The Four Seasons Hotel Downtown along the St. Johns River won’t open until two years from now, but those who market Jacksonville as a destination for business and leisure travel already are preparing for a new chapter in the city’s hospitality story.
“Four Seasons is a strong luxury brand. This is the opportunity to open Jacksonville to a whole new market that never would have looked at us before because there isn’t that level of luxury here,” Visit Jacksonville Chief Marketing Officer Katie Mitura said.
“I would say those who travel to Four Seasons look for new destinations based on that alone.
Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Jacksonville will offer 170 guest rooms and suites and 26 condominiums for sale along the Northbank Riverwalk. Amenities will include four dining and lounge outlets, a rooftop restaurant and bar, a pool bar and grill and a lobby bar – all of which will be open to hotel guests and the public.
The hotel will have a full-service spa, multiple outdoor pools with cabana service, a fully equipped gym and meeting and event space.
Jacksonville will join other Florida Four Seasons properties in Orlando, Palm Beach, Surfside, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Naples.
Construction is underway on the $215.1 million hotel being built by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s Iguana Investments Florida LLC. Completion is scheduled in summer 2026.
The Four Seasons is part of Iguana’s $254.3 million project near EverBank Stadium. In January 2023, City Council approved a $129.75 million incentives deal for the hotel, condominiums, office building, a city-owned marina support building and a public marina.
Jacksonville will be the second Four Seasons property for Khan.
In September 2016, he purchased full ownership of Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, regarded as the flagship property for the Toronto-based Four Seasons brand and considered one of the premier global destinations in the luxury hotel segment.
The Four Seasons level of luxury and service has been recognized globally since 1970 when the Four Seasons Inn on the Park in London was named Europe’s Hotel of the Year.
According to fourseasons.com, the brand currently holds 66 Five-Star Forbes Travel Guide awards across 45 hotels and resorts, 15 spas and six restaurants, the most collectively held by any company for the ninth consecutive year. Twenty-five restaurants at 20 Four Seasons hotels currently have 34 Michelin Stars.
In addition to adding a new level of luxury to Jacksonville’s hotel portfolio, the Four Seasons is expected to make the city attractive to new categories of business travelers.
“One of the areas we have struggled with in the past is corporate incentive travel,” Mitura said.
“They look for high-end luxury brands to reward salespeople, for example, who have done a great job. We’ve never had a hotel that could compete in that market.”
Another new market is pharmaceutical companies.
“They look for destinations for training for doctors. We haven’t been able to recruit them here because the hotels aren’t high-end and white-glove enough,” Mitura said.
Having a new full-service luxury property in the portfolio also makes Jacksonville a topic of conversation throughout the tourism industry, she said.
A balanced selection of options
The Four Seasons will fill the high-end luxury niche in Jacksonville’s portfolio that already is well stocked with a range of the other lodging categories.
There currently are 172 hotels in Duval County with nearly 19,000 rooms, according to Visit Jacksonville. The majority of the properties are not in the full-service category.
“We feel the market is saturated right now with select service and limited service. That’s about 85% of our hotels. That has always been Jacksonville’s profile,” Mitura said.
Select and limited-service hotels offer fewer amenities compared with full service hotels and appeal to individual travelers who are looking for basic, economical accommodations. The properties typically do not provide room service, on-site restaurants or concierge services but can have small meeting rooms, a fitness center or a swimming pool.
More properties in the mid-level category have opened in the past few years in Jacksonville because it is more attractive to investors and developers.
“Select and limited makes money quicker. A hotel that depends on group business might take a year or more to be profitable,” Mitura said.
Being able to offer newer options for lodging also makes Jacksonville an easy destination to sell.
“At this point, our development has been solid. Our product is newer and fresher than other markets,” Mitura said.