Disappointed in brand experience
Pros
Some of the pro's of working for this resort were flexible seasonal contracts. There are beautiful destination resorts to work in. Ski locker at the base of ski resort.
Cons
I joined this company with hopes of opportunity in management, career advancement, and world travel opportunities. When I joined the company I had 5 years of management experience and over 11 years of hospitality/food and beverage/tourism work experience. Management was retched, with constant turn over (I worked under 30 managers in 5+ years). HR quoted my experience to be "equivalent to that of a McDonald's worker" on multiple occasions. (When I left the company I had 15 years of experience in hospitality and resorts with competitive name brands). A second HR manager told me "my job could be done by a monkey". The company reals you in with "free vacation comp nights". In over 5 years I never had a single request granted to use my comp nights as a vacation perk. Hours can be insane 18 hours on 4 hours off. Many employees would sleep in closets or in their cars out back of the resort because you would only have 2-6 hours off between shifts. I would often be told I couldn't have a break so I hid in bathrooms and closets to eat food because I wouldn't be able to otherwise. A manager told me if I wasn't willing to work 18 hours straight without a break I would be fired. HR and GM confirmed in a meeting at this particular resort they were not required to give breaks to employees. I had applied for 13 task force and requests for transfer, all were denied in a short 4 years. The only 3 female managers who I met that were successful at advancement had slept their way to the top. I was often told I would not be considered for certain types of work within the company because I was a female. Early in my career with Four Seasons I requested a transfer from the director of a department, I mentioned that I had a previous manager who was really great working with. The director of the department told me "that's great, why don't you quit here and see if you can work for them at their new location, we will not transfer you.". I found the brand is very fond of extremely young staff. I often had managers who were under 25 years old with absolutely NO work experience. For many managers it was their first job, often directly out of a hospitality management trade school. Extremely moldable however, incredibly hard to work under, events were often disastrous from behind the scenes, and the young managers lacked foresight and understanding for many tasks because of lack of experience.
