KatW

From the client oerspective, I book through advisor whenever I can because the perks make a better experience. Some smaller properties aren’t in his purview so I book through website.

richarddd

The only reason I'd book direct and then contact advisor is fear that some room type I want would disappear if I don't act quickly.

United747

Good advisors would know which bookings need attention immediately. If you’re booking some city FS, it’s not much of an issue, but if they see a booking for a small hotel, I’m sure they’d prioritize it.

richarddd

Yes, but if it's late at night and your advisor is not likely to see your message for some amount of time or a similar situation, you might not want too wait. It depends on the circumstances. This is of course not how things usually go.

But all this is off topic, so back to your regularly scheduled FS.

Kilian Zoll

On the topic of why someone might want to add travel advisor benefits retro-actively...

I know this option is no longer available in the US, but in markets where the Citi Prestige Card is still offered, you can get your Citi concierge to book a four night stay with the 4th night free benefit (credited back to your card after check-out). Since this is typically booked straight with the hotel, you can then get a lux travel advisor to add FSPP or other hotel benefits on top of the booking. Just make sure you change the email address on the booking to your own before adding the benefits, as the Citi Prestige concierge will typically enter their email address and thus get alerted if any changes are made to the booking (making the 4th night free benefit ineligible).

sandeep.thilakan

Opening end of 2023 🙂
https://press.fourseasons.com/news-r...sons-in-rabat/

Kagehitokiri

citi prestige does not require citi travel agency? i guess non-US dont have citi travel agency? nice

in US can get 15% cashback by using chase sapphire reserve credit card and chase travel agency

clerc retired in november, but replaced internally by stampfer
press.fourseasons.com/news-releases/2023/operations-leadership

finally got new CEO, presumably delayed by covid

somewhat unique design
fourseasons.com/fortlauderdale/accommodations/hotel-and-residential-suites/panoramic-oceanfront-two-bedroom-residential-suite/

Kilian Zoll

Correct, the Citi Concierge will book - typically directly on the hotel website - while you're on the phone with them.

mjrobson

My wife and I did 10 nights in the Seychelles for our 10yr anniversary.

We booked the twice the paradise offer doing 7 nights in a Sunset Beach Suite on Desroches with 2 free nights on Mahe at the end. We upgraded our 2 free nights to a Hilltop Villa for 200euros and added a 3rd night.

I can not say enough good things about FS Desroches - it is absolutely worth the extra flight. It's on another level, even compared to FS Mahe. There are a lot of exceptional properties in spectacular locations and Desroche is one of them, but the staff really set the property apart from anywhere else we have been before.

The Sunset Beach Suite was massive and well located. We stayed in villa #10 and it was super private with a nice walkway down to the beach. Buggy service was nice for dinner, but we mostly cycled around the island.

We went to all of the beaches with Aquarium and Madame Zabre being our 2 favorites. The setups they have at each beach are excellent and makes it very easy to spend half a day out. Even better, they're going to be bringing in a food / drink truck to service the remote beaches so you can order lunch without needing to come back. We saw turtles and rays and some nice fish snorkeling.

We did a beach picnic which was a really nice experience and the food and Rose were all nice for a hot afternoon.

We did a 2 tank dive with Blue Safari and saw a lot fish, sharks, rays, turtles, eels etc.. Really 5 star full service from the dive shop.

Spa was beautiful - show up 30 minutes early just to admire the room! We did a 90 minute couples massage and it made me question if I really had a good massage before (kidding!) - but it was really top level... the knuckling... so good.

The tortoise sanctuary was super cool and very informative.

We also loved the star gazing - we did a private experience and Alex was so passionate and knowledgeable. On a clear night, it is remarkable what you can see both with the telescope but also your naked eye.

We did a vow renewal and it was spectacular. The setup was done on Madame Zabre beach and we had a magnificent dinner at the top of the lighthouse. We got some amazing photos all over the island and the fire-red sunset as we sat down for dinner was the perfect end.

Breakfast was top notch every day. Mimosa hold the OJ. I tried pretty much everything on the menu. The detox juice was delicious as were all of the meats, cheeses, fruits, yogurts and pastries.

Lunch we usually kept pretty simple... pizzas, salads, burgers - everything we had was good.

Dinners were all good. We did the half-board which was definitely worth it. We ate at the lighthouse twice, deli twice, the Sunday seafood dinner, Thursday Lebanese dinner and then our top of the lighthouse dinner on the last night.

The king crab, tartare, kobe beef and lobster thermidor were excellent at the Lighthouse.
The edamame, calamari, shrimp beef sliders and all of the rolls / nigiri were excellent at the Deli.
Lebanese dinner was delicious, but WAYYY too much food for 2 people.
The seafood dinner was the only ok experience. The seafood should be more made to order instead of just cooking and having it sit buffet style.
Top of the lighthouse dinner was great and had its own unique 6 course menu that we did some customization to. We had an amazing sunset which really highlighted it.

Wine and champagne were super expensive. Around $60 Canadian for a glass of Champagne and over $300 for the cheapest bottle. We knew this going in and brought 8 good bottles with us like Cristal, Dom, Vilmart, Roger Coulon and Ulysse Collin. We had a lot of good cocktails, but brought our own champagne to dinner every night for the reasonable 40 euro corkage fee.

Overall Desroches is spectacular. It is so private and secluded, you hardly ever see anyone else outside breakfast and dinner.

FS Mahe was also amazing. Our Hilltop Villa (101) had the most amazing views and was super private. The buggies are a must to go anywhere and new ones they just got are so comfy and stylish. Even the 1 night when it rained, they go fully covered!

Mahe is much more crowed, especially on the beach, compared to Desroches. With that said, the beach is nice, the beach service excellent and all of the included water activities enjoyable. The snorkeling right off the beach is hard to beat. We saw eeles, turtles, sharks, big groups of rays and a tonne of other fish.

Again, food was all delicious.

The tomahawk for 2 from the steakshack was lights out!
The sushi in Koi was also top stuff. Crazily, we were the only 2 people in there so we had a great conversation with the sushi chef from Indonesia and he made us some great bites.

Overall 2 spectacular properties which are really well run.

xIte

Hey guys,

a year ago we visited the Four Seasons Costa Rica and were a bit annoyed by three smaller things: they had a sports bar, probably due to the small distance to the US, there were two very loud events during our stay until after dark and there was constant music in the background at both beaches. I prefer a bit more silence and less (sports) party vibes.

We are now considering to visit FS Mahe and Desroches, but thinking about the previous experience, I'd love to hear an opinion on this topic.

In terms of vibes, we really love Soneva Fushi.

Thanks,

Daniel

Aventine

Both the poolside bar and ZEZ close at 11pm. There's no Thursday Night Football to worry about.

mjrobson

We just came back, you can read my review a few posts up.

Desroche is super quiet - there are no bars with TVs. You barely see other people, never mind hear anyone being loud.

Mahe is busier, there is a TV going in the ZEZ Bar that had F1 on when we were there. Still, its quiet. The Mahe property is so large and spread out, you don't hear anything, especially if you're up high in an Oceanview, Hilltop or Serenity villa.

Hennebou

Hi everyone,

I had never noticed this before, but when connecting to my FS account on their website, I can see the following message on my account.

Has anyone ever seen this before? When I click on the button, it seems to just get me back to the list of all the properties on their website, with no sign of any exclusive offer nor any complimentary perk. I stay frequently in FS properties, so this would be very neat.

m0hamed

It’s not personalised in any way, it’s simply meant to encourage you to book direct.

lc688

Does anyone know if there’s a specific timeframe when corp rates renew for the following year? I’m trying for a January stay and neither corp rate I’m eligible for is valid for any 2024 bookings (no issues with 2023). Wasn’t sure if there’s a specific timeframe when the corp rates renew or if it’s just property dependent.