Word: hiltons
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Shortly after, Hilton decided that Dallas needed a new hotel-and he built it by a fabulous deal that Dallas still recalls with wonder. He started by persuading George Loudermilk, an ex-undertaker and a large landholder, to give him a 99-year lease on some Dallas property he owned. Then he used the leased land as collateral for a $500,000 bank loan. Hilton put up $100,000 of his own money, and raised $200,000 from friends. He needed another $150,000, and he borrowed it from the contractor who was to build the hotel. Then...
Dark Days. It was worth all the trouble; the Dallas Hilton was a whopping success. Hilton branched out throughout Texas and formed Hilton Hotels, Inc. (succeeded in 1946 by Hilton Hotels Corp.). When the depression hit, and an estimated 80% of all U.S. hotels went bankrupt, he was far overexpanded. He hurried from hotel to hotel, yanking out the room telephones and closing off some of the floors to cut costs. When a guest asked for ink, a bellhop would ceremoniously pour out enough to write one letter...
Finally, the American National Insurance Co. of Galveston, Hilton's biggest creditor, took over his hotels. But Hilton still kept a foot in the door; American National gave him an $18,000-a-year job running their hotels. Gradually he raised enough cash to get back five of his nine hotels. By 1939 things were going so well that he built the Albuquerque Hilton and was on the move again...
Free Rein. Hilton runs his sprawling empire with the help of a crack team which includes Executive Vice President Robert P. Williford, 49, who started as a desk clerk in 1931; Vice President James B. ("J.B.") Herndon Jr., 50, who was the first manager of the Albuquerque Hilton; Vice President Spearl ("Red") Ellison, 36, who started as a $5-a-month bellhop; Vice President Joseph P. Binns, 43, a relative newcomer to the corporation, who managed the Stevens before Hilton took over. Hilton's son Nick, 23, is learning the ropes from them (his other sons by his first...
...Them In." The managers do it by putting every foot of hotel space to work. In the Plaza, Hilton's men converted a basement storage space into the swank Rendez-Vous Room, where New Yorkers and visitors now pay $500,000 a year to dine & dance. Stockbrokers E. F. Hutton & Co., who had been paying only $5,000 a year for valuable ground-floor space, were moved upstairs (for the same rent). In their place the original Oak Bar was restored; it now grosses $25,000 a month. When Williford saw the chance to make $18,000 a year...