After borrowing $300,000 from his two friends, Sharp still needed over $700,000 in capital to begin building his dream hotel. Once again, he turned to a family connection. Cecil Forsyth was a friend of Sharp’s father; he also happened to be the manager of the mortgage department at Great West Life Insurance Company. Forsyth initially refused Sharp’s mortgage application, doubtful of the young builder’s business know-how, but Sharp was persistent. Eventually, Forsyth gave in and provided Sharp with the rest of the money he would need for his project.
$1.5 million and 126 rooms later, the Four Seasons Motor Hotel opened on the first day of spring in 1961. It was an immediate success, despite being located in a downtown area of Toronto well known for the prostitutes and homeless that also called it home; customers didn’t seem to care. Sharp’s hotel was casual, but had an upscale atmosphere; a swimming pool surrounded by a unique courtyard was a major drawing point. It was also located across the street from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, whose employees soon began to frequent the hotel after hours. It would be the beginning of the hotel’s association with celebrities and those with influence.
In 1963, Sharp approached Cecil Forsyth again for a $1 million loan in order to launch his second venture in the hotel industry. It was a riskier proposition than his first; this time, Sharp wanted to build a hotel on 17 acres of land in a remote part of Northern Toronto, where the only business nearby was a local garbage dump. But, Forsyth had been impressed with the success of the Four Seasons Motor Hotel and agreed to give Sharp the loan. In little time, the 569-room resort hotel proved to be a similar success, and spawned the development of a new suburbia.
It was business as usual until Sharp took a trip to Europe. “My wife and I stayed at the Dorchester in London,” he recalls. “It was a wonderful hotel and it started me thinking that there is a real style in hotels that must be appreciated, since hotels like the Dorchester have gone on for so long.” Sharp returned to Canada with a better understanding of what it would take to succeed in the long term: excellence.
Using what he had learned in Europe, Sharp decided to create a new luxury hotel in London’s Hyde Park. Market research told him it would be difficult to compete with the already established luxury hotels in that location, but Sharp didn’t listen. In 1970, he opened the 227-room Inn on the Park; it quickly became one of the most profitable hotels in the world. It was small, luxurious, and had excellent service – customers were willing to pay the hotel’s higher rates.
Throughout the 1970s, Sharp began developing hotels in smaller, more rural areas of Ontario, as well as a luxury condo hotel in Israel. Plans to build in Europe were harder to realize; in Rome, for instance, workers kept uncovering Roman artifacts which blocked further construction. A 1972 partnership with Sheraton also went sour due to cost overruns and Sharp’s inability to make real decisions. He sold his 49 percent stake in the Toronto Four Seasons Sheraton and instead, invested in his first property in the U.S.
Sharp continued to expand his operations throughout the 1980s with mixed success. By 1982, he had accumulated $116 million in long-term debt. He began selling some assets, while still continuing to manage the hotels under long-term contracts. With Creed and Koffler, Sharp also created a new company to manage non-hotel assets such as laundry and development property.
Money raised from a stock offering was the last step in reducing the company’s debt. The first Four Seasons public stock offering came in 1969, but after a significant decline in value, Sharp and his partners took the company private. In 1985, it again went public, but Sharp retained 83 percent of the votes.
In the 1990s, Sharp embarked on another period of rapid expansion, primarily into the financial centres of the world, including Tokyo, Paris, and Frankfurt. After purchasing Regent International Hotels Ltd. in 1992, Sharp had created the world’s largest network of luxury hotels; he owned and operated 45 luxury properties in 19 countries. That number grew as Sharp expanded into Singapore, New York, Mexico City, Paris, Prague and more.
The first room rate at the Four Seasons Motor Hotel was $9 per night. By 2000, the hotel was charging up to $750 per night for a basic room, and up to $5,200 for a presidential suite, and $11,000 for a royal suite. In 2006, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bought the Four Seasons for $3.4 billion, but Sharp has remained on as Chairman and CEO. Today, Sharp’s net worth is an estimated $370 million.
His Finest Season: Sharp Creates a Life of Luxury
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