Recommended Reading – Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry

Posted on June 15, 2017 by John J. Hogan, HospitalityEducators.com and HoganHospitality.com

Great American Hoteliers Stanley Turkel has spent his career with a number of well-known companies in management roles. These include Loews, Sheraton and Americana. He consulted with Dunfey (now Omni) and found his permanent home in his favorite city – New York. Turkel is well-known in the hotel industry, from his writing, his hotel consulting practice, his expert witness service in hotel-related cases, as well as asset management and hotel franchising consultation. He is certified as a Master Hotel Supplier Emeritus by the Educational Institute of AH&LA.

At times, Stan can be sometimes controversial in his monthly editorials NOBODY ASKED ME, BUT… yet without a doubt he has left his mark on the industry with his insights, his shared knowledge, the questions he asks and in his writing.

I just finished a book I meant to read years ago and wish I had done so earlier. Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry is a fascinating and interesting refresher of where much of our industry found its foundation.

At a time when the industry is soaring and ownership is as widespread as it has ever been, it is appropriate to look at where some of that success originated.

Turkel considered 16 hospitality professionals he ranked as significant. Alphabetically, they are:

John Bowman – founder of the Biltmore Hotels brand
Carl Fisher – the developer of Miami Beach
Henry Flagler – the multi-industry entrepreneur who developed much of eastern Florida through railroads and hotels
John Q. Hammons – an early Holiday Inn franchisee who developed his own systems and destiny
Frederich Harvey – a turn of the century western developer who innovated national parks and service delivery
Ernest Henderson – a real estate developer who accidently created the Sheraton Hotel brand and came to enjoy some of the facets of hospitality
Conrad Hilton – a name recognized by most, but with stories that are worth reading about how he came to unintentionally make hotels his niche
Howard Johnson – a restaurateur now mainly forgotten, but who made interstate food and lodging an essential part of American travel
Willard Marriott – the father of better known Bill Marriott, Jr, this pioneer had to be convinced to change his beliefs and switch from food service in many facets to hotels
K M Patel – one of the early innovators from India who found inn keeping as a bridge to success for his and many other Indian immigrants who found being a hotelier an honorable profession
Henry Plant – a lesser known developer who developed the Gulf Coast of Florida
George Pullman – not usually thought of as a hotelier, this innovator created hotels on wheels. This is a mixed story of success and unpleasant actions, in my estimation
A M Sonnanbend – creator of a family business that managed many of New York and America’s better known eastern hotels as well as creating several brands
Ellsworth Statler – I admit to a bias here, in that I know a great deal about one of the most innovative and creative hoteliers America has ever known. While he passed away in 1928, his legacy remains in construction, service, training, profitability, marketing and value for both guest and hotel owner.
Juan Trippe – known primarily as an airline executive, this Pan Am innovator partnered travel with both hotels and air travel
Kemmons Wilson – a construction builder, Wilson used his personal family travel challenges to create a family friendly hotel that grew to one of the world’s largest and best known brands

A book worth reading for a University level program, or for those who are looking to understand how the past influences the future.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Respectfully

John J Hogan, CHA CHMS CHE CHO

John Hogan 10.16 no.6 John J. Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO^[1] is a career hotelier, author and educator who has held senior leadership with responsibility in several organizations involving operational, academic and entrepreneurial enterprise. He has been affiliated in management roles with Sheraton, Hilton, Dunfey (now Omni), Park Suite (now Embassy Suites), Med Center Inns of America, Best Western world headquarters and independent properties. He taught as an adjunct professor for more than 20 years at 3 different colleges and conducted more than 5,000 classes and workshops in his career as of 2016.

He is Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer of HospitalityEducators.com, which was founded in 2010 as a solutions center for hotel owners and managers. HospitalityEducators.com completely updated and has been facilitating the Certified Hotel Owners program for AAHOA since 2012, with a participant approval rating of over 97% and more than 1400 certifications to date.

As the principal of Hogan Hospitality, he has provided litigation support, hotel expert witness services and hotel owner support services. He holds a number of industry certifications and is a past recipient of the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Pearson Award for Excellence in Lodging Journalism, as well as operational and marketing awards from international brands. He has served as President of both city and state hotel associations and as an elected Chair of a major brand Hotel Owners Council.

Specific new services, workshops and keynote topics can be found at johnjhogan.com, including

WHAT THEY DON’T TEACH YOU AT HOTEL SCHOOL
IT’S THE SIZE OF YOUR IDEA, NOT THE SIZE OF YOUR BUDGET
2017 HOT TOPICS ON SAFETY, SECURITY AND LEGAL ISSUES FACING HOTEL OWNERS AND MANAGERS THIS YEAR
15 TIMELESS STRATEGIES FOR TODAY’S LEADERS

He is currently working with his partner Kathleen Hogan and others on several new projects including the HOTELIERMASTERMIND series, an eBook series with Howard Feiertag on hotel sales, two new web sites and a fresh set of Keynote and Workshop programs, hospitality services and columns.

He writes regular columns for a number of global online services, has published 500 columns and 225 blogs for industry publications. He co-authored (with Howard Feiertag, CHA CMP) LESSONS FROM THE FIELD – a COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO EFFECTIVE HOTEL SALES as well co-authoring the Supervisory Skill Builders from the Educational Institute. Hogan’s professional experience includes over 43 years in operations, service, sales & marketing, training, management development and asset management on both a single and multi-property basis.

He has supported numerous industry boards that deal with education and/or cultural diversity for more than 15 years. He served on the AH&LA Certification Commission of the Educational Institute and as brand liaison to the NAACP and AAHOA with his long term involvement in the Certified Hotel Owner program.

Contact: John Hogan John.Hogan@HospitalityEducators.com 602-799-5375

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjohnhoganchache/

[1] Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA), Certified Master Hotel Supplier (CMHS), Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE), Certified Hotel Owner (CHO)

Recommended Reading : Hotel Mavens – A solid rating on the founders and history of one of old New York’s great hotels, and more…

Posted on April 5, 2017 by John J. Hogan, HospitalityEducators.com and HoganHospitality.com

With the change in ownership and the re-purposing of one of America’s best known hotels, I am re-posting a review of a very different book than the others I have read by Stanley Turkel. While it follows much of his same incredible attention to detail on the history of hotels (including a continuing commitment to accuracy) , this book focuses almost entirely on a very focused period of time, on a few people who made a difference in American hotel keeping and on one very famous hotel in the largest city in America.

1st of all, Turkel defines what a “maven” is, which is an expert who passes on knowledge to others. Turkel identifies three people he describes as mavens. While these are not household names to most people (even in the hospitality business), they played an important role in certain development of styles and protocols in American hotels

Lucius Boomer was chairman of the Waldorf-Astoria Corporation. Turkel explains in great detail about his noted career of managing or overseeing a number of major hotels in the northeast part of the USA from the early part of the 20th century through the 1940s.
George Boldt is a lesser known, but important player in American hospitality and Turkel highlights the emphasis on service, grooming, standards and systems that Boldt introduced and maintained in his time (through 1916).
Oscar Tschirky, or Oscar of the Waldorf as he was mainly known, is perhaps the best known of the three to the consumer or non-hotelier, as his tenure and flair at the famous hotel for a half century was well chronicled at the time and later via several food dishes named in his honor.

Turkel is an acknowledged authority on the history of New York City hotels, including both those that remain in existence today and those that have been converted or demolished. I considered it a sincere privilege to read and review Turkel’s earlier book Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York , which was a fascinating read for anyone interested in history, building design and hospitality. The collection of historic properties that Turkel chose for that book featured 32 distinctively different properties. Some of them are well known such as the Plaza and the St Regis hotels, but most of them are less well known but just as interesting as they evolved from their original design and market positioning.Author Turkel was designated as the 2014 Historian of the Year National Trust for Historic Preservation and Historic Hotels of America in October, 2014 at their Awards Conference at the Hotel Hershey, Hershey, Pa. , for his zealous devotion to communicating the role of hotels in American business and life.

Hotel Mavens continues Turkel’s thorough sharing of this information through documented details about many well known American hotels – the Lenox in Boston, the Bellevue Stratford in Philadelphia, the Willard in Washington DC and many in New York City including the Claridge, the Sherry Netherland, the Plaza (briefly) and more. He explains how the Intercontinental Hotel Corporation came to be and how so many famous people and hotels came and went over a 50 year period.

In some places, this book is not always easy to read, and that is due to the evolution of language used 100 years ago that is included in this book.

There are diagrams and communications from the early Waldorf-Astoria days and a good number of black and white photos that bring the stories to life. He shares anecdotes and real-life stories that became standards in the industry, while others became dated and did not have staying power.

The section on “Staff News” about the original Waldorf-Astoria in February 1928 was written by hotel employees. Facts about the construction of the current Waldorf-Astoria were written by Lucius Boomer’s office in 1935 (three years after opening)

The Epilogue section of the book comes directly from the Waldorf-Astoria archives. As far as author Turkel knows, it has never been publicly reported before. Historically, it reveals unique material about the operation of the original and current Waldorf-Astoria hotels. For anyone interested in hotel operations from 85 years ago, it is chock full of revealing and fascinating material.

Hotel Mavens includes a good amount of material that is presented as and when it was written, which was sometimes a century ago. It refers to the attention given to foreign royalty and celebrities of the day at the Waldorf-Astoria and other hotels to the point of almost “drooling” over their importance. The condensed chronology from 1890-1929 includes information regarding the guests, famous and infamous who attended various functions at the hotel. One might think this dated, yet the social media and paparazzi of today do the same things with the names and faces in the news today.

The stories of how hotels were built, leased, sold, changed in function and more show how many of today’s business practices evolved.

I should also add an observation that in some places, the time line sequences do not flow easily to even a reader such as myself who is aware of at least some of the hotels’ histories or people. To someone who does not have a background in the industry, it might appear unintentionally vague or a bit confusing in places. Story lines and communication taken from the early days of the Waldorf-Astoria sometimes do not translate clearly in meaning as the language used today, which may cause a reader to be a bit puzzled at times.

Hotel Mavens is definitely worth reading and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the history of old New York, of how the hotel industry in America was influenced by big city hoteliers and investors and to anyone just interested in how life in New York City might have been before air travel, interstate highways, conventions, casinos and during Prohibition.

Good reading!

John J. Hogan CHA CHMS CHE CHO
Hospitality Educators
Hogan Hospitality

A solid rating on the founders & history of one of old New York’s great hotels, and how the hotel industry in America was influenced by big city hoteliers and investors

About John J. Hogan

John J. Hogan, CHA CMHS CHE CHO[1] is a career hotelier, author and educator who has held senior leadership with responsibility in several organizations involving operational, academic and entrepreneurial enterprise. He has been affiliated in management roles with Sheraton, Hilton, Dunfey (now Omni), Park Suite (now Embassy Suites), Med Center Inns of America, Best Western world headquarters and independent properties. He taught as an adjunct professor for more than 20 years at 3 different colleges and conducted more than 5,000 classes and workshops in his career as of 2016.

He is Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer of HospitalityEducators.com, which was founded in 2010 as a solutions center for hotel owners and managers. HospitalityEducators.com completely updated and has been facilitating the Certified Hotel Owners program for AAHOA since 2012, with a participant approval rating of over 97% and more than 1400 certifications to date.

As the principal of Hogan Hospitality, he has provided litigation support, hotel expert witness services and hotel owner support services. He holds a number of industry certifications and is a past recipient of the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Pearson Award for Excellence in Lodging Journalism, as well as operational and marketing awards from international brands. He has served as President of both city and state hotel associations and as an elected Chair of a major brand Hotel Owners Council.

Specific new services, workshops and keynote topics can be found at johnjhogan.com, including

WHAT THEY DON’T TEACH YOU AT HOTEL SCHOOL
IT’S THE SIZE OF YOUR IDEA, NOT THE SIZE OF YOUR BUDGET
2017 HOT TOPICS ON SAFETY, SECURITY AND LEGAL ISSUES FACING HOTEL OWNERS AND MANAGERS THIS YEAR
15 TIMELESS STRATEGIES FOR TODAY’S LEADERS

Contact: John Hogan John.Hogan@HospitalityEducators.com 602-799-5375

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjohnhoganchache/

[1] Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA), Certified Master Hotel Supplier (CMHS), Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE), Certified Hotel Owner (CHO)

Reality Checks in Hospitality- Myth or Fact? | By Dr. John Hogan CHA CHE CMHS CHO

Posted on December 9, 2013 by John J. Hogan, HospitalityEducators.com and HoganHospitality.com

Reality Checks in Hospitality- Myth or Fact? |

By Dr. John Hogan CHA CHE CMHS CHO

During the past 25 years in workshops and presentations, I have been collecting “myths” that many of us have held as self-evident truths. I have shared some in earlier columns, but this list is more comprehensive.

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic – John F. Kennedy

Judge for yourself the depth of these following items, and decide for yourself if you agree with my assessment whether they are “myths or facts”:

1. The Myth: that consumers will value only “new and shiny” and that they will pay whatever price is charged. The Fact: There is no doubt that while some “new” is appreciated, value has replaced new for the sake of new. Many third party web sites have tried to accelerate our industry into a price driven commodity. The success of a hotel is not guaranteed by its age, but by the consistency of product and services delivered at a fair rate.

2. The Myth that a franchise or brand will or should guarantee success. The Fact: More than 50% of the hotels/inns in the United States were unable to meet operational and/or debt service in the early 1990s, regardless of affiliation. The number of foreclosures is down with the last recession, but there are still many underperforming branded hotels. Stanley Turkel has been tracking the numbers and he estimates almost 200 new brands that have been launched in the past two years alone. A franchise may help with lender financing but it will not assure success.

3. The Myth that technology alone will enable us to improve our margins and capture more market share. The Fact: The hospitality industry has always been (and should remain) a “high touch” business. High-speed Internet access, WIFI, the latest in cable and communication offerings and other high tech features can help in competitive markets, but not replace the people element.

4. The Myth that it is the sole responsibility of the security guard or the local police to keep our hotels “safe.” The Fact: Ask any hotelier who has ever had to give a deposition or defend operational security in court if that myth holds true. The term “reasonable care” means that all of our staff must be attentive and security conscious. Our hotels should not be operated like a bank vault or a prison, but we must remember the world has changed since 9.11 and we must share awareness with our entire staff.

5. The Myth that hotel owners, management companies and lenders have the same goals and priorities. The Fact: While everyone wants the business to succeed, the priorities of success are not often even close. There are overlaps in these stakeholders, but there are clear differences. There is no “bad guy” here, but we need to remember each of our needs. Recognizing these differences as owners and managers can make our lives much simpler.

6. The Myth that the hospitality business is primarily a real estate business. The Fact: The 1986 US tax law changed lodging from an emphasis on real estate to an operational focus in the 1990s. The 2008 global financial meltdown dramatically changed the economic climate . It takes dedicated and perceptive operators to make these hotels successful and financially sound for more than one fiscal quarter or year.

7. The Myth that our quality standards are good, because we passed a franchise and/or local health department inspection. The Fact: Passing those inspections means in most cases that we have met minimum standards for those categories. How many of today’s customers really want the minimum in quality?

8. The Myth that the person(s) charged with the sales function should be able to fill the hotel. The Fact: In the hotels that really succeed, everyone sells! The same philosophy should be true in smaller rooms only hotels as well as full service properties. It is a related Myth that our managers and staff are adequately trained and that our industry or college educated staff have learned enough to make them successful. The related Fact is that most of us in hospitality do not have adequate continuing education. That myth alone is a leading factor in turnover, which is a major expense.

9. The Myth that the GM is responsible for quality. The Fact: At past conventions of many brands, management companies, national and international Associations I have seen presentations from hotels of all sizes who participated with quality teams. Their results were usually of exceeding both occupancy and profitability over hotels that did not make a focused effort – regardless of hotel size, brand or location. The term used is one we are all familiar with – empowerment. It means hiring the right people and then authorizing them to do what we hired them to do

10. The Myth that an expensive renovation, a new flag, or a new manager alone will “save” us and solve all our problems. The Fact: It takes time, focused and planned work to solve our problems and to properly financially position our hotels for the long-term. It takes the right combination of quality product and committed staff to succeed.

11. The Myth:” If what I’m doing today works well or at least OK, I should keep doing it exactly the same forever.” “if we never did things differently, we would never get any other results.” The Fact: Our world is changing so quickly and regularly – we must be pro-active, not always reactive. Inflation and time will not allow us to raise our room rates a certain percentage annually and we must avoid the illogical price war strategies many hotels use as a primary marketing strategy. We should maximize our rates and our revenues by offering the best value in our market.

12. The Myth that we provide sufficient feedback to our staff with regular annual reviews. The Fact: Annual reviews alone are almost worthless. Do we recall the great thing someone did 9 months ago, or the problems of 10 days ago? Quarterly performance appraisals with an annual financial review are worth the effort from renewed enthusiasm to a more focused attention.

13. The Myth that hospitality associations are a needless expense and they are primarily social clubs. The Fact: Some associations were and possibly remain at least partially socially focused. The reality is that most of them are politically astute, in that they are attentive to memberships’ needs in introducing, monitoring or lobbying against legislation that treats the industry unfairly. Most provide ongoing educational and specific membership services.

Our myths and belief in them shape our understanding of our personal and business lives. They describe for us “the way things are.”

Add your own myths to the list………..

We must remember that we must focus on delivering the right services to the right customer at the right price, which means attentiveness to sales and marketing efforts are essential.

Success does not come by accident or chance.

Contact us for assistance.

John.Hogan@HospitalityEducators.com or 602-799-5375

HospitalityEducators.com was created to help hospitality businesses address problems via a training and information resource site to help you increase your Hotel’s revenue, market share and profitability. With more than 2,000 pages of tips, guides, best practices, strategies, plans, budgets, videos and resources, HospitalityEducators.com is the #1 independent website for hotel owners and managers. This site can help you solve your problems now! Read More

KEYS TO SUCCESS is the umbrella title for my ongoing programs, hospitality services and columns. This year’s writings focus on a variety of topics for hotel owners, managers and professionals including both my “HOW TO” articles, HOSPITALITY CONVERSATIONS™, Lessons from the Field™, Hotel Common Sense™ , THE P-A-R PRINCIPLE™ and Principles for Success.

Feel free to share an idea for a column at john.hogan@hospitalityeducators.com anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops, speaking engagements … And remember – we all need a regular dose of common sense,

John Hogan is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant and is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. He is CEO and Co-Founder of www.HospitalityEducators.com , which delivers focused and affordable counsel in solving specific challenges facing hospitality today.
www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.

www.HoganHospitality.com
Your Hospitality Resource for the Hotel Owner, Innkeeper, Manager and Hospitality Industry Associations.

John J Hogan of HoganHospitality & HospitalityEducators Blog

Making Your Hotel More Profitable! Your Resource for Hotel Owners, Innkeepers, Managers and Hospitality Associations

Tag Archives: Stanley Turkel

Recommended Reading- Historian Turkel reminds us how the past influences the future

Comments and suggestions for future articles are always welcome john@hoganhospitality.com

Recommended Reading – Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry

A book worth reading for a University level program, or for those who are looking to understand how the past influences the future.

Recommended Reading from HospitalityEducators.com| Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels In New York

Comments and suggestions for future articles are always welcome john@hoganhospitality.com

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A book worth reading for a University level program, or for those who are looking to understand how the past influences the future.

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A solid rating on the founders & history of one of old New York’s great hotels, and how the hotel industry in America was influenced by big city hoteliers and investors

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