Celebrating Forty Years of HOTELS Magazine: 1960s

By Staff -- Hotels, 8/1/2006

Trailblazers Set Industry Standards

The 1960s marked an industry starting to come of age, and 1966 was an especially important year in publishing as Service World International—one of the forerunners to HOTELS magazine— launched at the Hanover Fair in Germany, becoming and remaining the only global industry magazine serving its nomadic readers as they traverse the world.

The ’60s headlines: franchising takes off; airlines emerge as hotel owners; free ice and telephones in every room; design revolutionized with the first atrium hotel in Atlanta created by Hyatt and designer John Portman. At the same time, amenities, ranging from branded shampoos to 24-hour roomservice, started turning the lodging business into a true service business.

Kemmons Wilson was the industry’s trailblazer, developing and franchising more than 100 Holiday Inn hotels. In 1966, Marion Isbell, head of Ramada, said he planned to grow his brand from just over 100 motels to more than 500 by 1969—the boom was on and industry giants were born.

With the introduction of the superjet, hoteliers such as InterContinental, Hilton and Holiday Inn readied for passenger movement by launching international divisions and opening hotels in major gateways across Europe, South America, Africa and Asia.

Hoteliers also were invading airports: Hilton added its sixth airport inn; Continental Airlines made plans with Inter-Island Resorts in Hawaii; the TWA-Hilton International alliance was in the news; Australia’s Qantas already operated several hotels and was building more; Lufthansa was preparing to operate a new lodging complex at the Cologne airport; and Air France took ownership of a hotel in Corsica and was eyeing New York City. The July 1967 issue of Service World International stated, “The plane-to-parking- to-hotel ‘total service system’ is the shape of tomorrow.”

In Europe, companies like Trust House were spreading their wings beyond their borders, making a deal with Motels of Australia to create a chain of motels and motor hotels across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. In fact, motor hotels were following families across Europe with oil companies such as Esso and British Petroleum entering the field. In 1967, Esso had nine motor hotels complete with restaurant operations in five countries—Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy and England—with another 18 on the way through 1968.

In Southeast Asia, Hong Kong became the showplace during the ’60s with more than 6,000 hotel rooms becoming available. At the same time, about 80 hotels were built in Japan between 1960 and 1967.

A young J.W. Marriott Jr., started to mold an organization today known for efficiency and operational excellence and the dynamic duo of Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson planted the seed for what would become Accor by opening their first Novotel in Lille, France. Michael Kadoorie was starting to define luxury hotelkeeping as the Peninsula expanded in Hong Kong. The Carlson family launched its hotel business and Las Vegas started building megahotels with the 1,500-room Las Vegas Hilton under construction and getting ready to open.

The hottest topic of today, condo-hotels, is mentioned as early as the October 1967 edition of Service World International with a condominium in Colorado Springs included 80 hotel rooms owned by apartment owners. If you think about this business, you realize the more things change, the more they stay the same.

1962: Curt Carlson buys shares of The Radisson Hotel in Minneapolis

1963: The Mandarin Oriental opens in Hong Kong

1964: Hilton International spins off as a separate corporation with Conrad Hilton as president

1964: Marriott-Hot Shoppes, Inc. formed, and J.W. Marriott Jr. elected president at age 32

1964: Holiday Inns launches its Holidex I res system

1965: Hilton begins franchising hotels in the United States and has nine franchises open by 1966

1966: Howard Johnson, Holiday Inns and Quality Courts grow along the new Interstate highways in the United States

1966: Loews purchases the venerable Mark Hopkins in San Francisco

1966: In October, Service World International launches with 10,000 copies mailed to international readers. The title was also inserted into Institutions magazine published by Cahners Publishing in Chicago and Hotel Review in London

1966: The Century Plaza in Los Angeles, under the leadership of Harry Mullikin, who later was head of Westin, introduces concepts such as cocktails served in the lobby, costumed doormen, mints on the pillow at turndown, and point on the toilet tissue to signify a clean bathroom

1966: InterContinental introduces retractable drying lines in guest showers, as well as business lounges, ice and vending machines in guest corridors, and street entrances for hotel restaurants

1966: The Paris Hilton opens in April

1966: Best Western announces major expansion, including Europe, the Caribbean and the Pacific, as well as establishing a new reservations center offering toll-free service

1966: Barron Hilton becomes president of Hilton Hotels Corp.

1967: Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson create SIEH Group and the first Novotel opens in Lille, France

1967: The US$18 million Regency Hyatt House Hotel opens in Atlanta, featuring a 21-story atrium designed by John Portman. The hotel changes the course of hotel design

1967: The Outrigger Waikiki opens and is the first hotel within the company to carry the Outrigger name

1967: Hilton cooperates with major airlines in the “Take Your Wife Along” ad campaign

1968: Service World International is mailed on its own for the first time from United States and England with about 18,000 readers in more than 150 countries

1968: The first Holiday Inn hotel opens in Europe in Leiden, Holland

1969: Marriott launches international division with the opening of first non-U.S. hotel in Acapulco

1969: Westin is the first chain to implement 24-hour roomservice

1969: The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Co. opens the 800-room Hong Kong hotel: The Peninsula