Airline Safety - Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality

Elisabeth Tiberio
Assignment#3 Industry Pioneers
THM 101 - Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality

Works Cited

(2004). Retrieved January 23, 2013, from Kemmons Wilson, a Business Legend: http://orangelake.com/kemmons_business.html
Bernstein, A. (2003, February 14). Business and Technology. Retrieved January 23, 2013, from The Seatle Times: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20030214&slug=wilsonobit14

Kemmons Wilson: My Nominee for "Hospitality Hall of Fame" I am here today to nominate Kemmons Wilson as the next pioneer to be inducted into the "Hospitality Hall of Fame." "Kemmons Wilson, born January 5, 1913, was his widowed mother, Doll 's, only child" (Bernstein, 2003). Wilson 's strong work ethics first shown at the early age of six when he went from selling newspapers to managing others to sell them for him. Tragedy struck though when he was hit by a car. But Wilson did not let the accident hold him back. He fought his way back to strength and health. Broke and burdened by The Great Depression, Wilson then made the tough decision, "at age seventeen, to leave high school and go to work, to support him and his mother. Wilson began selling popcorn outside of a movie theater"(Bernstein,2003). He surely wasn 't afraid of hard work, always putting in long and weary hours. In fact, later in life, one of his twenty rules for success was, "Only work half a day. It doesn 't matter which half you work-the first 12 hours or the second 12 hours." Using his keen sense for business, it wasn 't long before Wilson used his saved income to turn a new venture into profit. He went from selling popcorn to owning eleven movie theaters. Wilson didn 't stop there. "He profited from his Wulitzer jukebox franchise and soon began a lucrative construction business. By 1940 Wilson owned four million dollars of real estate in the Memphis area"("Kemmons Wilson, a Business Legend," 2004).

Cited: (2004). Retrieved January 23, 2013, from Kemmons Wilson, a Business Legend: http://orangelake.com/kemmons_business.html Bernstein, A. (2003, February 14). Business and Technology. Retrieved January 23, 2013, from The Seatle Times: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20030214&slug=wilsonobit14 Kemmons Wilson: My Nominee for "Hospitality Hall of Fame" I am here today to nominate Kemmons Wilson as the next pioneer to be inducted into the "Hospitality Hall of Fame." "Kemmons Wilson, born January 5, 1913, was his widowed mother, Doll 's, only child" (Bernstein, 2003). Wilson 's strong work ethics first shown at the early age of six when he went from selling newspapers to managing others to sell them for him. Tragedy struck though when he was hit by a car. But Wilson did not let the accident hold him back. He fought his way back to strength and health. Broke and burdened by The Great Depression, Wilson then made the tough decision, "at age seventeen, to leave high school and go to work, to support him and his mother. Wilson began selling popcorn outside of a movie theater"(Bernstein,2003). He surely wasn 't afraid of hard work, always putting in long and weary hours. In fact, later in life, one of his twenty rules for success was, "Only work half a day. It doesn 't matter which half you work-the first 12 hours or the second 12 hours." Using his keen sense for business, it wasn 't long before Wilson used his saved income to turn a new venture into profit. He went from selling popcorn to owning eleven movie theaters. Wilson didn 't stop there. "He profited from his Wulitzer jukebox franchise and soon began a lucrative construction business. By 1940 Wilson owned four million dollars of real estate in the Memphis area"("Kemmons Wilson, a Business Legend," 2004). Though a successful, self-made millionaire, Kemmons Wilson always held his family and his values closest to his heart. Before entering World War II Wilson sold off his possessions; to ensure, if the unthinkable were to happen, his debt would not ever saddle his mother or his new bride, Dorothy Lee. "But Kemmons Wilson, now a distinguished combat pilot, did return home in 1945 and he and Dorothy began raising their family. Their five children would soon be the inspiration that changed the hospitality world as everyone knew it" (Kemmons Wilson, a Business Legend, 2004). Kemmons Wilson didn 't just recognize opportunity when he saw it, he seized it! While on vacation in 1952, Wilson channeled his disgust towards lodging prices and poor conditions into what has catapulted him to the top of the hospitality industry. His vision? Not just one hotel, but 400 hotels. Spread out across the country, all within one day 's drive of the next. Each would have larger and well-maintained accommodations that were unheard of in those days. If it was up to Kemmons Wilson, no longer would you have to drive your family from a hotel to a restaurant because his hotel would come equipped with one. It would also have a pool for the kids, who, by the way, would stay for free. As his ideas drafted to paper, an old Bing Crosby movie gave his up and coming hotel chain it 's name, "Holiday Inn." Kemmons Wilson 's intuition into what comforted others, proved to be second to none. "Just ten years later, his 400th hotel went up and he was averaging two new hotels a week" (Kemmons Wilson, a Business Legend, 2004). Kemmons Wilson, still seeing room for improvement, "was the first to introduce computerized reservation systems, having IBM create his Holidex, enabling reservations made, for any one of his hotels, with just one phone call"(Kemmons Wilson, a Business Legend, 2004). Holliday Inn set the new standard in hotel hospitality. By the time "Kemmons Wilson retired in 1979, there were over 1500 Holiday Inns in over 50 countries, bringing in annual revenues of over 1 billion in dollars" (Kemmons Wilson, a Business Legend, 2004). From a young boy to an old gentleman, Wilson stayed true to hard work and home values. By having the ability to bring his ideas to fruition, my nominee for the "Hospitality Hall of Fame", Kemmons Wilson, single-handedly, reshaped and revolutionized the Hospitality Industry.