The Four Seasons in Midtown set to reopen next fall
Photo by Acediscovery on Wikimedia
The Four Seasons hotel in Midtown will reopen next year after being closed since 2020. Following a dispute, hotel owner Ty Warner and Four Seasons management on Thursday announced an agreement was reached to reopen the hotel in the fall of 2024. Located at 57 East 57th Street, the 52-story building designed by I.M. Pei closed in March 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and is one of the last high-end hotels to reopen. Early on during the pandemic, the hotel was used as an emergency location for doctors caring for Covid-19 patients coming from the Upper East Side.
Warner, the inventor of Beanie Babies, purchased the hotel 368-room hotel for $275 million in 1999. Besides the Four Seasons, Warner owns the San Ysidro Ranch and the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara, California, and Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos, Mexico. The Biltmore will also reopen in the fall of 2024.
The hotel’s reopening has been stalled due to a conflict between Warner and Four Seasons, which stemmed from Warner being upset over the high costs of running a hotel and its “lack of profitability,” according to Curbed. Hotel rates have increased by 69 percent since 2019, according to Virtuoso, and Four Seasons have hesitated to increase their prices despite industry trends, according to Crain’s New York.
According to Warner and Four Season, the hotel will prioritize rehiring its furloughed staff. A statement from the team says “renovations and enhancements are planned throughout and the owner and operator look forward to ushering in a new era for both celebrated properties.”
As the Wall Street Journal reported in June, the resolution reached between the owner and operator of the Four Seasons could mean the public spaces at another iconic hotel could reopen.
Four Seasons has been in competition with Raffles Hotels and Resorts to manage the Plaza hotel, which mostly reopened in 2021 except for the Oak Room bar and basement space. With an opening date set for the Four Seasons, the Paris-based Raffles Hotels will likely become the new manager of the Plaza.
RELATED:
