And.... after what seems a lot of back and forth, Four Seasons seems out of the race to manage the Danieli Hotel. I just read that this property is owned by Statuto (FS Milan, FS Taormina, MO Milan)... which now really explains why they only want to spend €30 million euros on renovations. Along with FS, now PYR is out as well... renovations being taken over by "an Italian designer".

If anything, this gives us a LOT more insight into what might have happened with FS Taormina. I always wondered why Gilles and Boissier were ousted from the project in favour of... you might have guessed it... an "Italian designer".

All this due to allegedly the negative reaction because of Bill Gates... are people really that naive and think Mr Gates cares about Four Seasons' day-to-day operations? FS has no equity in the project.

Meanwhile, FS Milan seems to... again!... struggle for funds to complete the rooms renovation at FS Milan, so far only lobby and restaurants were overhauled, despite press coverage. Also Statuto...

It remains to be seen who will manage Danieli next, but I don't envy that group, as it surely won't be easy with this owner.