The ABA rate is alive and well in 2026 at 11 Four Seasons hotels and the suite upgrade can cost less than nothing
This October, two travelers will sleep on the same floor of the Four Seasons Westlake Village outside Los Angeles.
One will pay $672 a night for a Deluxe King room. The other will pay $562 a night – for a suite.
No points.
No status.
No begging.
The difference between them is a $195 annual membership, a rate code, and one habit of mind.
Let’s build that habit.
Still Standing: The Deal Delivers in 2026
Last year we handed you a key that opens Four Seasons doors at up to half off. Rate codes are living things, so this summer our research team went back and jiggled every handle.
Verdict: The key still turns.
Some doors swung wider. Last year we promised “up to half off”; this year St. Louis is serving suites at 67% off, and one hotel now prices its suite below its own regular room.
That’s Upgrade Intelligence. Lesson one: reality moves.
Last year’s rate is not this year’s rate, so you re-verify before you rely.
The $195 Bar Nobody Has to Pass
Here’s the mechanism for new readers and note-takers.
Anyone can join the American Bar Association. No law degree, no bar exam, no shouting “I object!”
The “affiliated professionals” tier to join costs $195 a year. You’re not joining a legal organization – you’re renting leverage.
Book on FourSeasons.com, select the American Bar Association rate, and carry proof of membership at check-in. One night’s savings repays that $195 many times over.
The cheapest thing at the Four Seasons is the membership that gets you in.
The Comparison Trap That Costs Travelers Thousands
Now the mind game – because this is where the money actually lives.
Most travelers compare the ABA room rate to the regular room rate and smile at the discount. Nice.
Wrong numbers.
The Upgrade Formula compares the ABA suite rate to the regular room rate.
One substitution can turn a discount into a free upgrade.
The suite was always for sale. You were simply standing at the wrong counter – the one that sells hope instead of beds.
Elite-status upgrades are a slot machine.
This is chess: You see the winning move before you commit a dollar.
Confirmed at booking.
No begging, no uncertainty, no disappointment at the desk.
That’s what the Upgrade Process calls owning your variables. The Upgrade Formula doesn’t create new options; it reveals the ones already there.
Door One: Rooms, Radically Reduced
Even if you never book a suite, the membership pays for itself on regular rooms. Behold the baseline.
That’s the appetizer. Now the entrée.
Door Two: Suites, Seriously Slashed
Here’s where the ABA rate stops being a room discount and starts delivering suite savings, too.
A $1,309-a-night haircut in St. Louis. Sustained.
The Free Upgrade Equation
Now run the comparison that’s most interesting: what everyone else pays per night for a regular room versus what you pay per night for the suite.
Same hotel, same dates.
Read that Westlake line again. The suite costs $110 a night less than the room.
When the difference runs negative, the upgrade is better than free.
But here’s the caveat: The equation doesn’t go your way everywhere.
In Seattle and Palo Alto, take Door One and bank the room savings.
High Upgrade IQ isn’t believing a trick always works. It’s running the equation every time.
Reality is your friend; fantasy is your foe.
The Fine Print (Read It Like a Lawyer – You Are One Now, Sort Of)
Our research team priced these stays for October and November travel: two guests, two nights, taxes included, shown here per night. Your dates will produce your numbers.
A few properties (marked with asterisks) don’t display the ABA rate online. Pick your room and dates, call the hotel, and ask whether the ABA rate is available for your stay.
Two minutes of phone work; the tables show what it buys.
Also: ABA rates shift, availability moves, and not every property plays every day. Some show the rate almost daily, others about half the time, so play with dates.
The Whole Point
This was never really about hotels.
It’s about a way of moving through the world – the conviction that upgrades are possible, usually cheaper than advertised, and hiding in plain sight for anyone willing to think a little differently.
The Upgrade Formula doesn’t change the hotel.
It changes the traveler.
The ABA rate is alive and well in 2026 at 11 Four Seasons hotels and the suite upgrade can cost less than nothing
This October, two travelers will sleep on the same floor of the Four Seasons Westlake Village outside Los Angeles.
One will pay $672 a night for a Deluxe King room. The other will pay $562 a night – for a suite.
No points.
No status.
No begging.
The difference between them is a $195 annual membership, a rate code, and one habit of mind.
Let’s build that habit.