Four Seasons introduced . That little bottle of shampoo didn ’ t exist before he introduced it . Neither did a complimentary shoeshine , overnight drycleaning or a telephone in the bathroom .
They all have one thing in common . “ Our high-end guests didn ’ t look at luxury as being golden faucets or golden toilet seats ,” Willimann says . “ For them , time was luxury . It was the only thing they couldn ’ t buy or replace . We made it easy for them .”
Vail , Colorado , which he opened and ran until his retirement in 2012 . “[ Sharp ] said , if you don ’ t have the right people , you won ’ t get the product , and ultimately you won ’ t get the profit . His long-range view was building the company through people .”
In Chicago , where Willimann was a GM for 20 years , “ we had more than 30 different nationalities , and [ the Golden Rule ] worked for everyone . Everybody understood what it meant and how it was implemented . The people who believed in that were successful in the company .” Sharp stuck stubbornly to those standards even during the early 1980s downturn , a crucible that tested his “ control without compromise ” approach . He challenged management to reduce costs without customers noticing a change in service . His long-term bet on the Golden Rule paid off again : “ You ’ d be surprised how people come up with ideas . That ’ s how things happen when you participate in the solution .”
Focus on the details Norton started his career with Four Seasons in 1989 and moved through hotels in North America , Europe and Asia , where he was opening GM of the company ’ s Bali resort . Sharp was a regular visitor to his hotels , including one in Montreal that Norton was managing . He recalls how Sharp could leap from tweaking the placement of a lamp to big-picture project strategy in a single bound . “ We always had a walk-through . And we would always end up moving furniture around . It fostered the importance of paying attention to the most minor detail ,” Norton says .
Willimann remembers when Sharp replaced “ captive ” hangers — the kind that won ’ t get stolen because they are useless without the ring attached to the closet pole — with loose ones , because the annoyance guests would experience fumbling with a hanger they couldn ’ t use at home outweighed the threat of theft .
They changed other things as well . Sharp had management turn a lucrative bar in the hotel into a tearoom . He removed x-rated fare ( at first , Willimann says , the movie rental company didn ’ t take them seriously , believing they were angling for a larger cut of the very large profits from the service ). Sharp insisted that staff locker rooms were maintained as impeccably as guestrooms . And he made the Toronto hotel non-smoking ahead of legislation curtailing smoking in public places . Willimann says he stopped smoking , too , because of Sharp .
Years later , Sharp pulls out a sheet of paper listing more than 20 innovations
‘ The most important hotel ’ A near-disaster early in Sharp ’ s career set his trajectory as a hotelier . It involved two projects : One was a new-build in London . The other was a deal with U . S . conglomerate ITT , which had just taken over the Sheraton brand , involving a US $ 3.5 million investment ( borrowed ) for a 49 % stake in an enormous convention hotel that was to be built in Toronto . He shakes his head at the memory .
As he saw his original concept for the hotel turn unrecognizable by economies of scale that Sheraton insisted on , he was able to sell his stake — reaping a US $ 18 million windfall that allowed him to pay off debt elsewhere and stay in the business .
The one in London was another story . A modern , air-conditioned 5-star hotel on fashionable Park Lane with a costly price tag , the Inn on the Park opened in 1970 . The contrast of those two hotels gave Sharp a stroke of insight on what he did best .
The Inn on the Park won accolades as the best hotel in Europe the same year that it opened . “ We won that acknowledgment because of how we deal with the customers ,” Sharp says . “ To this day , it remains the most important hotel that we ’ ll ever build .”
‘ Godfather ’ Sharp has carried the ultraluxury boutique hotel feel forward through nearly 100 hotels using the principle of the Gold-
www . hotelsmag . com April 2016 HOTELS 21