Pioneers and Leaders of the Hospitality Industry

Pioneers and Leaders of the Hospitality Industry

• Ellsworth Milton Statler (October 26, 1863 -April 16, 1928) was the founder of the Statler Hotels chain. He was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. A few years later, his family moved to Bridgeport, Ohio, across the Ohio River from Wheeling. There the young E. M. Statler started to work at the La. Belle Glass Factory. He was only 9. • Statler proved a hard and determined worker. But the glassworks was not for him. He had developed a fascination with the Mc. Lure Hotel in Wheeling. By his 13 th year he had obtained a job as a bellboy. Thus began a life in the hotel industry.

• Statler quickly worked his way up. By age 15 he had become head bellboy, then night desk clerk, and finally day desk clerk. From this experience he learned the functions and jobs of hotels. He also began to develop ideas to improve hotel service and efficiency He began to test these ideas with business ventures. • The first such venture was a billiard room in the Mc. Lure Hotel. He turned an unprofitable low class establishment into a profitable high Ellsworth Milton class establishment. He then went on to Statler, Age 18 develop a bankrupt bowling club into a profitable venture, complete with a pie shop. These ventures gave Statler a reputation among businessmen and lenders as hardworking and reliable. It was clear to many that he would go far.

• His most ambitious move came in 1894 when he opened Statler's Restaurant in the new Ellicott Square Building in Buffalo had a reputation as a poor restaurant town. Despite Statler's best efforts to make the restaurant as efficient as possible it lost money. • But then Statler discovered the power of advertising. A series of newspaper ads and publicity stunts later, Statler's Restaurant was a resounding success.

• In 1901, he opened a 2100 room temporary hotel, the “Outside Inn” to house visitors to the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo. • Ellsworth Statler had carried his dream of building a fine hotel over 25 years. His profits from his Pan-American Hotel did not total enough for this project to move forward, but he continued to make a great deal of money from his Statler's Restaurant. Savings from that allowed him to construct the Inside Inn on the grounds of the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. Pan-American Hotel

– He returned to Buffalo in after the fair closed with a profit of $361, 000, almost $8 million dollars in 2006 dollars. He also returned in a wheelchair, having been seriously injured during the St. Louis Fair when a coffee urn exploded at his Inn, resulting in third-degree burns from Statler's waist to his toes. With extraordinary effort and months of therapy, he regained his ability to walk again. – With the end of the St. Louis fair Statler was prepared to build his first permanent hotel. It would be in Buffalo and would incorporate all he had learned from his previous ventures. This hotel, the Buffalo Statler, quickly became famous and successful. – In 1908, Ellsworth Milton Statler opened what many believed to be the first “modern” hotel, the Buffalo Statler Towers, Buffalo

• It is considered to be the precursor of the modern hotel because of its many innovations that includes: – – • • Fire doors; Installation of light switches inside the door so that guests could enter a lighted room; – Private bathrooms; – Key holes placed directly above doorknobs for easy access; – Circulating hot and cold water in each room; – Full-length mirrors – Morning newspaper “A Bed with A Bath for A Dollar and A Half” Famous Slogan Statler Service Code The Hotels Statler Company, Inc. , was sold to Conrad Hilton's (Hilton Hotels) in 1954 for $111, 000 in what was then the world's largest real estate transaction.

• It was with the intention of buying a bank that he arrived in Texas at the height of the oil boom. He bought his first hotel instead, the 40 -room Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas, in 1919, when a bank purchase fell through. The hotel did such brisk business that rooms changed hands as much as three times a day, and the dining room was converted into additional rooms to meet the demand

• He went on to buy and build hotels throughout Texas, including the high rise Dallas Hilton, opened in 1925; the Abilene Hilton in 1927; Waco Hilton in 1928; and El Paso Hilton in 1930. • He built his first hotel outside of Texas in 1939 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, today known as the Hotel Andaluz. During the Great Depression Hilton was nearly forced into bankruptcy and lost several of his hotels. Nonetheless he was retained as manager of a combined chain, and eventually regained control of his remaining eight hotels. In 1925, he built his first hotel to carry the Hilton name in Dallas.

• In 1938, Conrad Hilton opened his first hotel outside Texas, the Sir Francis Drake in San Francisco. • In 1943, Hilton had properties from coast to coast. – In 1945, as World War II ended, Hilton purchased what was the largest hotel of its time, The Stevens Hotel, and renamed it the Chicago Hilton and Towers.

• In 1949, Hilton acquired one of the most famous hotels of all time founded by the legendary William Waldorf Astor, The Waldorf-Astoria. • In 1954, Hilton purchased the Statler Hotel Company in what was then the largest real estate transaction to date with the amount of 111 million dollars.

• Throughout the 1950 s and 1960 s, Hilton expanded domestically and internationally. • In 1979, the founder, Conrad Hilton, died. His son, Barron Hilton became the president and continued to run the company today. - Being born on Oct 23, Barron Hilton (William Barron Hilton) was born on Sunday, October 23, 1927 in Dallas is a Scorpio. - his ethnicity: White. - his mother's name: Mary Adelaide Barron. - his father's name: Conrad Hilton. - Brothers : Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Eric Michael Hilton. - Sister : Francesca.

• There are six factors (management principles) upon which Hilton Hotels operate: – – – Time and Motion studies Job Analysis Job Standards Safety Programs Pricing Policy Strict Budget Control • Hilton believed in absolute cost control. He is credited with introducing new methods of forecasting and control techniques into the hotel business.

• Another contemporary in the hotel industry is J. Williard Marriott. Who began as a restaurateur in Washington, D. C. in 1927. • In 1937, Marriott, exhibiting his trademark innovation, offered the first ever in-flight food service to airlines servicing the old Hoover Airfield in Washington. • Marriott opened his first hotel, called Twin Bridges, in 1957.

• Throughout the 1950 s and 1960 s, Marriott expanded its restaurant and hotel operations. • In 1972, J. W. Marriott Jr. , succeeded his father as chief executive officer. • In 1980 s, Marriott divested itself of much of its food service holdings, positioning itself as a lodging and contract services company. • Today, Marriott is a widely recognized name with several hotel brands under management.

• Kemmons Wilson, frustrated with the long distances for vacations or to visit friends and family that affected the nature of lodging, created the Holliday Inn concept to provide a clean, low-priced room for families like his. • The first Holiday Inn was opened in Memphis in 1952.

• He incorporated theory of brand loyalty to his chain hotels. • Brand loyalty is defined as the institutionalized preferences of a consumer for a product or service based on a brand name or logo.

• This philosophy of consistency has lead many to credit Kemmons Wilson as the founder of the modern hotel chain. • Kemmons Wilson is widely considered to be the first hotelier to put two beds in one hotel room. KEMMONS WILSON (1913 -2003)

• César Ritz (February 23, 1850–October 24, 1918) was a famous Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels, most famously The Ritz Hotel. • His nickname was "king of hoteliers, and hotelier to kings, " and it is from his name and that of his hotels that the term ritzy derives.

• Ritz worked as the first manager of the Savoy Hotel before he opened the Hôtel Ritz in Paris, France in 1898. • He went on to open The Ritz Hotel in London, United Kingdom and the Hotel Ritz Madrid in Madrid, Spain. Ritz enjoyed a long partnership with Escoffier, the famous French chef and father of modern French cooking. The partnership lasted until Ritz's breakdown. • Ritz was born in Niederwald, Switzerland, and died in Küsnacht, near Lucerne, Switzerland.

Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American fast food businessman who joined Mc. Donald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime.

In 1954, a fifty-two-year-old milk-shake machine salesman saw a hamburger stand in San Bernardino, California, and envisioned a massive new industry: fast food. In what should have been his golden years, Raymond Kroc, the founder and builder of Mc. Donald's Corporation, proved himself an industrial pioneer no less capable than Henry Ford. He revolutionized the American restaurant industry by imposing discipline on the production of hamburgers, french fries, and milk shakes. By developing a sophisticated operating and delivery system, he insured that the french fries customers bought in Topeka would be the same as the ones purchased in New York City. Such consistency made Mc. Donald's the brand name that defined American fast food.

(Richard "Dick" Mc. Donald, c. 19091998 and Maurice "Mac" Mc. Donald, 1971) Originators of the Speedy Service System and Mc. Donald's restaurants. Built first Mc. Donald's franchised restaurant with Golden Arches in Phoenix Contrary to popular belief, the first Mc. Donald's franchise, and the first Mc. Donald's to feature the infamous golden arches was located not in California, nor in Illinois. It was built right here in Phoenix, two years before Ray Kroc met the Mc. Donald brothers.

George T. Yang built the first Golden Arches in the Philippines in 1981. As of 2005, Mc. Donald’s Philippines is a 100% Filipino-owned company. From its first restaurant along Morayta, Manila in 1981, Mc. Donald’s has grown to become one of the leading fast food chains with close to 300 restaurants nationwide! With Kenneth S. Yang at the helm, Mc. Donald’s is now a multi-billion peso company that continues to expand serve Filipinos all over the country.

Georges Auguste Escoffier 28 October 1846, – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. He is a legendary figure among chefs and gourmands, and was one of the most important leaders in the development of modern French cuisine. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Antoine Carême, one of the codifiers of French haute cuisine, but Escoffier's achievement was to simplify and modernize Carême's elaborate and ornate style. Referred to by the French press as roi des cuisiniers et cuisinier des rois ("king of chefs and chef of kings"—though this had also been previously said of Carême), Escoffier was France's pre-eminent chef in the early part of the 20 th century.

Alongside the recipes he recorded and invented, another of Escoffier's contributions to cooking was to elevate it to the status of a respected profession by introducing organized discipline to his kitchens. He organized his kitchens by the brigade de cuisine system, with each section run by a chef de partie. A chef de partie is a cook who is in charge of one area of a restaurant's kitchen. In smaller kitchens, he or she may work alone, while in larger ones, a chef de partie may supervise others working at the same station. This position also might be termed a line cook or station chef, and is responsible for preparing specific dishes. As with any position in a restaurant's kitchen, this cook needs to thrive in a high-pressure environment; time management and organization are as vital as culinary skills to this position. Escoffier published Le Guide Culinaire, which is still used as a major reference work, both in the form of a cookbook and a textbook on cooking. Escoffier's recipes, techniques and approaches to kitchen management remain highly influential today, and have been adopted by chefs and restaurants not only in France, but also throughout the world.

• Founders of Sheraton Hotel Corporations • The world's leading international hotel company and third-largest hotel company in terms of number of rooms, ITT Sheraton Corporation owns, leases, manages, or franchises some 450 hotels, inns, and resorts in 65 countries on five continents.

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