Mystery shrouds the future of the luxurious Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara, but this much is clear: The company is facing legal action from its employees.
Employee law specialist and attorney Bruce Anticouni is representing more than 250 Four Seasons employees against the company. According to Anticouni, the Four Seasons has agreed to attempt a resolution of the legal action at mediation, which is scheduled for the end of April.
The workers technically have been furloughed, which means they have not been laid off. They are eligible to receive unemployment benefits, but for many it is a fraction of what they are used to earning, and what they would be entitled to under a termination and severance agreement.
“The difference between a furlough and a termination of employment affects Four Seasons’ obligation to pay its former employees millions of dollars in severance compensation,” Anticouni wrote in a memo obtained by Noozhawk. “Four Seasons is contractually obligated to compensate its former employees substantial separation pay when their employment has come to an end. Assuming the hotel opens on January 1, 2023, the employees would be out of work for at least 33 months. Because the layoff has now extended for more than 13 months, our clients are entitled to separation pay.”
No one knows when the hotel, at 1260 Channel Drive, will reopen. Employees were told in a conference call on March 16 that all events and bookings were canceled through the end of 2022.
Now, the word on the streets and sands of Montecito is that the hotel is closed through 2025, when the contract between owner Ty Warner and operator the Four Seasons ceases.
Neither Warner’s company nor the Four Seasons returned Noozhawk’s calls for this story.
Noozhawk spoke to employees on the condition of anonymity, out of fear of retaliation from the company. The employees said Warner might be waiting out the end of the Four Seasons contract to hire a new operator, St. Regis. Others have said they heard that he plans to redesign the hotel with a Moroccan or Moorish theme.
Other employees said they believe that Warner wants to convert the Biltmore’s cottages to condominiums to further “monetize them,” as the real estate market continues to explode.
The company is not in a hurry to reopen. Although the pandemic closed hotels a year ago, they have all since reopened, without restrictions, other than face masks and social distancing in common areas.
Anticouni noted that the Four Seasons is owned by two of the world’s richest men, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Saudi Arabia Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal. Each owns 47.5% of the privately held company, and Gates’ net worth is $132 billion.
“It is difficult to comprehend how substantial a billion dollars is,” Anticouni said. “Assuming one could save $100 a day, it would take 27,937 years to reach a billion dollars.”
The employees have been furloughed since March 20, 2020.
The federal Department of Labor WARN Act states that “when a layoff is extended beyond six months, layoff is treated as an employment loss from the date the layoff started.” The Four Seasons has been closed for 13 months and has canceled all reservations through 2022.
Santa Barbara County does not keep records for individual hotel bed tax revenues, but travel industry experts said the impact of the long closure is huge.
“The Biltmore’s closure is a significant loss to the community, not only for the many workers employed by the hotel but also the businesses that served it and benefited from both the leisure and group travel markets that it brought to Santa Barbara,” said Kathy Janega-Dykes, president and CEO of Visit Santa Barbara. “The impacts range from the obvious, such as the hotel’s vendors, suppliers and event planners, to tour companies, recreation providers, restaurants and other attractions in the surrounding community.”
Janega-Dykes also wonders about the hotel’s future.
“While the hotel hasn’t provided any statements about the closure or whether it will reopen,” she said, “we hope that it will return to business as soon as feasible, since it was a beloved institution that had a widespread impact on the community.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.