Now that we are in the third season of HBO’s hit show, “The White Lotus,” there are two things that the audience knows for sure: The resort is going to look incredible, and someone is (most likely) going to die.
However, when the Four Seasons signed on to let its Maui property be filmed for the show’s first run in 2020 during the height of Covid, they didn’t quite know about that last part (since the script wasn’t written yet), the Wall Street Journal reports.
David Bernad, an executive producer on the show, told the WSJ that they had looked at other hotels and locations, but they “ended up at Four Seasons because that was the one hotel that let us shoot there,” he said.
Related: HBO’s ‘White Lotus’ Had an ‘Impact’ on Aperol Bitter Sales, Company Says. ‘American People Enjoy Having Some Italy’
The gamble turned what could have been a marketing nightmare for the legacy luxury hotel into a big win for the company.
Now, Four Seasons is launching “World of Wellness 2026,” a 20-day, private jet excursion to eight destinations, including the three properties featured on “The White Lotus” (Maui in Season 1; Taormina, Italy in Season 2; and Koh Samui, Thailand now featured in the current airing of Season 3).
The price starts at $188,000 and flies from May 7 to May 26, 2026.
A massage at the spa at the Four Seasons Resort in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Photo by Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Despite assuming someone will die, viewers don’t know who or when (though most fans expect it to happen in the last episode), and that’s where the show’s intrigue comes in. Fans watch every scene intently, looking for small details that could be Easter eggs. And having so many eyes watching every corner of all the properties has brought the hotels triple-digit spikes in searches, the WSJ reports.
Related: I Went on a $75,000 Luxury Air Cruise for 22 Days. Here’s a Peek Inside the Over-the-Top Travel Experience Unlike Any I’ve Had Before.
One marketing expert told the outlet that these kinds of storylines would “give [him] pause” having such a high-end brand tied to multiple (fictional) murders. But the opposite has happened.
“Kudos to Four Seasons as this has been very successful,” said Eric Resnick, chief executive of KSL Capital Partners.
“The White Lotus” is currently airing on HBO and streaming on Max Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The show has already been renewed for Season 4, though no word yet on where it will be filmed.
