White Lotus Season 4 Promises to Inspire Event Planners

HBO’s “The White Lotus” has begun filming its fourth season, this time along the French Riviera. Its new hotel locations: the Hôtel Martinez, which will stand in for the White Lotus Cannes, and the boutique Château de la Messardière in Saint-Tropez.

Cannes won out over Spain, Italy, Ireland, Germany, and Norway to host the show. The Cannes Palais des Festivals et des Congrès anticipates that the project will boost tourism and global visibility in Cannes, and generate more than 17,000 overnight stays. 

Since the show aired in 2021, event planners have embraced the White Lotus theme, using tropical decor, colorful cocktails, and exotic florals (along with Buddhas to represent the most recent season in Thailand), and asking attendees to dress in their best resort chic. 

The Washington, D.C.–based event production firm Stratus Firm designed a White Lotus–themed evening for a corporate client at Vera Cocina & Culture last November. Welcome packages at attendees’ hotels featured skeleton keys that served as their table numbers. Dinner included a branzino presentation; there was a swag station with robes, towels, and custom Ray-Ban sunglasses; and the group was entertained by a local ukulele player. The evening’s highlight was an appearance by one of the show’s stars, Parker Posey.

"When a show like The White Lotus cuts through culture the way it has, it doesn’t just entertain, it reframes how people think about experience," said Zach Webber, VP of client relations at Stratus Firm. "We’re seeing clients increasingly drawn to that kind of immersive, narrative-driven environment, where the setting is as much a character as the guests themselves."

Marketing Gold

For Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, where the previous three seasons were filmed — Season 1 at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea; Season 2 at Four Seasons San Domenico Palace, Taormina in Sicily; and Season 3 at Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui in Thailand — the show has been a welcome marketing boon. It might not have put each destination or hotel where it was filmed on the travel map, but the spotlight it shone remained long after filming ended. 

That’s sure to be the case with Hôtel Martinez, a Hyatt Unbound Collection member with over 400 rooms, including 116 suites, and Château de La Messardière, an 86-room property owned by Airelles, a French ultra-luxury collection of eight properties.

“We’re very excited for Hôtel Martinez and the moment it’s having,” said a Hyatt spokesperson. The hotel group didn’t say if the deal involved any fee concessions or location payments.

A TV show might inspire creative themes and décor for a corporate program, but Kelsey Nicol, VP, strategic accounts at One10, says destination choice is another story.

"The biggest influencers for travel will continue to be destination infrastructure with safety first, flight accessibility, hotel quality, and experiences," she said.