your self. There are some Virtuoso journey businesses although that provide an internet reserving instrument, equivalent to Classic Travel, which is my general most well-liked Virtuoso journey company.
Booking a room at a Four Seasons resort by way of Virtuoso as a substitute of by way of one other resort reserving web site has the next benefits:
- The single finest purpose to e book a Four Seasons keep by means of a Virtuoso journey agent is that it means worth for cash as it is going to get you entry to particular, complimentary VIP facilities and perks, equivalent to room improve, free dinners, spa therapies and/or distinctive luxurious journey experiences. virtually all Four Seasons properties are lined by the Virtuoso perks.
- In most circumstances, the Virtuoso price is an identical to the Best Available Rate (BAR) discovered on the official Four Seasons web site, which is a versatile price that may be cancelled with out penalty. For that purpose, you’re leaving cash on the desk if you happen to e book a paid keep on the Best Available Rate by way of the Four Seasons web site and never by way of Virtuoso.
It’s vital to emphasise that early reserving low cost charges, particular promotional packages, company charges, group charges, and different discounted charges don’t qualify for Virtuoso advantages. Therefore, I all the time advocate to verify the bottom, usually discounted price on the aggregator web sites Trivago and Hotelscombined, after which weigh up the professionals and cons earlier than deciding whether or not to e book by way of Virtuoso (finest obtainable price with free advantages) or not.
Also, though Virtuoso and the Four Seasons Preferred Partner program appear to be an identical (and are sometimes provided by the identical journey brokers), they don’t seem to be:
- Virtuoso charges solely apply to a choice of Four Seasons Hotels, whereas the Preferred Partner program is relevant in any respect Four Seasons properties.
- Virtuoso advantages can solely be utilized to Virtuoso charges (which is an identical to the Best Available Rate, as defined above), whereas the Preferred Partner program is relevant to all charges discovered on the Four Seasons web site (together with discounted and/or early chicken charges).
- The upgrades for rooms booked by means of the Four Seasons Preferred Partner program are prioritized forward of upgrades for resort stays booked by way of Virtuoso.
3. Book a room by way of your bank card firm
When you personal an American Express bank card, you’ll be able to e book a keep at a number of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts by way of Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts. This will provide you an identical advantages as while you would e book a Four Seasons resort by way of a Four Seasons Preferred Travel and/or Virtuoso journey agent:
- Room improve upon arrival when obtainable
- Daily (continental) breakfast for 2 individuals
- Guaranteed late 4pm check-out time
- Noon check-in when obtainable
- A spa, meals, and/or beverage credit score (valued at a minimal of US$ 100 USD)
Holders of a Visa Signature bank card can even profit from Virtuoso-like additional perks at most Four Seasons lodges & resorts after they make the reserving by way of their bank card journey workplace and/or pay with their bank card. Contact your native VISA bank card firm to seek out out whether or not they provide this journey service.
When you personal a Citi Prestige Card (USA residents solely) you can also make use of the fourth night time free profit: while you e book a 4 night time keep at a Four Seasons property, you get reimbursed the price of the fourth night time, minus any taxes and repair charges. The fourth night time profit is calculated based mostly on the common nightly price of your full keep. Reservations should be made by means of Thankyou.com or the Citi Prestige Concierge and you could pay to your keep together with your Citi Prestige Card, ThankYou factors, or a mix of the 2.
4. Book a room by way of aggregator web sites
Some vacationers choose to e book the bottom room price at a Four Seasons Hotel & Resort as a substitute of receiving additional perks. The lowest room price at a Four Seasons Hotel & Resort for any given journey date will principally be discovered on the aggregator web sites Hotelscombined and Trivago. These aggregators confirm resort costs at a whole lot of different websites (e.g. Booking.com, Hotels.com, Expedia, and so forth ….) and present the place you’ll be able to e book the most affordable room price. Once you’ve discovered the bottom price, I like to recommend you to e book by way of both lodges.com (and submit a finest price assure in case that lodges.com wouldn’t provide the most affordable price) or Virtuoso (in case the discounted price discovered by way of the aggregator web site doesn’t outweigh the free Virtuoso perks).
5. Book a room by way of Hotels.com
Hotels.com – a part of Expedia – is certainly one of my favourite resort reserving web sites, primarily for 3 causes:
- You accumulate credit in the direction of free resort nights by way of Hotels.com’s Rewards program. When you e book and keep 10 nights at eligible lodges, you’ll get 1 night time free to redeem at one other. Hotels.com works out the common worth of all the ten nights you’ve collected and provides it again to you as a free night time. All it’s good to do is make a free Rewards account and login into your account earlier than making any bookings.
- You can usually apply 10% low cost coupons. Unfortunately, virtually the entire world’s main resort chains are excluded from the checklist of lodges for which you should use a reduction coupon (apart from Four Seasons; extra on that under).
- Hotels.com additionally has a superb Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) program: If you discover a cheaper value, Hotels.com will match that price (and refund you the distinction) after you submit an online BRG declare. The Hotels.com BRG is obtainable just for actual itinerary matches, together with property, room kind, and dates of journey (as is the case with all different BRG packages). The BRG additionally consists of an an identical cancellation coverage (which may make it tougher to your BRG declare to be accepted).
Those three benefits work very properly when reserving a keep at a Four Seasons resort. As talked about above, Four Season doesn’t have a loyalty program, so it’s possible you’ll as properly e book the room by way of Hotels.com as a substitute of the official web site in order that you’ll get a few of your a reimbursement ultimately (by investing it in the direction of free resort nights). In addition, as talked about above, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts is the one main resort model that’s more often than not eligible for low cost coupons on Hotels.com, virtually guaranteeing you a ten% low cost on each Four Seasons reserving. Keep in thoughts that while you use a ten% low cost coupon, your keep is not going to earn credit within the Rewards program.
It’s vital to note that Expedia is at the moment rolling out a brand new loyalty program – referred to as One Key – which is able to change the Hotels.com Rewards program. One Key launched in July 2023 within the United States, with different international locations to observe later in 2024.
5. Don’t e book a room by way of the official Four Seasons web site
You’re leaving cash on the desk while you e book a keep at a Four Seasons resort instantly by way of the official resort web site, and right here’s why:
- Four Seasons Preferred Partner perks might be utilized to just about any price bookable instantly on the Four Seasons web site and are legitimate at any Four Seasons Hotel or Resort. The solely method to get these worthwhile advantages (e.g. improve, free breakfast, resort credit score, and extra) is to e book the room by way of a Four Seasons Preferred Partner journey agent (because you wont’ get them by reserving the room instantly on the Four Seasons web site).
- Never e book a versatile ‘best available rate’ on the Four Seasons web site. Once once more, as defined above, you’re leaving cash on the desk if you happen to e book a paid keep at a Four Seasons resort that could be a Virtuoso member by way of the resort web site and never by way of Virtuoso, as a result of you’ll be able to’t obtain Virtuoso advantages (equivalent to breakfast, free improve, and a resort credit score) by reserving instantly with the resort.
- Four Seasons doesn’t have a income based mostly loyalty program, so you can not earn credit with the corporate in the direction of free resort nights. The lack of a loyalty program was defined by Four Seasons’s ex CEO Allen Smith as a choice based mostly on buyer suggestions that confirmed that “Four Seasons guests are far less concerned about accumulating points to be redeemed for rewards as they are being in a position where they’re recognized and we understand their preferences and can serve them in that highly personalized way they’ve come to expect”. The solely method to make your stays at Four Seasons lodges depend for some type of loyalty scheme is by making the bookings by way of Hotels.com, the place you’ll be able to make investments right into a free resort night time for each ten nights booked (which might be spent at different Four Seasons lodges).
- IMHO, Four Seasons provides the worst Best Rate Guarantee program within the business. If you discover a decrease qualifying price inside 24 hours of creating your reservation on the official Four Seasons web site, Four Seasons will match the decrease price however you received’t obtain any extra low cost (which is customary coverage with most different resort manufacturers). You might as properly e book by way of Hotels.com, which provides the identical type of BRG and a minimum of means that you can take part in an amazing loyalty scheme.
It’s totally bizarre that Four Seasons isn’t rewarding loyal shoppers who e book instantly by way of the corporate’s official web site, however that you would be able to rating free stays at Four Seasons lodges by reserving by way of Hotels.com or get very good advantages at Four Seasons properties (as if you happen to would have elite standing) by reserving by means of the Preferred Program, Virtuoso or your bank card firm.
6. My critiques of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts all over the world
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