Career
As a young boy, Hilton developed entrepreneurial skills working at his father's general store in Socorro County, New Mexico. His first hotel purchase was the 40-room Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas, in 1919, an investment decision made after his plan to invest in a bank in the oil-boom town fell through; the hotel did such brisk business that rooms changed hands as much as three times a day. He went on to buy hotels throughout Texas. The first high rise hotel he built was the Dallas Hilton, which opened in 1925. This was followed by the Abilene Hilton in 1927, Waco Hilton in 1928, and El Paso Hilton in 1930. He built his first hotel outside of Texas in 1939 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is today known as the Hotel Andaluz. During the Great Depression Hilton was nearly forced into bankruptcy and lost several of his hotels. He was retained as manager, however, and eventually bought them back. He formed the Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1946 followed by Hilton International Company, in 1948.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Hilton Hotels' worldwide expansion facilitated both American tourism and overseas business by American corporations. At the same time, it promulgated a certain worldwide standard for hotel accommodations. It was the world's first international hotel chain. In all, Hilton eventually owned 188 hotels in thirty-eight cities in the U.S., including the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C., the Palmer House in Chicago, and the Plaza Hotel and Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, along with fifty-four hotels abroad. He later purchased the Carte Blanche Credit Company and an interest in the American Crystal Sugar Company, as well as other enterprises.
Hilton received honorary degrees from the University of Detroit (1953), DePaul University (1954), Barat College (1955), Adelphi College (1957), Sophia University, Tokyo (1963), and the University of Albuquerque (1975). Hilton's autobiography, Be My Guest, was published in 1957 by Prentice Hall. In 1966, Hilton was succeeded as president by his son Barron and was elected chairman of the board.
Read more about this topic: Conrad Hilton
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)