• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, June 2, 2010 10:04 AM

Cutting out fresh flowers at some locations, and farming out laundry at others, are "seismic" moves for a high-end brand like Four Season Hotels & Resorts, Kris Hudson writes. Like just about everybody else, it's been hard hit by the recession.

At least a dozen of the 82 hotels under Four Seasons management are in financial distress; last year, occupancy levels in the U.S. averaged 57% and revenue per available room dropped 26%. As a result, Four Seasons' founder, CEO and 10% owner Isadore Sharp has agreed to concessions requested by owners that won't, in his estimation, hurt service.

"Like most companies, when things are going well there's always the sort of excess that is allowed to be built in," he concedes. But the son of Polish immigrants, who is famous for his pampering service, drew the line at certain requests. Rest assured that you will still be able to order room service between midnight and 4 a.m. in Miami and San Francisco.

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