Author: Leigh Crandall

Strolling the grounds of Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita is an eye-popping experience – 53 gardeners work on the 64-acre lagoon-side Resort, perfecting the lush grounds. But it’s also an educational one, thanks to the resort’s new garden tour—guests can use their phones to scan Quick Response (QR) codes along the walkways to identify local plants, like the Pandanus utilis (with spiny leaves and aerial roots) and the green leaves of the rare Cassine orientalis. The QR codes also detail “Fast Facts” on each plant, including growing advice for green thumbs. “Look for Traveller’s Palm, which has a fan-like shape that inspired the international airport here, and the tamarind tree, which is found near the tennis courts and has a sweet fruit that’s part of the welcome amenity for guests,” says Debbie Duval, Director of Public Relations and Communications for the Resort. “All guests are able to enjoy use of complimentary bicycles throughout their stay, so this is the perfect way to learn more about nature while cycling around.”

Calling all oenophiles: Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley at East Palo Alto has added Plum wine dispensers – which chill, preserve and perfectly serve full bottles of wine – to suites and select guest rooms. “One of the great things about Plum is that it allows us greater flexibility to feature hand-selected wines based on our guest preferences,” says Director of Food and Beverage Richard Lanaud. “The wines can also be easily changed out, so for instance if we know a guest prefers a specific type of wine, or if they are bringing a special vintage from their own collection, we can very easily place those wines in the machine, which then individually chills and preserves them at their perfect serving temperature.” The machines hold two bottles at a time – typically a white and a red – and they’re identified by a built-in database of more than 6,000 wines; it automatically shares the backstory of the wine’s varietal and vintage, and alerts management if one needs to be replenished. One of the first wines featured in the dispensers was Blend 122, a unique red wine blend created by Byington Vineyard & Winery exclusively for the Hotel.

In November, Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World® Resort launched a new Style Chat service connecting guests to a stylist via text. The stylist hand-selects items from the Resort’s boutique, which carries brands like Tory Burch, Missoni and Jimmy Choo, that are then delivered directly to the guest’s room. “Many of our visitors are hurrying from park to park, or trying to squeeze in a few extra minutes in the Resort’s lazy river,” says Teresa Hughes, Retail Manager. “Letting us deliver curated fashion straight to your room allows you more time to enjoy your vacation.” It can also solve last-minute sartorial problems. “We recently had a guest whose husband wanted to take her to Capa, our rooftop restaurant, for dinner, but her luggage was lost by the airline,” Hughes says. “We connected with her via Style Chat, then sent a ‘Night Out’ look to her room. She stopped into the boutique to say ‘thank you’ and that she was so pleased she didn’t have to spend time away from her kids shopping.”

In December, Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills unveiled five guest rooms and two suites tailor-made for a healthful stay, including amenities curated by Delos like circadian mood lighting, meditations by Deepak Chopra, and an in-room dining menu created by the Hotel’s Executive Chef Byron Thomas and approved by the Cleveland Clinic (including antioxidant-rich salads, seared salmon and avocado and pistachio dumplings). “The air is purified in the rooms four times per hour, which reduces pollen, mould spores, and other pollutants,” says Billy Cueto, Director of Rooms at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. “And each comes with in-room yoga mats by Alo, a body ball and hand weights; suites even have Peloton bikes.”

If applying sunscreen to your entire body in 10 seconds without lifting a finger sounds too fantastic to be true, check into Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas. In July, the property installed a SnappyScreen, which was invented by Cornell University alum Kristen McCllelan to apply your choice of PABA- and paraben-free sunscreen in SPF 15, 30 or 40 to your entire body. (Guests have easy access to disposable hair caps and eye protection.) “SnappyScreen was a huge hit with our guests – it was amazing to see so many people Snapchat and Boomerang videos of themselves using the device all summer long,” says Graham Williamson, Director of Food and Beverage at the Resort. “Even golfers have found the SnappyScreen, and sneak onto the pool deck before they hit the first tee to apply their sunscreen.”

Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon recently introduced the Art Collection by Ritz Lisbon app for iPhone and iPad — a behind-the-scenes tour of the property that even allows users to rate the museum-quality pieces by Portuguese artists like Carlos Botelho, Estrela Faria and Lagoa Henriques. “Don’t miss the three tapestries by José de Almada Negreiros in the lobby-level lounge named for him, the Almada Negreiros Lounge,” says Catarina Mendonça Social Media & Marketing Coordinator for the property. “They’re hand-made and based on the Centauro constellation; note how different coloured dots simulate earth and sky.”