Dishing It Out in Style
Four Seasons service is unstinting-and priced accordingly
"It's better to say the name incorrectly than not at all," she says as she leads the group in an exercise in which trainees try greeting imaginary guests with hard-to-pronounce surnames, such as Czerzinski and Nguyen.
"Good morning, Mr. ... uh ... Win," says one recruit. "Did I say that correctly?" (She did.)
Posted on a white board at the front of the room, that last sentence is key, "because even if you get it wrong, it makes them feel special," Patel explains.
Even better, it quickly extracts the correct pronunciation, which can then be passed on, like the way the front desk manager asked the bellman to show Mr. Mar-KELS to his room. Or how she'd then typed the correct pronunciation into a computer file kept on every registered guest, all but guaranteeing a happy customer the next time around.
THE PRICE OF ADMISSION
Four Seasons $295-$3,500 a night Westlake Village Executive physical: $4,500
Four Seasons Austin $375-$1,700 Rita Suprema Margarita (mixed tableside): $95
Four Seasons Los Angeles $525-$7,500 (Beverly Wilshire) Spa treatments: $385-$990
Four Seasons New York $695-$15,000 Lemon ricotta hot cakes at 57 restaurant: $22
Four Seasons Paris $979-$14,762 "Stroll Through Versailles" spa treatment (with body scrub, massage, and facial, all "inspired by Marie Antoinette's beauty secrets"): $403
Four Seasons Maui $440-$11,500 8-ounce Kobe beef steak at Duo restaurant: $200
Four Seasons Nevis, West Indies $655-$5,950 Scuba "Dive & Dine" package (with private chef): $1,900 per couple
Source: Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
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