The first Four Seasons hotel opened on the first day of spring in 1961 on an unlikely downtown site in Toronto, Canada. It had taken more than five years for Issy Sharp, still in his 20s, to convince backers of his vision. Yet, from the start, the 125-room motor hotel showed the hallmark of Four Seasons – a more personal style of service. “We opened our first hotel with a simple principle: treating every customer as a special guest.” Issy Sharp was both the developer and the builder of the hotel, with his original partners, Murray Koffler, Max Sharp, Eddie Creed and Fred Eisen.