Toronto’s own man of Four Seasons

spa and complimentary newspapers with roomservice delivery. A focus on a comfortable mattress set off a hotel bed rivalry that continues today.

Steve Jobs, the Apple Inc. co-founder who died in 2011, took inspiration from Four Seasons when forming his company’s retail empire and approach to customer service, Carmine Gallo wrote in his book, The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty.

“How much better of an endorsement can you get of what you are doing than one of the world’s greatest visionaries copying what you do,” said Sharp, who early on did things like change the pillows when he found out a politician stopped staying at the Toronto hotel because a rival had better ones.

These days, Sharp doesn’t go into the Toronto head office. Still, it’s clear he puts a lot of thought into both the future of the company and industry.

New locations under consideration for Four Seasons include Rome, where Smith says the company is “conspicuously absent,” along with Venice and Nashville, Tenn.

In China, Four Seasons has nine hotels and several under development. The company is also bullish on India, where the number of people moving from the farms into the city is said to be on the scale of all of Canada, Sharp said.

Sharp isn’t worried about new arrivals such as Airbnb Inc., which he calls the “largest hotel company.” Marriott International Inc.’s Ritz-Carlton is “still the most formidable competitor because they are owned by one of the best hotel companies,” he said.

“Marriott builds as many hotels in one year as we operate,” Sharp said. “But we are the largest at this end of the market, therefore we have the competitive advantage.”