Are Four Seasons Dropping their standards for some reason? Brace yourself before reading the desert menu!
We have stayed in many Four Seasons hotels because we associate the brand with consistency in the quality of their properties and service. You usually feel safe and secure. If there is a problem you always come away feeling that it has been met to your satisfaction. You are never let down at a Four Seasons.
Not so in Seattle where clearly something has gone wrong.
First, the property itself. It seems that they have moved the hotel from a property which is now the Fairmont. They should have stayed there. It is a much better area than where they are now right in the centre of things, beside Pike Place market. Also the former building is the kind of landmark building you would expect the four Seasons to be in. We had a streetview room and the soundproofing was terrible. So we had great difficulty getting a full nights sleep with the trafic and also the noise of the revellers outside. The swimming pool is tiny and really not of any use with more than ten prople using it. (Compare with the Miami property)
It had been over ten years since I last visited Seattle and clearly there is a crime problem. During our 4 days I saw 3 drug deals being done within a few blocks of the hotel in mid afternoon. Also we were there for the "Hemp Festival" and that night walking back to the hotel after dinner we had to negotiate through an obstacle course of spaced out individuals falling over and wandering into our path. Our children were very afraid of all this. There was no police presence that we could see. We expected that perhaps the hotel would have some security to deal with all this. When we arrived at the hotel at about 10:00PM there was absolutely no one at the door monitoring those coming in or out. No visible security presence. Also unlike other 4 Seasons, anyone without a room key could gain access to the bedroom floors without being challenged either by having to insert the Key to activate the elevator or personally. The only challenge might be the friendly nod from the one person behind reception.
The Room was fine but did not have the normal luxury you would associate with Four Seasons. The night we arrived after a long drive I called room service to get a pot of tea for two. There was no answer from room service. I waited a few minutes and called again. Still, no answer. 
I then called the front desk and asked them to relay an order for tea to the room service and I was told that a pot of tea would take 30 minutes at a minimum. I'm glad I was not ordering anything more than a drink that involves merely pouring boiling water over some tea leaves. Shortly after I recieved a call from room Service asking did I want to place the order (clearly the front desk did not place the order but just told room service to call me back). When I repeated the order, I was told it would only take 15 minutes and that reception should not have mentioned the 30 minutes as they don't know what they are talking about. - The tea arrived 25 minutes later which was near enough to 30 minutes after I originally tried to place an order.
There was no information book in the room about the services. There was a loose leaf room service menu and a menu for the spa. We also later found a leaflet about the wi fi hidden in a drawer. However, no sign of any book with all the information together in one place about the hotel and its services.
Ther was no lock on the toilet door so there was no privacy there.
The most extraordinary part of our experience was a meal we had on the last night of the stay. Because our children were nervous (as were we) about walking the streets near the hotel at night we decided to have a meal in the onsite restaurant ART. I must say, this was a beautiful meal from the beginning and the food and service were superb. However we were shocked by the Desert Menu. One of the menu items (an ice cream flavour) was called "Irish Carbomb"
Clearly it is in the utmost of bad taste to name anything after such a destructive device which is used in killings every day all over the world. As an Irish person it was doubly insulting and repugnant to name it so when it refers to something which is such a terrible memory for many Irish and UK people. Hundreds of Irish and English citizens were killed by these devices during the troubles in northern Ireland and for a Four Seasons restaurant to try and be clever and use this name is certainly not becoming of the Four Seasons brand.
We did not complain to our waitress because she was excellent and it was clearly not her fault. I complained to the assistant manager on duty and in fairness I think he was shocked and agreed that it should not been on the menu. He was totally unaware of the menu item. He said he would look into it. We have heard no more since.No written explanation, apology from the hotel management other than the immediate apology from the man i complained to - nothing.
This is not what I expect from the Four Seasons Brand. 
The day we had dinner in Art, there were 8 people killed in a carbomb in Turkey.