New Opening: Four Seasons Resort Dubai

The hotel's 'Kodak moment'. On entering the main doors, guests have views through an arched window to the private beach.

“You have BMW and Mercedes, but Four Seasons is a Rolls-Royce type of company. The essence and the fabric is exactly the same, so why do people pay three times as much for a Rolls-Royce? It must be something intangible you’re buying into, and it’s aspiring luxury in the hotel business; it’s a whole service differential.”

Casson, speaking steadily with clarity and acumen, seems to live and breathe the Four Seasons hallmarks he describes.

“I can’t distinguish between me and the company, but clearly the company has ended up defining my perspective. A company that talked about a different way of treating people; a really strong culture based around people, and that married with service excellence.”

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Joining up his own vision with those of his staff will be, for Casson, crucial to positioning the Four Seasons brand on the Dubai market.

“You can put a sign on the door, but a Four Seasons requires a coalition of the willing to bring it to life. I have a vision but I’m not going to be opening the door, making the bed or serving the coffee. The secret is how do you infuse that vision into 500 people so they care about it as much as I care about it? And therein lies the dilemma, the joy, the opportunity and the risk.”

Casson, however, is confident that Four Seasons service levels will be in place from day one of operations, given the repetitive training the team has gone through during the lead up to the big day.

And so, I return to the initial question, and the brand promise Four Seasons outlined at the start: will this hotel set a new standard for luxury in Dubai?

“This remains the decision of the guests. I think we aspire to that and if we’re going to achieve it, it will be through people and service. The rest is hardwired in and delivered to us by a smart owner who picks a great location, builds a great building and has the money to make it beautiful inside.

A lot of hotels have that, so it’s the people, and that’s why I spend so much of my time focused on those parts because that’s what will make the difference at the end of the day,” Casson concludes.

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