At the tranquil Four Seasons Resort Aviara north of San Diego, a heated struggle for control of the deluxe hotel's future is playing out in a rare public spat.
The increasingly nasty tussle at the Carlsbad resort is indicative of tensions throughout the higher end of the hotel industry, as travelers cut way back on spending.
At issue is the very definition of luxury.
The real estate investors who own the hotel say Four Seasons, which manages the property, is spending too much money keeping up appearances. They want to eject the fancy hotelier and bring in an operator they control.
The dust-up comes at a time when some industry experts say luxury hotels themselves are falling sharply out of favor. Hotels with names that include "spa" or "resort" are getting the cold shoulder, in part because their carefully crafted image of opulence is at odds with the public's mood during a bad economy.
"I think the word 'luxury' will disappear," said hotel consultant David Brudney, who is based in Carlsbad and familiar with the Aviara property. "It will no longer be used in the future when we describe properties. It connotes 'excessive.' "
Travelers, especially business travelers whose stays are paid for by their employers, are trading down, Brudney said. An expense report from a Westin or a Marriott has become more acceptable than one from a Four Seasons or a Ritz-Carlton, he said, and some of that frugality is expected to outlast the recession.
But Four Seasons is known for maintaining high standards. The company doesn't discount rooms, and it keeps tight control over decisions on how to run any hotels it agrees to manage. In this recessionary climate, that means less profit for Broadreach Capital Partners, which is the controlling owner of Aviara and has a contract with Four Seasons to manage it.
In May, Broadreach announced that Four Seasons was out as manager of the hotel. Four Seasons won an emergency court decision that allowed it to stay while the parties went into arbitration.
Both sides have since been forbidden by a gag order to speak about their quarrel, but Four Seasons' position appears to be that a Four Seasons hotel has certain standards that can't be compromised even in lean economic times.
"Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton have spent a lifetime developing the power of their brands," Brudney said. "Customers have the highest expectations when they go, and those customers historically have been loyal."
