Much to the chagrin of my past high-school teachers and college professors, the subject I have studied most in my life other than hotels is baseball history. I probably know more about the history of baseball, its players, coaches and games than I should probably admit. My dad knows this, so he frequently tests my knowledge. Recently, he sent me a number of obscure baseball quiz questions, and I crashed and burned. My intellectual curiosity got the best of me so I researched every answer I got wrong (there were many, so I guess I’m not that great of a baseball historian after all). One answer shot a wave of fascination through me. The question was, “Who pitched the Milwaukee Braves to three wins over the New York Yankees in the 1957 World Series?” I knew the Braves had won the World Series that year, and I also knew that Warren Spahn was the Cy Young Award winner that year (the award for the league’s best pitcher). So, I quickly answered with Spahn, thinking that was an easy one.
So I thought of a quiz question myself. Who are the “Lew Burdettes” of the hotel industry? Whose great hotel feats have come to pass, and due to the passage of time or modest personality, we have forgotten or not learned about them in the first place?
We all would mention the moguls such as Hilton, Marriott and Wilson, but they are as well known in hotels as Mantle, Ruth and Williams are in baseball. I was looking for some names that a young, aspiring hotelier would get excited about and go to the library (kidding, sadly, Google) and find out more. These are the stories that inspire people to get into our business in the first place. Certainly, the names and feats below may be familiar if you graduated with a degree in hotel management, but we all could benefit from knowing some of the unsung heroes of our great industry. Also, if these names are familiar, then it’s a good reminder of who helped us get where we are today.
I did some homework, read some books, did a lot of Googling and found several cool hoteliers that may not make the headlines of a “new hire” handbook. I strongly recommend a couple books I used to do this research. These books are:
Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry, by Stanley Turkel.
A Century of Hospitality 1910-2010, by the American Hotel & Lodging Association
From map-maker to hotelier?
In the early 20th century, on a road trip from Long Beach, California, to Tacoma, Washington, M.K. Guertin (1891-1970) noted which motels were placed within a “tank of gas” drive of one another. He then published a guide that can rightfully be called the precursor to today’s GPS. Guertin also talked with “moteliers” en route about agreeing to standards of cleanliness, respectability and service, so that referrals could be made freely and without hesitation.
Each motel within this network became collaborators, not competitors. This informal referral system was the beginning of what can be called the largest hotel chain on the planet, Best Western. He’s so unsung, he doesn’t even have his own Wikipedia page. Here begins the movement to get M.K. Guertin a wiki page. He deserves it.
It was the success of one temporary hotel that led to innovations in design, construction and service we still experience and appreciate today. The 2,257-room Inside Inn was built specifically and temporarily for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. After the exposition, it was demolished and sold for scraps but not before it generated $361,000 in net profits for its owner, Ellsworth Milton “E.M.” Statler
.
Many in our industry have heard of E.M. Statler (1863-1928), especially if you went to Cornell University, whose Statler Hotel is the showcase for Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration.
With the profits from The Inside Inn, Statler built his first permanent hotel, The Statler Hotel in Buffalo, New York. The hotel was successful and led to a chain of hotels in other cities. Statler was the first major hotel chain to have a bathroom in every room. His innovative Statler Plumbing Shaft is still used in modern construction. From providing paper and pens for correspondence (prominently bearing the Statler name) to a light in the closet, Statler brought the average traveler a level of luxury that was otherwise unaffordable.
“Before E.M. Statler there really were hotels, but that is like saying there were cars before Henry Ford,” according to the book “A Century of Hospitality.”Can education change the world?
In 2014, we hospitality professionals will celebrate the 100th anniversary of something started by two women. In 1914, Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales started a small school devoted to business education, which is now the largest foodservice educator in the world.
Johnson and Wales were college-educated teachers that decided to fill the need of education in the United States during a very pivotal point in American history. World War I was raging in Europe, the women’s suffrage movement was awakened a couple years before and America was rising to be a significant world power. Who knew this small business school would today educate more than 17,000 students annually. Johnson & Wales University operates campuses in four locations: Providence, Rhode Island; Denver; Charlotte, North Carolina; and North Miami, Florida. Over the years, JWU has educated individuals in business, counseling psychology, culinary arts, education, engineering, equine management, hospitality and technology programs across its campuses.
On a personal note, although I did not graduate from JWU, it surely had a huge influence on my life and played a significant role in shaping my career aspirations. My dad, “Mr. Trivia” Bill Zembruski, was one of JWU’s first graduates of its dedicated hospitality school. Wanting to be just like him, I got into this business at an early age and never left. Also graduating from JWU is Emeril Lagasse and numerous other TV food personalities. Most likely, you’ve enjoyed the results of a Johnson & Wales educated professional; they own and operate restaurants and hotels across the nation and beyond.
A Quiz for You – The Speed Round
1. As of 2007, how many hotel brands are there?
2. How many hotel brands were there in 1980?
3. How many new brands were introduced between 2005 and 2006?
4. Initially called a “vertical railway,” the first elevator was installed in New York’s Fifth Avenue Hotel in what year?
5. U.S. hotel industry’s lowest national occupancy percentage (annually) was 51% in what year?
6. Which major hotel chain is named after a movie?
7. The Union Public Hotel, the first U.S. building to be called a hotel, was constructed in which U.S. city and in what year?
8. Why does every Hilton Garden Inn have a burger on the menu called The Mobley Burger?
9. Most every Marriott hotel has a restaurant called Allie’s. What’s the significance of that name?
10. How many guestrooms are there in the world?
11. How many guestrooms are there in the U.S.?
12. How many guestrooms will there be on the moon in 2050?
.
Last note: It’s an interesting observation that the motivational drive to be recognized is very different from the motivational drive to create. Many of these innovators created something because it’s what they were born to do. Most likely, having that creative outlet gave them much more satisfaction than anyone could ever give them by simply writing a column about them 50+ years after their death. Either way, it’s important to recognize those who came before us, and I will raise a glass tonight and make a silent toast to some of the individuals who helped shape our great industry. I invite you to do the same.
Adam Zembruski is the president of Pharos Hospitality, a Charlotte, NC-based hotel investment platform explicitly designed to acquire, own and operate franchised upscale select service hotels. Adam oversees all operating entities at Pharos, including Property Assessments and Takeover, Sales and Marketing, Revenue Management, Human Resources and Culture Development, System Implementation, Financial Analysis, and Talent/Performance Tracking. Adam can be reached at 704-333-1818, ext. 12, or via email at azembruski@pharoshospitality.com
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HotelNewsNow.com or its parent company, Smith Travel Research and its affiliated companies. Columnists published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns.