CHLA Lodging News July/August 2019

www.calodging.com July/August 2019 13 The Origins & Growth of THE ORIGINS OF HOTEL FRANCHISING can likely be traced to the formation of a quality- standards-based marketing cooperative by seven motor court owners nearly 80 years ago in Florida. What began then as Quality Courts United is now Choice Hotels International, which franchises more than 6,500 hotels. Now part of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Holiday Inn entered the space in 1951 when Kemmons Wilson decided to create what he could not find during a family road trip from Memphis to Washington, D.C.—reasonably priced, clean, and comfortable motel rooms where kids (he had five) could stay at no additional charge. And, Wyndham Hotel Group’s most historic brand, Howard Johnson, began in 1954 as Howard Johnson Motor Lodges when the popular restaurant chain known best for its ice cream and fried clams leveraged its reputation for consistent food quality and successful restaurant operation to expand into lodging. These formidable forces in the hotel industry have grown and changed dramatically, as representatives from these organization plus longtime hotel owners and managers, William Meyer and Richard Jabara, explained to LODGING . Second generation hoteliers—their fathers were co-owners of various Holiday Inns in the 60s—William Meyer and Richard Jabara have seen enormous changes in the hotel industry, especially in franchising structure and operation, since founding Meyer Jabara Hotels some 40 years ago. As chairman and president & CEO, respectively, of a firm devoted to owning and managing hotels, Meyer and Jabara saw the transition during those years first-hand. Regarding this markedly altered scene, Meyer considers the most significant change during his own years in the business to be the proliferation of new brands within individual franchisors. “Back in 1977, when we entered the business, there were just a handful of major franchisors, and there was no such thing as limited service and select service,” he comments. Jabara recalls the power the franchisors had back then, when he and Meyer purchased their first property, a Holiday Inn in Danbury, Connecticut. “There was just one brand and it was theirs. They operated on the assumption franchisees needed only to use their blueprint and implement their programs— including kids eat free—to succeed.” But, to understand how and why hotel franchising developed as it did and how franchises have changed in response to all involved—guests, franchisors, and franchisees—and, perhaps most of all, technology, you have to go back further. Where It All Began It is no surprise that the development of the interstate highway system coincided with the rise of motor lodges. These events impacted not just the proliferation but also the location of lodging for families, who took to these new superhighways in record numbers to explore the country. Tim Shuy, VP of owner and portfolio strategy for Choice Hotels International, describes those first steps taken in 1939 by Quality Courts to establish for its members standards with respect to physical facilities and operating practices. “Back then, it was more of a co-op type of arrangement whereby owner members complied with standards and referred business to one another.” But the organization became more formalized as its reputation and membership grew in response to consumer demand during the following decades. “Families began travelling by car, and they needed comfortable places to stay. Hotels with the Quality Courts designation promised adherence to those standards,” explains Shuy. Beginning during its days as Quality Courts—still made up of independent owners of different types of hotels—it evolved to continues   Franchising in the Hotel Industry By Ellen Meyer