This is an iHeart Podcast. With Amex Gold, you can make dining out before the big event a big event. Hey, you made it. It's been so long. And earn four times membership rewards points on purchases at restaurants up to $50,000 per year.
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Terms apply. Learn more at AmericanExpress.com/slash with Amex. Taking over the helm of NBC Nightly News, a 75-year-old broadcast. It's a great responsibility. Good evening.
I'm Tom Yamas. You have to go out there to bring people at home closer to the store. Wildfires continue to be a threat. With that massive hurricane, comes the massive response. The best reporters in our business know how to listen.
And when you listen, you get the truth. For NBC News, I'm Tom Yamas. That's what we do every night. NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas, evenings on NBC. Hello, hello.
Malcolm Glaubwell here from Revisionist History. Did you know T-Mobile for Business has an award show specifically for their customers? It's happening October 20th in sunny Orlando, Florida, and I'm encouraging you, yes, you, to enter. This event honors outside-the-box thinking that changes industries, communities, and even the world. And if that doesn't sound great already?
I'll be there. as the keynote speaker. If your company did something next level using T Mobile for business, you're eligible. Entries closed july thirty first, so head to T Mobile dot com slash enter to learn more. and nominate your team.
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And we continue with our American stories, and now it's time. For our American Dreamers series, which is sponsored by the great folks at the Job Creators Network, and they work hard to help small businesses grow into bigger ones by fighting for public policies that effectuate such things. And today, we bring you the story of someone who likely you don't know. And his name is Kevins Wilson, but you definitely know the iconic brand. that he brought us.
Here is his son, Kemmons Wilson Jr. with a story. In 1951, we took a family vacation to Washington, D.C. And we had a big station wagon. And my father was going up there.
I think, you know, again, this is a... dual family vacation business trip. My two brothers, two sisters, all piled on the car. No air condition. And one of the funny store, we had a luggage rack on top.
And Portway So there's a trip. That suitcase flew off. And my brother Bob... Said, hey dad, he said, don't bother me, I'm driving. And dad.
Be quiet. And they just kept driving. Hey, Dad, I need to be quiet.
So we get uh some I guess the next Gasoline station. And he looks up and like, what is wrong?
Well, where is this?
So my brother Bob said, Well, I was trying to tell you that the suitcase fell off.
So we drove back. And Our clothes were all over the road. They had to car all over them. Back in those days, the road had a lot of tar. And so we basically had to throw them away and buy some new ones.
But the real story there was that Back in those days, they were mostly sole proprietor and mom and pop, Motel Cabana cabin owners. that had motel type rooms.
Now the big cities had the aristocratic downtown hotels. that were very expensive.
So you would, the situation was such that you actually had to go in. and inspect a room before you agreed to stay there. And that was for a lot of reasons. You know, you wanted to see. how big it was, was it clean?
I remember I was six at the time. Sitting in the car, my dad would walk up to the little office. And then he and the manager may walk out to See a cabana. And then many times he just walks straight back to the car. He said, hey, it wasn't big enough, it was too dirty.
And we're going to have to just keep driving. You know, back in those days, you didn't know how far the next place was.
So at anyway, we finally got to a place and of course as children We all wanted to stay at one that had a swimming pool. Because it was the summer, it was hot. But we got to this one. property And my dad went, looked at the room, came back, and said, okay, kids, this is good.
So we all piled into one single room and my brothers and sisters we had sleeping bags and we slept in the sleeping bags. And the deal he had made with the hotel owner was the room would cost $6.
So the next morning he goes to check out. and the guy charged him $16. And he said, wait a minute.
Now we... You know, we agreed yesterday it's $6. Why is it 16? He said, well, I charge $2 extra for every child. And of course there were five of us, so the $6 turns into $16.
And that was the spark that was in my father's head when he said, You know, this is just not fair. we didn't use any more. water or towels or linens or And the guy said, well, buddy, that's the way it is. And he realized at that moment that this was a huge... Untapped market.
And he made a determination then that he was going to come back to Memphis. and build a chain of hotels. And he told my mother. That day, he was going back to Memphis to build 400. hotels across the country.
mostly a day's drive from one another. And he said, furthermore, They're all going to have some standardization. They're all going to be the same size. They're all going to be clean. We're going to have a restaurant in everyone.
We're going to have a lounge in everyone. We're going to have a swimming pool in everyone. No, how about Get in. Bible one, everyone. You know, we're going to have a pastor on call.
We're going to have a doctor on call. Because he felt like Not just a normal guy. And you know if if i like this Fuck everybody ought to like this. And so My mother laughed at us. And obviously that gave him great incentive.
to prove a wrong.
So sure enough He came back to Memphis and He started, he was a frustrated architect. He loved Drawing.
So he went to a guy named Eddie Bluestain, he was a draftsman, not technically an architect. And my father knew exactly what he wanted in a hotel. And one of the reasons for that was he had the background in construction.
So he knew that lumber comes in 12 foot lengths. And carpet. comes in 12 foot. lengths of West.
So it's not surprising that the room that he designed was 12 foot in width. because that was the lumber. You didn't have to cut the lumber. You know, if it was 13 feet, you'd have to add something. If it was 11, you'd have to subtract something.
And really, even today, that's still the standard. Size room. Yeah, you'll find some a little bigger, some a little smaller. but he really set that in motion.
So Eddie Bluestein drew the plan that my dad told him. And you know, all architectural plans on the bottom left or bottom right, they have the name of the project. And it just so happens that He had watched the movie holiday in the night before. And so he drew on the plans. Hallelujah.
And He brought it to my dad the next day and My dad said, this is great. I like it. He said, what in the world is this? on the plants. He said, well, I don't know.
He said, It was just uh I saw the movie, I liked the name, and He said, you know, Eddie, I like that too. And so, sure enough, that's how it happened. And one of the things that really kind of has always impressed me in a sense was It may tell you a little bit about my dad's ego. that mister Hilton called his Hilton ends, Hilton's and mister Marriott calls his Marriott's. And then He was happy with Holiday Inns.
And, you know, probably. 30 years later, after the company was sold. They became the Promise Company, P-R-O-M-U-S. Promus was how they pronounced it. and dad had long since retired.
and we found out that they paid a half a million dollars. for some think tank to come up with that name. And here, Eddie Bluestein, you know, gives him an iconic name. And you're listening to Kemmins Wilson Jr. tell the story of his dad.
And by the way, so many of our American Dreamers stories are just this story. an ordinary guy trying to solve a problem. Here he is checking in a hotel. and not even knowing he was gonna get. And then he finally picks one he likes on this trip.
and finds out he's being charged ten extra bucks. Two dollars an extra kid meant something. And he said, that's not fair. And then he went home. And he designed A business to solve a problem, standardization.
Same size, same cleanliness, a pool in everyone, a Bible in everyone, a pastor on call, a doctor on call. In other words, what he'd want for his own family. When we come back, more of this remarkable American story, an American dreamer's story, the story of Holiday Inn. And the story of one guy. trying to solve a problem for his family.
and families, particularly working class families, across this great country. Our story continues here. on our American stories. You don't want vacation to end, but with Amex Platinum, you earn five times membership rewards points on prepaid hotels and more booked through amextravel.com.
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Hello, hello. Malcolm Glabwell here from Revisionist History. What are you doing October 20th?
Well, if you're a T-Mobile for business customer, the answer to that question could be Getting recognized for my team's game-changing work?
Sounds great, right?
Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. If your organization used T-Mobile for Business to do something incredible, We want to hear about it. Nominate your team's most outside the box projects for a chance to get the recognition you so dearly deserve. T-Mobile is looking for companies that took big swings and kept swinging until the job was done. Honorees will receive a significant donation to a charity of their choice, bragging rights, a cool trophy, and also I'll be right there as a keynote speaker and special guest judge.
Entries closed July 31st, so head to tmobile.com/slash enter to learn more. And nominate your team. Taking over the helm of NBC Nightly News, a 75-year-old broadcast. It's a great responsibility. Good evening, I'm Tom Yamas.
You have to go out there to bring people at home closer to the story. Wildfires continue to be a threat. With that massive hurricane, comes the massive response. The best reporters in our business know how to listen. And when you listen, you get the truth.
For NBC News, NBC News, NBC News, I'm Tom Yamas. That's what we do every night. NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas, evenings on NBC. Unlock smarter learning with Lenovo AI-powered PCs powered by Intel Core Ultra processors. Head to Lenovo.com and choose from multiple devices to fit your passions.
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And we continue with our American stories and with the story of Holiday Inn and its founder. Let's return to his son Kemmins Wilson, junior on the story of his dad. And the iconic brand he created.
Somebody asked my dad one time: why did you decide on?
Sort of a the market for holiday ants, which is really you know moderate price, you know, family, or, you know, rather than be upscale or whatever. And my dad would always say there's more people in the middle than there are at the top. One of the interesting things that my father wanted to do too was to make a statement with the sign. And he had a friend named Harold Bolton. who was in the sign business, and he and Harold designed this.
what some would call Iconic some we call gaudy. Huge. Neon sign. with the arrow pointing to wherever the hotel was. And my dad felt that you know that was important if you could see the sign.
you knew what it was. and the sign had a little marquee on it where you could change the message out every day. you know, like buffet tonight or. Kids stay free. And that was one of the gifts that my dad said he wanted to give to the industry.
and that is that kids stay free. If they stay in the same room with their parents. And he sort of forced all the other. hotel change to kind of do that at the time. But y'all you certainly seen and especially back in those days.
Just about every hotel and motel had a vacancy, no vacancy sign. He did not want that. He ordered that totally eliminated. because he wanted a person to stop. to actually get out of the car, come in.
to the hotel. And if they didn't have a room, At that particular hotel, the desk clerk Was to call around to all the other hotels and find that person a room because he felt. that he could win, while he may lose a customer for that night, he may win a customer for the rest of his life.
So he he builds this one Successful hotel. in Memphis. And he went and built three more.
Now this was way before the interstate system. He built them on the north, south, east, and west entries into town.
So if you were coming to Memphis, Tennessee, you had to pass. I'll hold AN. And they were all done. Very well. And so we went to bill number five.
And the backer said, hey, you're tapped out. You know You're out of credit. We can't lend you any more money. And so his dream of the hotels across the country It was jeopardized. I cannot even build the fifth holiday and much less the 400th.
What are we going to do? And that's when he sat down and came up with the theory of franchising where They would license a person and that person had to adhere to a certain set of standards. And if you didn't, they could take your license away.
So he started the franchise business. Even today, you know, it's about 80% franchise and about 20% Cut the ounce or spoke. You know, one of the things he was... most proud of and all of his life was he said that he's created a lot of millionaires. And he really had.
I mean, at one time... In the 60s they were Building a Hotel was opening every two and a half days. And I think a room was open at every 20 minutes or something.
So it was incredibly... explosive and then when the interstate system hit You know, the timing was... You know, perfect and right. And my father probably personally inspected. every Hollyan site I don't know, maybe the first 500 of them.
Well one of the funny things was early on at holiday ends they didn't have much representation. in the West Coast. It was mostly in the south. When it started growing, it went northeast and a little midwest, but not much on the coast, so to speak. And so Dan got a call from Ray Kroc, the founded McDonald's and McDonald's was flourishing at the time.
They were still young. He had bought it from the McDonnell Brothers and Yeah, he had visions of you know, how do I expand that business? And Holiday Hands was already actively in the franchise business. Dad was really excited when Ray Croc said, I'd like to come to Memphis and talk to you about getting a Holly in franchise. And so he did.
And of course they, you know, rolled out the red carpet. you know gave him all the franchise agreements explained everything. to him about the ins and outs of it. And of course they would say, look, you know. We sure I hope you've got some slice out there that Yeah, and he talked about, oh, I can build a haul in here and put a McDonald's here.
They thought, look, we may have hit the jackpot. And so He goes back to California. And it just goes silent. Yeah. dialogue, no nothing.
He never calls back. Father calls him and everybody in the organization is trying to get a hold of him. And they literally found out really all he wanted was the actual franchise agreement.
So vacant. I mean, I'm sure they didn't copy it verbatim. But Yeah. They get white out to hold in and put McDonald's in there. But obviously we know the history of that, so.
We joke around and we say, well, my dad gave Ray Kroc his star. Yeah. Where's the county? And and you know, jumping back, you know, the the biggest success for holiday ins in my mind was the standardization. That nobody until that time, everything, every hotel room.
place was different. By standardizing this and as you expand People knew exactly what to expect. When they went to a holiday inn, they didn't have to go in and look at the room. You know, they just went in. checked in, went to their room, and There was a great advertisement years ago They said the best surprise is no surprise, stay at holiday in.
And that was really, to me, captured. the essence of what he did.
Well, you know, I I think about the He told us one day Um long after this, we were quizzing him about Kind of growing up and stuff. And he said he and his mother ate. bread and beans for an entire year. Back down the deep, deep depression. Her husband, my dad's father died.
when he was nine months old.
So he was completely raised by His mother. She got a job as a A bookkeeper. Just to kind of Yeah. have some money to come in, but Well, you know, he had to uh drop out of high school when he was in his senior year. And he had to drop out because His mother had gotten terminated her job.
So he was basically The breadwinner, he had to go hustle. But what she did, she was his biggest encourager. Here's Barnabas. She told him there was nothing in the world He couldn't do it. I mean, she absolutely adored him.
He could do no wrong and Again, I mean, you know, she was. She was the one whispering in his ear. You know, you can do it when the world says. No way you can do this. And really her life.
you know, became his life. You know, today we would call her a helicopter mom, right? That she was just all over him. But I, you know, I'm sure she saw. In him A leader, someone who can make things happen, someone who's aggressive and can be successful.
So she just undermined that with The daily You can do it, hang in there. There's nothing you can't do.
So it it was uh I mean, that springboarded him. into his life of having confidence and being able to to just be successful. And the the The thought of not even graduating from high school. and going on to be the founder and CEO of one of the largest iconic companies in the world. It's just amazing to me.
And great job as always to Alex for all the work he does on these pieces. and a special thanks to Kemmons Wilson, Jr. for sharing the story of his father. And what a story it is. And by the way, for more of this great American story, make sure to pick up Kemmin's book, Half-Luck.
In Half Brains, the Kemins Wilson holiday in story. a father-son story, a family story. and a working class family. Turning, well, hard work. into success.
Here on Our American Stories. With Amex Gold, you can make dining out before the big event a big event. Hey, you made it. It's been so long. And earn four times membership rewards points on purchases at restaurants up to $50,000 per year.
And if you're running late, no problem. Oh, we gotta go. You get access to card member entrances at select venues so you can make it in time to catch the big win. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Card member entrance access not limited to Amex Gold Card.
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