Katie Taylor, the soon to be head of Four Seasons, didn't plan on making the luxury hotel company her career when she was hired in 1989 as corporate counsel. But 21 years later and after last week’s announcement that she would step into the slot vacated by founder and CEO Isadore Sharp on Aug. 1, it appears Taylor isn’t headed anywhere.

“It was one of those places where I got my first promotion and my next one and every two to three years my job changed,” Taylor says. “I can safely say there hasn't been a dull moment in 21 years. When I think back, it's surprising in one sense because it wasn't my plan, but not in another because it was a company that provided a great intersection with my skill set and my values. I love working with people, in teams and all the collaboration in this business was right up my alley.”

Taylor, 52, has been groomed for the position since being named co-president with Wolf Hengst in 1999. In 2007, after Hengst retired, Taylor became president and chief operating officer, a newly created position, and became the only person reporting directly to Sharp. All other executives reported to Taylor, who will now become only the second CEO of the company Sharp started in 1961. He’ll remain as chairman and continue to be involved in the company,

"The long-term success of Four Seasons has always been my top priority, and I have long been committed to identifying and developing the next generation of leadership for Four Seasons," Sharp said in a statement. "Over a decade ago, I recognized that Katie had the potential to become Four Seasons’ next CEO. Since then, we have worked closely together on many strategic, operational and challenging situations and she has repeatedly proven herself the right choice to lead the company forward.”

On Tuesday, Taylor took some time to discuss her new position and the future of the company.

You have some big shoes to fill...
I do. He's the founder, and the visionary, the guy who created this. You don’t replace founders. My role is to figure out how to not only maintain the legacy he put in place and the value proposition of Four Seasons in the marketplace, but how to take it to next level or the next generation. We’re on the cusp of the largest international expansion plan in history; we’re generating new interest in new hotels, but also consumer interest in different parts of the world.

What are some of the most important things you’ve learned from him?
A number of things ... First is his intense and unwavering focus on the guest and their changing and evolving needs. This company was responsible for a whole lot of firsts and he was the person who thought those up. Intense customer focus became a reality and part of his vision, creating the deep culture based on the Golden Rule. We do that with our employees, who create a workforce that in turn does that for guests, which in turn does that for investors. The link between employee focus and guest focus cross every piece of what we do every day all day long.

On the business side, he's always been a great believer in focus and I agree. If you want to get something done you’ve got to put a lot of energy and focus behind that. He taught me that. And he's a very affable fellow; a person who everyone can connect with, everyone gets along with. He's very accessible; we're a very doors-open operation with a lot of communication up and down the organization. That open transparent communication is another hallmark of Four Seasons and we’ll continue to work on it with hotel guests, owners and employees.

You started with Four Seasons as legal counsel, how challenging was it to learn the operation side of the business?
Interestingly, even at a young point in my career I was involved in the operations side, although from a slightly different vantage point. I really started to travel with the company almost immediately, Four Seasons was starting international development in early the 1990s so I was flying around the world, meeting lots of business partners in different cultures. It was something I surely learned a little at a time over 21 years.

The big push came when Wolf and I became co-presidents. The two of us were responsible for running the business and reporting to Issy. We shared just about everything, from my side of the business to his. Through that period of time, I was exposed to virtually all issues and the last three years that continued.

At the recent NYU hospitality investment conference, many executives were optimistic and pleased with the early recovery in the luxury segment. Do you also see that happening?
For sure, we have turned the corner. At NYU I talked about being quite bullish on recovery. Luxury is rebounding faster than other segments and is forecasted to through end of year.

Where are the biggest opportunities for growth for Four Seasons?
We have about 50 projects in various states of conception, design and construction ... Of those 50, five or six are in the U.S. (Denver; Vail, CO; Baltimore; New York City; Orlando;) and in Toronto down the street from the headquarters office. But the bulk of those 50 are outside North America. A number of them are in Mainland China, a good nine, and, another handful is in India. The balance is all over the rest of world, with another focus in South America.

Have there been permanent changes to the luxury segment and the way consumers feel about it since the recession?
It's interesting. Value was always talked about, but there were different words for it then. No question, the luxury segment is just a higher service segment—better service is better value. You get a little more when you pay a little more. The value proposition is very good at Four Seasons. The lexicon is swinging away from the thinking that luxury is a bad thing. It's not about access, pampering, luxury décor. It's about meeting the needs of harried business and leisure travelers, whose time is their most precious asset. High service, high-touch, highly personalized service is greater value. The notion people won't seek timesaving value-added services is something people talked about, but that's not human nature. We really did have a recession and all the rhetoric around luxury—it will be a long time for some markets to recover, particularly where there was a big influx of supply.

Through your career coming from outside the hotel industry, what has surprised you most about hotel operations or something that still amazes you?
The thing I still say is most surprising is you can’t understand how hard it is to run a hotel, the sheer complexity of running these operations, with all the moving parts, all the different jobs performed by people. The fact the product is delivered when an employee speaks to a guest, or does something for a guest, takes a huge amount of planning in leading up to their arrival. I think of all the millions of things that could go wrong in a hotel and I marvel at how they all go right. It seems simple, all the little bits, but when added all together, it's one of most complicated executions out there.

Do you take note or pride in that fact you’re in a very small minority as a woman heading a major hotel company?
You have to. I hear from others how great it is that this has happened, and I think that’s just another indicator where the business is headed. There are way more women in the industry than 20 years ago and that trajectory will continue. It makes it fun to be involved.