A Pitched Battle in Paradise at the Four Seasons Aviara

by Paul Rogers (RSS feed)
May 27th 2009 at 7:01PM

With its bluff-top setting overlooking a blue lagoon and the Pacific Ocean, the Four Seasons Resort Aviara was designed to project an aura of bliss. But as The New York Times skillfully reports, the Spanish Colonial–style resort north of San Diego has become the site of a pitched battle between its owners and the Four Seasons, which manages the property.

The owners claim the Four Seasons has financially mismanaged the Aviara at a time when the luxury travel industry is reeling. They've attempted to oust the company and replace it with a new operator. For its part, the Four Seasons defends its performance and says the owners are struggling because they shouldered too much debt. The fight, which has spilled over from arbitration into open court, has gotten so intense that the Four Seasons has hired security guards to prevent the owners from entering the offices that hold the Aviara's financial books.

Outlandish as that is, the dispute itself is by no means unique. Having invested enormously in their properties only to see business steeply decline in the economic crisis, The Times explains, many luxury-hotel owners are now pressed for cash. Hotel operators, however, are often loath to cut room rates or scale back on amenities for fear of diminishing their brands.

Tags: Four Seasons, Four Seasons Resort Aviara, FourSeasons, FourSeasonsResortAviara, Luxury hotels, LuxuryHotels

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

shieldsbrown May 28th 2009 7:34PM

Warning: slight rant. I live about an hour north of this place and have little sympathy for these big resorts. The coastline all up and down here is awash (sorry) in big resorts, so it's no surprise that now there are too many chasing too few guests. It would have happened eventually and the recession has only hastened it. Also, they've totally chewed up the natural coastline and beaches. As for the ones that include golf courses - excuse me - this is dry chaparral territory - golf courses use up far too much water. Golf courses are fine where there's lots of natural rain to keep them green, but not here where we're lucky to get 6 inches of rain in a year.

christian May 29th 2009 2:22AM

it is interesting that these are the same owners of the four seasons nevis and walked away because they couldn't make the funds necessary to rebuild the result in the correct way after a hurricane. thus leaving the hotel, the employees, and the reputation in turmoil.