Swiss mister comes back to the beach

Alicia Robinson

After 12 years away, Thomas Gurtner has come home. What’s unusual is

that home is a hotel.

Gurtner has returned as general manager of the Four Seasons on

Newport Coast Drive, just in time for the hotel’s 18th birthday this

month. He takes over for Mehti Eftekari, who started as the hotel

manager during Gurtner’s first three-year stint as general manager.

Eftekari is now at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles.

A native of Switzerland, Gurtner has spent most of his

professional career in the U.S. He’s logged 20 years with Westin

hotels and 15 years with the Four Seasons chain. He has worked

internationally in cities as far as Anchorage and Boston and as

exotic as Honolulu and Hong Kong.

But none of them are quite like Newport Beach to Gurtner.

“When I left here, I left my heart in Newport Beach,” he said. “I

really always wanted to come back. I can’t think of a better place.”

What enticed him to leave was a plum assignment opening a new Four

Seasons hotel in the Big Apple, a job he calls “the pinnacle of my

career.”

Next he went to Hong Kong, and then to Boston to oversee a major

renovation of the Four Seasons there. A reshuffling of company

management brought him back here in March.

“We were delighted to have him back, as sad as it was to see Mr.

Eftekari go,” said LaDonna Whipple, who has worked at the hotel since

it opened and is the only female door attendant in the Four Seasons

corporation.

The job of general manager requires Gurtner to be something of a

jack-of-all-trades. He has handled a boiler failure and offered

career advice to one of his pastry chefs in the course of the same

day. Every morning he meets with staff to review any customer

complaints from the previous day.

Gurtner sees himself as a coach who oversees a team of about 400

employees. His success is directly tied to their efforts, he said.

The hotel itself has enjoyed great success since Gurtner first

became general manager in 1989. Under his leadership the Newport

Beach Four Seasons earned its first five-diamond rating from the

American Automobile Assn., an award it has earned for 12 consecutive

years.

While the hotel has matured over the years it looks as good as it

ever did because of ongoing renovations, Gurtner said. In recent

years, renovations have touched every part of the hotel, including

the guest suites, pool area and fitness center.

In the community the hotel has a reputation as a high-end

establishment that attracts wealthy and famous people, said Gail

Ossipoff, communications director for the Newport Beach Conference

and Visitors Bureau.

“All we hear is good things [about the hotel],” she said. “We do

events over there and they’re always perfect.”

The Four Seasons is one of Newport Beach’s favorite hotels, in

Gurtner’s opinion, because of the service it provides.

And the teamwork that goes into providing that service makes the

hotel a fun place to work, Whipple said.

“It’s the golden rule, treat others as you would like to be

treated -- and at the Four Seasons we have the power to do that,” she

said. “It’s so fulfilling to be able to make somebody’s vacation

extraordinary, or even better, to make their work day extraordinary.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.