Which hotel brand is best, Four Seasons or Belmond? The choice between these two hotel brands varies between individual hotels within each brand. Two of our favorite hotels in the world are Hotel Cipriani a Belmond hotel and Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat, a Four Seasons hotel. Both are brilliant, and neither is better than the other. They are just different.
Four Seasons and Belmond hotels usually have excellent facilities, extensive grounds, spas, and pools. Both tend to embrace the character of their respective destination. We have outlined the best Four Seasons hotels and best Belmond hotels in case you want to delve further into each hotel brand.
We love both brands, so we have broken the comparison down into the different features of various hotels within each brand.
1. Loyalty
There’s no Four Seasons loyalty program although you can get free benefits from your very first Four Seasons stay by booking with our luxury travel concierge.
Belmond doesn’t have a guest-facing loyalty club but instead has an invitation-only travel agent program called Belmond Bellini Club for high-end travel agents. Belmond Bellini Club agents like our concierge offer clients complimentary amenities and VIP status at Belmond hotels, trains, and river cruises worldwide.
These Bellini Club benefits, much like our Four Seasons Preferred Partner benefits, usually include breakfast for two, prioritized room upgrade (subject to availability), hotel credit, and more.
2. Style
Four Seasons offers a variety of styles across their hotels according to the destination and the property itself. Their hotels are stunning, and welcoming but also formal and palatial. Four Seasons Grand Hotel Du Cap Ferrat is a historic property, so it takes its style accents from its classic and historic French architecture. If there’s a more beautiful hotel than this, I’ve yet to find it.
Another example of a beautiful Four Seasons hotel that embraces traditional architecture and mixes this with classic modern furnishings is The Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort in the Bahamas, which has a colonial feel. Others, such as the best Four Seasons resorts in Hawaii offer a more modern architecture.
Some noteworthy destinations have or will have a Four Seasons hotel and a Belmond hotel, so it is worth knowing which is best for you. In Venice, the soon-to-open Four Seasons Venice is a historic city hotel, Hotel Cipriani is a classic resort hotel. Four Seasons Venice will be dripping in history and will be stunning. It’s on the doorstep of the Piazza San Marco and could not be better positioned for touring Venice. Four Seasons is your best choice here if you seek a convenient location for seeing the sights while immersing yourself in history.
However, Four Seasons Venice will not have a pool and is right in the center of the frenetic hubub of central Venice. In the summer, the tourist volumes and heat can be overwhelming. I find even the shortest walk in Venice in the thirty-plus-degree summer heat to be faint-inducing. Add in that Venice is humid, and its tall buildings often block any breath of a breeze, and the stifling heat can be unpleasant.
In the summer, Four Seasons offers a delightfully cool air-conditioned ambiance, but as soon as you step outside the door, you are hit with this heat.
By contrast, Hotel Cipriani is located on the corner of Giudecca island. You are whisked to and from the main piazza in the hotel’s teak-decked speedboat, and while the center can remain unbearably hot, the green and verdant gardens of Hotel Cipriani seem to reflect the heat making them seem cooler. This end-of-island location catches the breeze, so even on the hottest days, you can enjoy breakfast outside, shaded by parasols, on the edge of the water.
The highlight at the Cipriani, beyond the alfresco waterfront restaurants and peaceful bar, is their glorious Olympic sized pool. This pool is one of the best in Europe in the summer. It’s never too busy, is surrounded by greenery, and all the comfy loungers are serviced by the most excellent pool staff who supply unlimited sparkling and still water to keep you hydrated while you relax.
If you can’t decide between these two hotels in Venice, I suggest staying at both with a couple of nights in the center followed by a couple of days by the glorious Hotel Cipriani pool.
Another location that has a Four Seasons and a Belmond property is Florence. We have compared the Four Seasons Florence Vs. Villa San Michele a Belmond Hotel. Four Seasons Firenze is deeply historical and is tucked away in the city’s biggest private garden, a tranquil haven of statues, fountains, and centuries-old trees. To immerse yourself in history, you must book a suite where frescoes line the walls amid original architectural features.
Carved into the Florence hilltop, Villa San Michele is a work of art. The façade was designed by the School of Michelangelo, and the surrounding woodlands are where Leonardo Da Vinci first attempted to fly. The gardens are lush, and the views are breathtaking. Both Four Seasons Florence and Villa San Michele have stunning style and ooze history.
3. Location
Four Seasons hotels are expanding rapidly with destinations across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. They are situated in tourist destinations and major cities. In Europe, Belmond hotels are situated in Italy and Mallorca, and across the rest of the world, you’ll find plenty in South America as well as St. Petersburg.
Venice, Florence, Sicily, Anguilla in the Caribbean, New York, Koh Samui, and Singapore are all destinations with Belmond and Four Seasons hotels. You can’t go wrong choosing either hotel as both are ultra-luxurious brands.
In Florence, the most obvious differential between Four Seasons Florence Vs. Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, is their respective locations. Four Seasons is conveniently located, a 20-minute stroll from the center of Florence and its river. Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, is located around a 2-hour hike from the center of Florence.
This means that it is impossible to frequent the restaurants and bars in central Florence from Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, without a plan and without using their courtesy shuttle bus. This complimentary shuttle service takes 15 minutes to drive into the center of Florence, which is not long, but it means that you can’t leave and return on spec and instead need to plan and wait at bus stops.
4. Size
Although this is not always the case, Belmond hotels generally tend to be smaller in size than Four Seasons hotels.
5. Rooms
Individual hotel rooms at Belmond Hotels can be less predictable in decor and design than rooms at Four Seasons hotels. Belmond rooms tend to have more unique designs arranged around the original buildings that house these iconic hotels.
Four Seasons tends to invest a huge amount in refurbishment when launching a hotel and insists on minimum room and bathroom dimensions and level of decor, so their rooms are always spacious and are sometimes more recently refurbished.
That said, rooms at both Four Seasons and Belmond hotels are immaculately kept, the beds are great, and the decor is beautiful. The Belmond hotels sometimes feel more local than Four Seasons hotels, which can feel so heavily designed that they have a Disney-esque magic to them, which does not always completely embrace the local atmosphere.
I guess if you want a consistent product, you will get what you expect at Four Seasons. That said, one of my favorite hotel rooms in the world is at Hotel Cipriani. They have some of the best pool rooms in Europe. You can step out of your room and into the pool via your own private patio. The pool staff allocate you private loungers just outside your room. This makes dipping in and out of the pool so easy and joyous.
6. Grounds
This differentiator is very property-specific; In Venice the glorious verdant green garden at Hotel Cipriani houses a pool, tennis courts, restaurants and all are bordered by the Venetian lagoon. Four Seasons Venice does not have any grounds to speak of. In other locations, such as Florence, both hotels have wonderful grounds.
7. Pool
In Venice, Hotel Cipriani, a Belmond Hotel, wins as their pool is brilliant, and Four Seasons Venice doesn’t have a pool. In fact, the pool at Hotel Cipriani is the best hotel pool in Venice.
In Florence, Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, the pool is situated on a grassy plateau above the gardens, reached by a winding path. It’s the perfect spot to daydream with a view. A pool snack bar serves tasty lunches and snacks to keep you refreshed throughout the day.
At Four Seasons Florence, the hotel has an expansive private garden with charming statues, fountains, and a small Ionic temple was planted in the 15th century and retains all of its ancient beauty.
There’s a modern swimming pool for all-day relaxation, and poolside snacks are offered by the Alfresco Pool and Tree Bar set by the tree-shaded pool deck. On summer nights, the Four Seasons pool is lit by candlelight
Belmond and Four Seasons both offer immaculate and unique pool areas.
8. Ski
Some of the best ski hotels in the world are Four Seasons. There are no Belmond ski hotels.
9. Food
Both brands offer excellent restaurants. You will need to review the specific property to determine whether a particular property has an award-winning restaurant. For example, it is hard to beat the incredible Michelin-starred Italian restaurant at Four Seasons in Florence. That said, restaurants don’t get more romantic than the two lagoon-front restaurants at Hotel Cipriani. I don’t think seafood gets any better than the delights served at these restaurants, either.
10. Family Facilities
Both brands are family-friendly, but Four Seasons has a particularly amazing kids program with gifts and special touches in the rooms. I would say Four Seasons is the best child-friendly hotel brand in the world.
However, the staff at Hotel Cipriani are completely wonderful, with little children. While Four Seasons hotels are better designed overall to cater to families, many Belmond hotels are also naturally welcoming to families, particularly in Italy, where children are celebrated.
11. Conclusion
Both of these hotel brands offer magnificent hotels. There is no winner.
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