Doors Open to New Whistler Resort

WHISTLER, BC-The Toronto-based luxury hotel operator Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts opens its first mountain resort property in Canada this week at the base of Blackcomb Mountain here, site of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Vancouver, BC-based Intrawest Corp. owns the 242-room property and the ski resort.Four Seasons’ investor relations person Barbara Henderson tells GlobeSt.com that Four Seasons Resort Whistler is a condominium-hotel that Four Seasons is operating for Intrawest under a long-term management contract. Intrawest spokesman Stephen Forgacs tells GlobeSt.com that the units sold out in about five hours some two years ago for an aggregate sales price of $152 million and most owners have put their units into a rental pool that Four Seasons will use as hotel rooms.Amenities include a spa, a workout room, whirlpools and a year-round outdoor pool. The hotel’s dining establishment is called the Fifty Two 80 Bistro and Bar. The resort is one of 63 properties Four Seasons manages in 29 countries. Also this year, Four Seasons opened its first resort in Costa Rica, its first hotel in Budapest and its first European resort at Terre Blanche in Provence. Later this year, Four Seasons will open new properties in Langkawi, Malaysia and Hampshire, England.