Four Seasons Hotel

Four Seasons Hotel opening delayed until early autumn

Dave Murphy, Chronicle Staff Writer
It's more than a day late and several million tax dollars short, but when the plush Four Seasons Hotel opens this fall in East Palo Alto, it is expected to add cash and cachet to the city's revitalization. Not to mention 300 jobs -- with at least 30 percent of them guaranteed to East Palo Alto residents. The planned summer opening has been pushed back to early fall as construction continues on the 200-room hotel, part of the University Circle development on University Avenue just west of Highway 101. Once the hotel opens, the area formerly known as Whiskey Gulch will have more of a Champagne and caviar aura, with rooms costing from $340 a night for a standard to $2,050 for the 3-bedroom presidential suite. In a sense, the development is a gateway to Palo Alto, as University Circle is the first thing that drivers see as they leave the freeway and head for the downtown or Stanford University. It's a far cry from the potholed streets and worn-down liquor stores that epitomized Whiskey Gulch a few years ago. But substantial tax relief for East Palo Alto is still far off. As the regional economy struggled in September 2003 and it looked as if the Four Seasons plan might evaporate, the City Council agreed to reimburse the developer its 12 percent transient occupancy tax for up to 3 1/2 years, or until the hotel receives $8.4 million back from the city. So it may well be 42 months after the hotel opens before the city starts to collect its full revenue. Still, a regional boost is expected sooner -- not just from the jobs, but from tourism. "It will have a very positive impact," said Anne LeClair, president and chief executive officer of the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We have seen on our end the demand for five-star and very high-end properties bounce back and have had numerous meeting leads for properties of that type in the last few months. So we think they definitely have a niche." City Manager Alvin James and Councilwoman Donna Rutherford both said Friday that they are not alarmed by the delays. Even though the transient tax revenues will be years in coming, they believe the city should see improvements sooner in sales taxes and property values, thanks to a combination of University Circle and such commercial developments as Ikea and Home Depot east of Highway 101. "For many years, we had no tax base," Rutherford said. "McDonald's was our largest tax revenue." Besides the Four Seasons, University Circle has about 450,000 square feet of office space, occupied mostly by attorneys and investment companies, in three 6-story buildings. Four Seasons brings with it a strong reputation among consumers and employees. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts received the top ranking for luxury hotels in 2004 from J.D. Power and Associates, and six of the chain's hotels ranked among the top 30 nationwide in the 2004 Readers' Choice Awards poll conducted by Conde Nast Traveler magazine. One of those hotels was the Four Seasons San Francisco, now the chain's only facility in Northern California. Four Seasons and Marriott are the only two hotel chains to make Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list in all eight years it has been published, said Milton Moskowitz, who along with Robert Levering compiles the list. "They have this incredible emphasis on service there," Moskowitz said. "They treat the customer as god. To do that, they have to treat their employees well." He said ethnic minorities account for 64 percent of the chain's workers, and the annual turnover is 16 percent, which is low for the industry. Robert Whitfield left the Four Seasons resort in Nevis, West Indies, to become the general manager in East Palo Alto. He knows of the city's past difficulties, including its ranking as the nation's per capita homicide capital in 1992. He doubts that will harm the hotel's chances of attracting guests. "They've done a lot to improve the lot for the citizens here," he said. Marketing materials don't slight the city, calling the resort "Silicon Valley at East Palo Alto." Pamela Hild, the hotel's director of marketing, said the same sort of description would have been applied to any Silicon Valley city because of the region's name recognition. Whitfield expects to have at least one community job fair in late spring or early summer. Managers are being hired, but most rank-and-filers probably won't be brought in until August or September. Among the hotel's facilities open to the public will be a spa and a 140- seat Italian restaurant, Vetro -- the Italian word for glass. The 10-story hotel's facade along Highway 101 will have reflective glass. Whitfield said the hotel will try to incorporate the latest technology, from wireless and high-speed Internet access to plasma televisions in guest rooms. But there will also be the chain's traditional emphasis on service. "You never say no," he said. "Instead, offer what can be done." E-mail Dave Murphy at dmurphy@sfchronicle.com

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