Four Seasons Los Angeles creates edible real estate for children’s cause

Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, CA is letting consumers take a bite out of its property with help from "Million Dollar Listing" star Josh Flagg.

The hotel’s executive pastry chef Federico Fernandez has created a chocolate replica of the property, along with 20 gingerbread mansions, with all of the edible real estate being sold to benefit Toys for Tots Foundation. The whimsical nature of this charity campaign will help remind participants of the cause they are supporting, perhaps stirring memories of their own childhoods.

Now taking bookings
The chocolate hotel and gingerbread mansions took weeks to create. The property recreation is complete with the hotel's pool and miniature guest vehicles waiting outside the lobby.

Rooms can be “reserved” for $550, while the mansions are on the market for $5,000 per house. Interested consumers can coordinate a property sale through the front desk of the hotel.

All of the funds raised will go to Toys for Tots, the United States Marine Corps Reserve’s charity that delivers presents to needy children around the holidays.

Four Seasons chocolate hotel

Getting a real estate agent on-board for this campaign was a natural fit.

“When we first conceived the idea of building an over-the-top chocolate and gingerbread hotel and selling off confectionery real estate to raise money for Toys for Tots, we knew we had to enlist a superstar agent. My first call was to top Beverly Hills real estate agent and star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing Josh Flagg, who graciously agreed to help us in our cause,” says general manager Michael Newcombe.

Other luxury properties have taken the gingerbread house to the next level.

The Peninsula Hotels is boosting foot traffic by installing over-the-top holiday decorations and displays at its properties in New York, Chicago, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Each hotel has decorations in addition to a typical Christmas tree including an almost-life-size gingerbread village with a running train in Hong Kong, an ice skating rink on a terrace in Chicago, a mini-wagon that sells holiday treats in Tokyo and a sugar sleigh with reindeer in New York. Each property is looking to draw in additional foot traffic from both locals and guests throughout the holiday season (see story).