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Gostelow Report: Tea and history at Four Seasons Kyoto

“Authenticity is the key, and it really helps to have gardens that are said to go back eight centuries,” says Alex Porteous, general manager of the 123-room Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto, Japan, which opened in October.

Over half of the hotel’s bedrooms and suites, and 57 residences for sale, face over Shakusuien Garden, where a big pond is full of bright orange koi. A medieval tower stands near the property’s modern tea-house that Tea House Atelier Ryosuke Yamamoto have built in traditional style, of warm cypress wood with paper wall screens.

“The mayor of Kyoto has encouraged foreign investment, in a bid to increase the number of bedrooms. More are desperately needed, especially during the annual sakura, cherry blossom, season, which this year starts this Tuesday, March 28. Our owners, the Malaysia-based Berjaya company, wanted a 5-star hotel and have invested, well, significantly, in land and building,” Porteous explained.

Alex Porteous shows off his porte-cochère, based on a traditional Kyoto umbrella.
Alex Porteous shows off his porte-cochère, based on a traditional Kyoto umbrella.

You approach the hotel along a 136-yard paved road flanked by bamboo, all exactly upright as if designed by computer. The porte-cochère, made of cedar, cypress and washi paper encased in glass, is based on the design of traditional Kyoto umbrellas, wagasa. Inside, the spacious, single-floor lobby has a centerpiece that is basically a stage set of how you imagine a modern Japanese tea-house to look.

“Just under half our guests are Japanese, and straight after our opening we started to get repeats, so we must be getting the national sensitivity right,” the GM continued. “I do have a certain feel for it myself, as I have been married to my wife, Satoko, who is Japanese, for 20 years, and I also know, from our three early-teen daughters, what is right for the younger generation.”

Interior designer Agnes Ng of HBA, originally from Malaysia, has done a sterling job in interpreting Japanese taste. Bedrooms are local-residential, with carpets that put three or more different patterns side by side, and bathrooms that cleverly turn the entire shower and tub space into a full wet area. Spa treatment rooms have wood floors where one end is gently undulating, in a way that would, anywhere, be described as “only Japanese,” which can also be applied to a wall of cross-cuts of tree trunks above the breakfast buffet, or a collage of tin shapes behind the sushi master.

“With nearly all of our guests traveling for pleasure, and with strong presence from the USA, I am very aware that we need to offer as many Japanese experiences as possible.  We suggest pre-breakfast trips to the 60-minute chanting service that takes place daily at 6.30 a.m., in Sanjusangen-do Temple, five minutes’ walk away. At weekends a genuine trainee geisha, Maiko-san, comes for two hours to dance, and to talk to guests. We plan market visits with cooking classes,” he enthused.

This is an English hotelier who learned imagination from his father, a car dealer, and hospitality from his mother, a nurse whose pedigree runs back to Charles Dixon of the Mason-Dixon Line. His mentors today also include Four Seasons’ Antoine Chahwan, Brent Martin and Jose Soriano. He joined that company 23 years ago and, having visited Japan every year since 1992, he arrived back in Tokyo in August 2015.  “I came from Four Seasons Resort Seychelles and for 40 weeks before that I managed to visit one different beach every weekend, which meant an investment in a bottle of Champagne and a pack of egg sandwiches for each trip, but it all resulted in thousands of social media likes,” he laughed. Although Kyoto is the city of over a thousand temples, visiting all those has to wait for the time being.

“My main role at the moment is HR. My 270-strong, all-Japanese, team was hired for attitude (we outsource engineering, housekeeping, laundry and security). The passion is intense – two colleagues were born here, when a hospital stood on this site. But we must never be complacent, even though we have soared through initial opening curiosity followed by Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year and now cherry blossom to boost business. Our overall occupancy is already in the high 60s, at an average rate of over US$1,000, breakfast extra but walking in our gardens is complimentary,” said Porteous with a big grin.

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