GOSTELOW REPORT – “We were allowed to expand our events, and life immediately looked more rosy. Last Monday, 22nd March, with only four days’ notice, maximum allowed numbers upped from 10 to 60,” recalls Michael Pedder, GM of the 274-room Four Seasons Hotel Boston.
On Thursday March 18, Pedder was alerted of the change in event numbers via a State of Massachusetts public statement, and while he did not anticipate seeing a flurry of actual big events taking place for about a month, the hotel’s plan of action was rushed into place.
Within a few minutes, Pedder had contacted his operations managers, who made plans to recall some of the team that had been furloughed. After a three months’ pandemic closure, the hotel had re-opened late June 2020, but with minimal F&B and overall skeleton staffing.
The following morning, on March 19, a coordinated group of hotel colleagues started calling all those who had booked or tentatively booked forthcoming events. “Some had gone ahead with weddings for maximum 10, some had delayed,” Pedder explained. “Much to my surprise, the same thing is happening now. Some are going ahead with parties that have a maximum of 60, others are still holding off, hoping that the maximum will rise to 200 so they can have bigger weddings or graduation parties.”
In addition, there were all the supplier partners to contact, food and drink purveyors, wedding planners, florists. In-house teams had to take events chairs, tables and appropriate linens out of storage and give them a good cleaning.
Because of the obvious time lag between planning an event and it taking place, Pedder assumes it will be a couple of months before larger-format happenings actually occur, and rooms business, also, should start to pick up from May – even in normal years, Boston’s slowest leisure months are at the beginning of any year.
“Last week, I was both anxious and excited as this last year had taken such a long time,” Pedder said. “In March 2020, I was talking to someone who had booked an event in August (2020) and, of course, we assumed a year ago that everything would be all back to normal by August.”
As a child back in his native England, Pedder, the youngest of five siblings, was always fascinated by the operational psychology of the small hotel run by his father in Nottingham, England. He loved the dynamism he experienced when helping out, doing whatever. He had to be prepared to help with anything.
The current challenge, however, was a little heightened in that although he had an 18-year track record with Four Seasons he had only been in Boston a year before this all started.
“Well, I have always believed that a high tide floats all ships and here in this great city of Boston we welcome new competition,” Pedder said. “Four Seasons Hotel Boston may be 35 years old but our location, on Boylston Street on the south perimeter of the Public Garden, which dates back to 1837, is true Boston, and our service is renowned. We have been taking the opportunity of this lull time to remind ourselves that we are customer-centric. Perhaps we do not need 20 types of leaves for our afternoon tea. We need five types and the chosen brew must be both perfectly presented and served. I think we are entering the era of service execution.”