ORLANDO, Fla. — The Royal Suite on the 16th floor of the Four Seasons Resort Orlando isn’t just the largest suite in Orlando. It doesn’t earn its $17,000-per-night price tag with its crystal chandelier or views of Walt Disney World. For the clients who rent it, the real allure is the service.
“We’re here to anticipate the guests’ needs,” said hotel manager Greg Viaud. “We keep ahead of the game.”
The Orlando Sentinel sought a tour of the Royal Suite after LuxuryHotels.com recently released a survey that found Orlando to have the third most expensive five-star hotel rooms in the world, just behind Los Angeles and Paris.
The survey used ratings from Booking.com, identifying five-star hotels in metro Orlando that include the Four Seasons, Waldorf Astoria Orlando, JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes, Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes and others.
With prices like those for the Royal, it’s easy to see how Orlando got to an average of $663.11 for five-star night, less than $2 below the average for Paris. Los Angeles, which was the most expensive, was $675.84 per night.
Viaud wouldn’t disclose guests who have stayed in the Royal, though he said they range from celebrities to CEOs and even members of royal families. Privacy is one of the main draws of the suite for these megawealthy clients, who don’t blink at the price or hesitate to pay more for extra conveniences.
But what do these affluent tourists get that the average schmo doesn’t? In the Royal, it does start with space.
The one-bedroom suite offers guests 3,300 square feet to stretch out in, from the private office to the media center to the salon-style bathroom. The bedroom includes a retractable TV screen, and the suite is ringed by a balcony with a vista stretching from Animal Kingdom to Space Mountain, with the option to dine outside for the nightly fireworks displays.
The Royal Suite generates about $1,000 in tourism tax revenue per night, but the money is limited to tourism advertising and sports and entertainment venues.
Of course, if that isn’t big enough, guests have the option of connecting up to nine other rooms on the floor with their own private hallway. Or they can go for total privacy with an entire 16th-floor buyout starting at $69,000 a night, giving them 21 total rooms, including the Presidential Suite, the Four Season’s only rival to the Royal.
The perks of the Royal actually start before the guests even arrive. The staff makes contact with the guests, often through a personal assistant, to find out what they want for their vacation. “They get to know the guests before they’re here,” Viaud said.
Guests get the kitchen stocked with whatever they request, and staff helps plan the meals. “Here we do everything from room service to food from our signature restaurant Capa to customized dinner,” Viaud said.
Arrangements for theme park tickets, transportation and other details are all made by the time guests have settled in, if not before.
Guests also get a complimentary eight hours a day of butler service, but Viaud said many upgrade that to 24 hours.
The Royal is also equipped with concealed entrances and exits, such as the one in the bathroom to let in a stylist or massage therapist.
Many guests also get the room decorated with a theme.
“They will spend all day at Harry Potter (in Universal Orlando) and then say they want to come back and have it all Harry Potter themed,” Viaud said. “Sometimes the parents enjoy it more than the kids.”
For the children, the grounds include two kids zones, A Kid for All Seasons and The Hideout, where parents can let them play.
The Royal also comes with access to two private cabanas beside the hotel’s 5-acre water park. And the Four Seasons includes what Viaud claims is the only all-adult pool at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Viaud said keeping guests happy in the Royal is all about forethought.
“All our guests have very stressful lives, a lot of decisions to make,” he said. “Our aim is to remove the decision-making from their visit.”
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