New York Four Seasons hotel hasn’t reopened post-COVID could stay closed for another FOUR YEARS

The once-iconic Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, which has remained closed since the start of the pandemic, is showing no signs of reopening with the billionaire owner in a dispute with the hotel chains over the payment of franchise fees.

The 54-story building, located on 57th Street in Manhattan on what is popularly known as Billionaire’s Row, nicknamed for its string of luxury skyscrapers, stands abandoned with metal barricades blocking the front entrance.

The hotel’s facade is covered with brown paper and advertising posters.

The fact that the Four Seasons has not reopened its doors means it is the outlier compared to its luxury rivals, including The Ritz-Carlton, The Palace, The St. Regis, The Carlyle and Mandarin Oriental, all of which have more than a reopened years ago and are taking advantage of the resurgence of luxury travel.

But the 78-year-old owner of the Four Seasons, the billionaire founder of Beanie Babies, Ty Warner, refuses to give in.

Four Seasons, which operates more than 100 hotels around the world under its banner, doesn’t actually own them and instead relies on different owners to operate them.

The Four Seasons website mentions how the property has been “temporarily closed as significant infrastructure and maintenance work is underway which is expected to last well into 2022,” but locals who work nearby have said there is no evidence whatsoever. of any work taking place indoors.

The hotel first closed its doors to paying guests in March 2020 when it offered free housing for medical personnel fighting on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

Warner, who made an estimated $3.8 billion in the 1990s from the success of the Beanie Babies cuddly toy, would refuse to pay the maintenance costs that must be paid whether the hotel makes a profit or not.

Warner has so far brushed off the request rather than suggesting that the fees be adjusted according to whether the hotel is making a profit.

“Obviously, Four Seasons and Ty Warner don’t really agree, which makes it difficult to come to an agreement and move forward,” a source told the paper. New York Post.

“Ty didn’t like the way Four Seasons ran the hotel because he didn’t make any money and that was the origin of the whole feud between them,” said August Ceradini, who used to run nearby St. Regis. “From what I understand about Ty Warner’s personality, he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”

The hotel was charging over $400 a night when it first opened in the late 1990s at a rate of about $1,000 a night before the pandemic.

The 4,300-square-foot penthouse’s Ty Warner suite is reportedly selling for $50,000 a night. The suite has a 360-degree view of the city from four glass balconies and is considered one of the most expensive in the world.

But city records indicate that the hotel still failed to make a profit in 2018 and 2019.

So far, the back and forth between Warner and the Toronto-based hotel group has gone on for 18 months, but negotiations are being conducted in secret and have not been made public.

Adding to the bizarre nature of the dispute is that Warner owns the entire skyscraper, but seems happy to just wait it out.

Warner bought the building in 1999 for $275 million with money earned from his Beanie Babies empire. At the time, it was said to bring in $30 million a year in revenue, earning the hotel the label as “the most expensive hotel in NYC.”

“It’s in the dark… he’s not selling the building,” another source said The mail it is estimated that the dispute could drag on for at least another four years.

“He’s not an owner in need and Four Seasons has a management agreement and they’re at war. The owner is in charge of an agreement – he can’t throw them away and pick Rosewood or Dorchester,” the source explained.

“What’s more interesting to me is how people can have such an incredible asset and just leave it there.”

“There are few things that upset an owner more than when the property is not making a profit and yet the manager is paid handsomely,” said Sean Hennessey, a professor at NYU’s Center of Hospitality.

In August, former hotel workers sued Warner and Four Seasons in federal court, alleging they “deliberately delayed reopening” to avoid paying millions of dollars in unpaid wages and severance.

Warner was sentenced to two years’ probation in 2014 for tax evasion. He had a secret offshore account in Switzerland but managed to avoid jail time for his philanthropic acts, a judge said at the time.

Four Seasons Hotels did not respond to requests for comment.