POPULARITY
In this episode of the Suite Spot, we welcome Micajah Sturdivant, CEO of MMI Hospitality, as the newest addition to the TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. With a background in hospitality and hotel management spanning generations in his family, Micajah gives audiences a unique take on how hospitality has evolved over the decades and how MMI Hospitality has cemented itself as a pioneer in the industry. Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. Happy 2025. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are here back in the new year with a great new episode at continuing. I think we've been doing this for about two years now. This TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series, as a reminder of this is your first time, this is all about the hospitality trailblazers that have been blazing a path in hospitality. Our guests has been doing it for over five decades, we're gonna talk about in a second, but it's about those people and management companies and brands that are pushing our industry forward. As we get into a new year, I think this is the best way to kick it off. So without further ado, I'm gonna bring in our guest today, CEO of MMI Hospitality, Micajah Sturdivant. Micajah, thank you so much for being with me on the Suite Spot today. Micajah Sturdivant: No, it's a great honor. Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we're excited. We're gonna, we're gonna talk a lot because we got a lot of history to cover with your hospitality group, MMI. But before we do that, this is your first time on the Suite Spot. First time guest, hopefully first of many visits, but as, as I always like to do as is tradition. Talk about a little bit about your background and hospitality and the journey that led you to MMI Hospitality. Micajah Sturdivant: No, I appreciate the invitation and opportunity to share about our organization that originally was founded in 1956 when Kemmons Wilson was conceptualizing Holiday Inn. My grandfather and his roommate from grad school were early adopters to the idea of what the Holiday Inn and Internet Interstate system expansion could really provide, not only for the travelers, but from their perspective and specifically my grandfather. The opportunity for a Mississippi workforce that was going through a major transformation in the late 1940s and 50s where primarily agriculture focused economy was modernizing. In many ways, technology was being brought in and it was negatively impacting opportunities for workforce to have a quality meaning of quality lifestyle. And so saw that the opportunity within hospitality could be a great employer and so was one of the first Holiday Inn franchisees. That company has since grown to work with all the major franchisors as owner and operator, as well as adding a contract food service management company and a restaurant brand as well. So it's a mixed bag across the spectrum hospitality. But in many ways, they're businesses that were born out of one another or very much build off of the knowledge and information that our corporate shared services team is able to provide across the entire enterprise. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, hospitality, I mean, even 50 years ago, it was definitely a profession. I mean, we talk about hotels being the oldest profession out there. So a lot of rich history, storied history there. I'm sure you've seen a lot of evolution. I mean, there's been tons of changes just within the last couple years with this being part of your family. Talk to us a little bit about how you were first introduced into hospitality and how you ended up where yo...
Webb Wilson, CEO and Chief Investment Officer at KWC Management, talks about what it's like to be running a company that holds the legacy of one of the most famous hoteliers there is. How does the history of Kemmons Wilson drive his strategy for future success?
noWebb Wilson, CEO and Chief Investment Officer at KWC Management, talks about what it's like to be running a company that holds the legacy of one of the most famous hoteliers there is. How does the history of Kemmons Wilson drive his strategy for future success?
For our "Shop Talk" series, Coach Bill Courtney shares the story of Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson yanking his chain and teaching him an important life lesson. Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuckSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For our "Shop Talk" series, Coach Bill Courtney shares the story of Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson yanking his chain and teaching him an important life lesson. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, Kemmons Wilson Jr. tells the story of how his father (Kemmons Wilson) created a hotel chain that established the modern hotel industry. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, we learn about Kemmons Wilson's hilarious interactions with Muhammad Ali, Sam Walton, McIlhenny's Tabasco, and Sam Phillips. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jay B. Myers is founder and CEO of Interactive Solutions Inc. (ISI), a Memphis-based firm that specializes in video conferencing, distance learning, telemedicine, and audio-visual sales and support. Jay started ISI in 1996 and has built it into a $25-million company with 55 employees & offices in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, as well as Oxford, MS, & Little Rock, AR. ISI has received numerous corporate awards and recognition in the past several years. The company was named to INC. magazine's list of the fastest growing private companies in the United States seven times in the past 11 years. ISI also was recently featured in the Small Business section of the Wall Street Journal. In addition, ISI was named the Memphis Business Journal Small Business of the Year in 2001 and in 2003 was the first recipient of the Kemmons Wilson (founder of Holiday Inn) Emerging Business Award. In 2007, Jay published his first book, Keep Swinging: An Entrepreneur's Story of Overcoming Adversity and Achieving Small Business Success and subsequently received the 2010 Ethan Award for success as an entrepreneurial author. A natural storyteller, Jay is a sought-after speaker at CEO conferences and entrepreneurial development programs where he shares inspiring stories and practical tips based on growing ISI from $11- to $25-million during the Great Recession. Jay's message as detailed in his second book, Hitting the Curveballs: How Crisis Can Strengthen and Grow Your Business, reveals creative, practical strategies to achieve business success in difficult times. In 2018, ISI was sold to the world's largest AV Integration firm, AVI-SPL. Jay was inducted into the Christian Brothers High School Hall of Fame in 2011 and is active in numerous Memphis area community and civic organizations. Myers currently serves on the advisory board of the Chickasaw Council (Boy Scouts of America) Bancorp South and the National Foundation for Transplants. He is also past chairman and a current board member/executive committee member of the Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South. Links to items mentioned in the interview: Jay Myers- CEO, ENTREPRENEUR, AUTHOR Extra Innings Podcast with Rob Carter SCORE Better Business Bureau Christian Brothers High School Hall of Fame “A mentor is someone who allows you to know that no matter how dark the night, in the morning joy will come. A mentor is someone who allows you to see the higher part of yourself when sometimes it becomes hidden to your own view.” Oprah Winfrey
On this episode of Our American Stories, Kemmons Wilson Jr. tells the story of how his father (Kemmons Wilson) created a hotel chain that established the modern hotel industry. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, for our "Faith in Action" series, we hear from a wise leader out of Memphis, the son of Holiday Inn's founder. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, the man behind Holiday Inn, Kemmons Wilson, had some hilarious interactions with Muhammad Ali, Sam Walton, McIlhenny's Tabasco, and Sam Phillips. In college, Steve Stoliar's dad wanted him to get a job, but Steve didn't want to work at Taco Bell… so he called up Groucho Marx. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Time Codes: 00:00 - See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, Bill Bryk brings us the tale of the day British forces evacuated New York City after the Revolutionary War... a full 2 years after the British Army surrendered. Kemmons Wilson Jr. tells the story of how his father (Kemmons Wilson) created a hotel chain that established the modern hotel industry. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Time Codes: 00:00 - The Glorious 25th of November, Evacuation Day 25:00 - A Father Wanted A Clean Hotel For His Family ... So He Created Holiday Inn See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 485, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Comic Strips 1: Jim Davis named this cat after his grandfather, not the 20th president. Garfield. 2: Aaugh! This comic strip character was torn between a summer camp flame named Peggy Jean and the little red-haired girl. Charlie Brown. 3: John Steinbeck wrote the preface of a book about this Al Capp character. Li'l Abner. 4: Aaugh! This comic strip character was torn between a summer camp flame named Peggy Jean and the little red-haired girl. Charlie Brown. 5: On December 8, 1980 Berkeley Breathed began his magnum opus with the debut of this strip. Bloom County. Round 2. Category: Six Million-Dollar Men 1: In 1939 he and Bill Hewlett started a business in his garage with $538. (David) Packard. 2: John N., of this R.I. university-endowing family, was known as "The World's Richest Baby" when his uncle died in 1900. the Brown family. 3: He moved into Las Vegas' Desert Inn in 1966 and bought the whole hotel a short time later. Howard Hughes. 4: Kemmons Wilson had already made a pile with his jukebox franchise when he founded this "festive" family hotel chain. Holiday Inn. 5: Decorated with marble brought from India, the London home of tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has this punning name. the Taj Mittal. Round 3. Category: Goin' Monaco A Monaco 1: A 1918 treaty said if the royal family produced no male heirs, Monaco would come under this country's rule. France. 2: Of roughly 1, 5 or 10 square miles, it's the country's area. 1. 3: Rich foreigners like to make Monaco home as it doesn't have this, begun in the U.S. in 1913 via the 16th Amendment. an income tax. 4: Citizens of Monaco are not admitted to the casino founded in 1856 in this district. Monte Carlo. 5: Taking bodyguarding to a new level, 2 of this royal's protectors have fathered her 3 kids. Princess Stephanie. Round 4. Category: Movie Title Translations 1: In Malaysia Tom Hanks was the "Boy Wearing Man's Body" for this film. Big. 2: In France, this unforgettable Adam Sandler film became "Love and Amnesia". 50 First Dates. 3: This Oscar-winning film set in Somalia became "Helicopter on Fire" in Poland. Black Hawk Down. 4: The censorship board in Malaysia damned this Ron Perlman film with the title "Super Sapiens". Hellboy. 5: Translating this title, the Czech Republic thought Eddie Murphy was in charge of a "Crazy Kindergarten". Daddy Day Care. Round 5. Category: Tv Shows On Tv Shows 1: (Hi. I'm Debbe Dunning.) It's the name of the home improvement show that's featured on "Home Improvement". Tool Time. 2: Like "Meet the Press", Murphy Brown's fictional news show "F.Y.I." tapes in this city. Washington, D.C.. 3: This "Simpsons" TV clown has worked with Sideshow Bob, Sideshow Mel and Sideshow Luke Perry. Krusty the Klown. 4: He plays talk show host Larry Sanders on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show". Garry Shandling. 5: The TV producer he plays on "The Tom Show" was dumped by Shannon Tweed, not Roseanne. Tom Arnold. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!
Many have heard about the man who revolutionized the lodging industry in the 20th century: Kemmons Wilson — the founder of everyone's favorite hotel chain, Holiday Inn. But behind this incredible man, there's an even more incredible story. This is the story of a poor boy who vowed never to be hungry again. Let us check it out.
Jay talked to Memphis-based Spence Wilson, who discusses the long legacy and family business built by the Wilson family, and the decisions that have driven their success over the years. Spence and Jay discuss his background and the business ethics instilled in their family by their father, Kemmons Wilson.
On this episode of Our American Stories, Kemmons Wilson's hilarious interactions with Muhammad Ali, Sam Walton, McIlhenny's Tabasco, and Sam Phillips; St. Louis civil rights lawyers, Hugh Eastwood and Bevis Schock, tell us how they filed suit in three separate cases against the red light cameras. All three cases were heard by Missouri Supreme Court in one mammoth morning argument. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Time Codes: 00:00 - The Holiday Inn Founder Who Had No Shame 23:00 - The Two Men Who Ended Red Light Camera Tickets Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kemmons Wilson Companies (KWC) is one of the nation’s premier family-run investment trusts. Established in 1948, the Memphis-based organization was founded by Charles Kemmons Wilson, Jr., and is perhaps best known for building one of the world’s largest and most successful hotel chains: Holiday Inn. Now run by the third generation of Wilson family members, KWC is dedicated to honoring its founder’s entrepreneurial spirit. In this session, we sit down with the Principal of Kemmons Wilson Companies, Kemmons Wilson, III (“Kem”). Join us in this episode of The Class E Podcast as Kem sheds light on how KWC embraces innovation, family leadership, and a “people-first” philosophy as they strive both for economic success and continuing on their company’s lasting legacy. Hosts: Mary Sturgill and Anthony Herrera Producer: Harris Wellborn
In this episode, Jay B. Myers (Award-Winning Author & Serial Entrepreneur) as we discuss what his new book, the lessons he has learned along the way of building his business, and so much more. Jay's book is available on kindle now. Physical book available on June 15th. **More On Jay** Jay B. Myers is the founder and former CEO of Interactive Solutions Inc. (ISI), a Memphis-based firm that specializes in video conferencing, distance learning, telemedicine, and audio-visual sales and support. Jay started ISI in 1996 and has built it into a $25-million company with 51 employees and offices in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville, as well as Birmingham, AL, Oxford, MS, and Little Rock, AR. ISI has received numerous corporate awards and recognitions in the past several years. The company was named seven times in the past 11 years to INC. magazine's list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. ISI also was recently featured in the Small Business section of the Wall Street Journal. In addition, ISI was named the Memphis Business Journal Small Business of the Year in 2001 and in 2003 was the first recipient of the Kemmons Wilson (founder of Holiday Inn) Emerging Business Award. Prior to starting ISI, Jay earned numerous sales awards while working for international corporations such as Eastman Kodak and Hewlett Packard. In 2007, Jay published his first book, Keep Swinging: An Entrepreneur's Story of Overcoming Adversity and Achieving Small Business Success and subsequently received the 2010 Ethan Award for success as an entrepreneurial author. An avid baseball fan, particularly of his beloved New York Yankees, Jay has participated in the Yankees' Fantasy Camp in Tampa, FL, receiving instruction from former Major League players and professional coaches. He frequently applies his affinity for the game to his writing on topics related to business growth and entrepreneurial development. A natural storyteller, Jay is a sought-after speaker at CEO conferences and entrepreneurial development programs where he shares inspiring stories and practical tips based on growing ISI from $11- to $25-million during the Great Recession. Jay's message as detailed in his second book, Hitting the Curveballs: How Crisis Can Strengthen and Grow Your Business, reveals creative, practical strategies to achieve business success in difficult times. Jay is active in numerous Memphis area community organizations and serves on the board of the Chickasaw Council (Boy Scouts of America) and Bancorp South (advisory board), and is chairman of the Mid South Better Business Bureau. Jay lives in Collierville, TN, and Holmes Beach, FL, with his wife Maureen. The couple has two children. Hectic is an all-in-one business management software built specifically for freelancers who arejust getting started or looking to take their freelance business to the next level. Sign up at gethecticapp.com/thestartuplife Follow The Startup Life Podcast Facebook Page Want gear from The Startup Life? Check out our gear! Check out other great podcasts from The Binge Podcast Network. Written by: Dominic Lawson Executive Producers: Dominic Lawson and Kenda Lawson Music Credits: **Show Theme** Behind Closed Doors - Otis McDonald **Break Theme** Cielo - Huma-Huma
July 21. Kemmons Wilson. Kemmons was already a movie-theatre-owning millionaire when he took his wife and 5 little children to the capital for a family vacation. They stayed in a $6-a-night motel room, which was not only dingy and cramped, but its price zoomed to $16-a-night as soon as the motel owner saw the kids. Wilson told his wife it wasn't fair, and within a year, he opened […] The post Kemmons Wilson, US, Founder of Holiday Inns first appeared on 365 Christian Men.
As Chairman of Kemmons Wilson Companies, Spence Wilson knows entrepreneurship quite well, having spent a lifetime with one of the city's most well-known – his father, Kemmons Wilson the founder of Holiday Inn. Spence understands and embodies the importance of blending creative energy and vision, initiative and innovation, and has worked to develop Kemmons Wilson Companies into a leading investment, hospitality development and management company. Links to items mentioned in the interview: Kemmons Wilson Companies Society of Entrepreneurs Profile Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation Kemmons Wilson's Twenty Tips for Success Kemmons Wilson Vision, Mission & Values The Holiday Inn Story Orange Lake Resort The University of Memphis Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality & Resort Management
Today we're going to talk through the history of Airbnb. But more importantly, we're going to look at what brought the hospitality industry to a place so ripe to be disrupted. The ancient Greeks, Romans, Persians, and many other cultures provided for putting travelers up while visiting other cities in one way or another. Then inns begins to rise from roads connecting medieval Europe, complete with stables and supplies to get to your next town. The rise of stagecoaches gave way to a steady flow of mail and a rise in travel over longer distances for business gave way to much larger and fancier hotels in the later 1700s and 1800s. In 1888 Cesare Ritz became the first manager of the Savoy hotel in London, after time at the Hotel Splendide in Paris and other hotels. He would open the Paris Ritz in 1898 and expand with properties in Rome, Frankfurt, Palermo, Madrid, Cairo, Johannesburg, Monte Carlo, and of course London. His hotels were in fact so fancy that he gave us the term ritzy. Ritz is one of the most lasting names but this era was the first boom in the hotel industry, with luxury hotels popping up all over the world. Like the Astor, the Waldorf Astoria, the Plaza, the Taj Mahal, and the list goes on. The rise of the hotel industry was on its way when Conrad Hilton bought the Mobley Hotel in Cisco Texas in 1919. By 1925 he would open the Dallas Hilton and while opening further hotels nearly ruined him in the Great Depression he emerged into the post World War II boom times establishing a juggernaut now boasting 568 hotels. Best Western would start in 1946 and now has 4,200 locations. After World War II we saw the rise of the American middle class and the great American road trip. Chains exploded. Choice Hotels which acts as more of a franchiseier established in 1939 sits with 7,000 locations but that's spread across Extended Stay, MainStay, Quality Inn, Cambria Hotels, Comfort Inn, and other brands. Holiday Inn was founded 1952 in the growing post-war boom time by Kemmons Wilson and named after the movie by the same name. The chain began with that first hotel in 1952 and within 20 years hit 1,400 Holiday Inns landing Wilson on the cover of Time as “The Nation's Innkeeper.' They would end up owning Harrah's Entertainment, Embassy Suites Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Homewood Suites, and Hampton Inn now sitting with 1,173 hotels. The Ramada would start the next year by Marion Isbell and has now grown to 811 locations. Both of them started their companies due to the crappy hotels that were found on the sides of roads, barely a step above those founded in the medieval days. Howard Johnson took a different path, starting with soda shops then restaurants and opening his first hotel in 1954, expanding to 338 at this point, and now owned by Wyndham Hotels, a much later entrant into the hotel business. Wyndham also now owns Ramada. The 1980s led to a third boom in hotels with globalization, much like it was the age of globalization for other brands and industries. The oil boom in the Middle East, the rising European Union, the opening up of Asian markets. And as they grew, they used computers to build software to help and cut costs and enable loyalty programs. It was an explosion of money and profits and as the 80s gave way to the 90s, the Internet gave customers the ability to comparison shop and the rise of various sites that aggregated hotel information, with Expedia, Travelocity, American Express, even Concur rising - sites came and went quickly and made it easy for AccorHotels to research and then buy Raffles, Sofitel, Novotel and for Intercontinental and others to user in the era of acquisitions and mergers. Meanwhile the Internet wasn't just about booking hotels at chains easily. VRBO began in 1995 when David Clouse wanted to rent his condo in Breckenridge and got sick of classifieds. Seeing the web on the rise, he built a website and offered subscriptions to rent properties for vacations, letting owners and renters deal directly with one another to process payments. Vacation Rentals By Owner, or VRBO would expand through the 90s. And then Paris Hilton happened. Her show The Simple Life in 2003 led to a 5 year career that seemed to fizzle at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008 with the release of a critical documentary of her called Paris, Not France. The mergers and acquisitions and globalization and being packed in stale smokey rooms like sardines seemed to have run its course. Boutique hotels were opening, a trend that started in the 90s and by 2008 W Hotels was expanding into Europe, now with 55 properties around the world. And that exemplifies what some of this backlash was against big chains that was starting to brew. In 2004, CEH Holdings bought a few websites to start HomeAway.com and in 2006 raised $160 million in capital to buy VRBO and gain access to their then 65,000 properties. homeaway.com would be acquired by Expedia in 2015 for $3.9 billion, but not before a revolution in the hospitality industry began. That revolution started with 2 industrial design students. Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia had come from the Rhode Island School of Design. After graduation Gebbia would move to San Francisco and Chesky would move to Los Angeles. They had worked on projects together in college and Gebbia bugged Chesky about moving to San Francisco to start a company together for a few years. By 2007 Chesky gave in and made the move, becoming one of Gebbia's two roommates. It was the beginning of the Great Recession. They were having trouble making rent. The summer of 2008 brought the Industrial Designers Society of America's Industrial Design Conference to San Francisco. They had the idea to take a few air beds from a recent camping trip and rent them out in their apartment. Paris Hilton would never have done that. They reached out to a former roommate of theirs, Nathan Blecharczyk. He's a Harvard alum and pretty rock solid programmer and signed on to be a co-founder, building them a website in Ruby on Rails. They rented those three airbeds out and called their little business airbedandbreakfast.com. They thought they were on to something. I mean, who wouldn't want to rent an airbed and crash on someone's kitchen floor?!?! But reality was about to come calling. Venture capital was drying up due to the deepening recession. They tried to raise funding and failed. And so far their story seems pretty standard. But this is where I start really liking them. They bought a few hundred boxes of cereal and made '"Obama O's" and "Cap'n McCain's" to sell at the Democratic National Convention in 2008 for $40 per box. They sold $30,000 worth, enough to bootstrap the company. They would go to South By South West and visit events, growing slowly in New York and San Francisco. The money would last them long enough to make it into Y Combinator in 2009. Paul Graham and the others at Y Combinator has helped launch 2,000 companies, including Docker, DoorDash, Dropbox, GitLab, Gusto, Instacart, Reddit, Stripe, Twitch, and Zapier. They got $20,000 from Y Combinator. They changed the site to airbnb.com and a people started to book more and more stays - and not just with airbeds, but rending their full homes out. They charged 3% of the booking as a fee - a number that hasn't really changed in all these years. They would get $600,000 in funding from Sequoia Capital in 2009 when they finally got up to 2,500 listings and had 10,000 users. Nothing close to what homeaway.com had, but they would get more funding from Sequoia and added Greylock to the investors and by the close of 2010 they were approaching a million nights booked. From here, the growth got meteoric. They won the app award during a triumphant return to South By South West in 2011 and went international, opening an office in London and expanding bookings to 89 countries. The investments, the advertising, the word of mouth, the media coverage. So much buzz and so much talk about innovation and disruption. The growth was explosive. They would iterate the website and raised another $112 million dollars in venture capital. And by 2012 they hit 10 million nights booked. And that international's expansion paid off with well over half being outside of the United States. Growth of course led to problems. A few guests trashed their lodgings and Airbnb responded with a million dollar policy to help react to those kinds of things in the future. Some of the worse aspects of humanity can be seen on the web. They also encountered renters trying to discriminate based on race. So they updated their policies and took a zero tolerance approach. More importantly, they responded that they didn't have to think of such things given the privilege of having a company founded by three white guys. They didn't react with anger or displacement. They said we need to be better, with every problem that came up. And the growth continued. Doubling every year. They released a new logo and branding in 2014 and by 2016 were valued at $30 billion dollars. They added Trips, which seems to still be trying to catch up to what Groupon started doing for booking excursions years ago. During the rise of AirBNB we saw an actual increase in hotel profits. Customers are often millennials who are traveling more and more, given the way that the friction and some of the cost has been taken out of travel. The average age of a host is 43. And of the hosts I know, I can wager that Airbnb rentals have pumped plenty of cash back into local economies based on people taking better care of their homes, keeping fresh paint, and the added tourism spend when customers are exploring new cities. And not just visiting chains. After all, you stay at Airbnb for the adventure, not to go to shop for the same stuff at Forever 21. Even if you take out the issues with guests trashing places and racism, it still hasn't all been sunshine and unicorns. AirBNB has been in legal battles with New York and a few other cities for years. Turns out that speculators and investors cause extra strain on an already over-burdened housing market. If you want to see the future of living in any dense population center, just look to New York. As the largest city in the US, it's also the largest landlord of any public institution with over 400,000 tenants. And rent is rising almost twice as fast as incomes with lower income rents going up faster than those of the wealth. Independent auditors claim that AirBNB is actually accountable for 9.2 percent of that. But 79 percent of hosts use their Airbnb earnings to afford their apartments.And if many of the people that count on AirBNB to make their rent can't afford their apartments. AirBNB argues their goal is to have “one host, one home” which is to say they don't want a lot of investors. After all, will most investors want to sit around the kitchen table and talk about the history of the city or cool tidbits about neighborhoods. Probably not. AirBNB was started to offer networking opportunities and a cool place to stay that isn't quite so… sterile. Almost the opposite of Paris Hilton's life, at least according to TMZ and MTV shows. San Francisco and a number of other cities have passed ordinances as well, requiring permits to rent homes through AirBNB and maximizing the number of days a home can be rented through the service, often to about two thirds of a year. But remember, AirBNB is just the most visible but not the only game in town. Most category leaders have pre-existing competition, like VRBO and HomeAway. And given the valuation and insane growth of AirBNB, it's also got a slew of specialized competitors. This isn't to say that they don't contribute to the problems with skyrocketing housing costs. They certainly do. As is often the case with true disruptors, Pandora's Box is open and can't be closed again. Regulation will help to limit the negative impacts of the disruption but local governments will alienate a generation that grew up with a disruption if they are overly-punitive. And most of the limits in place are easily subverted anyways. For example, if there's a limit on the number of nights you can rent, just do half on VRBO and the other half on Airbnb. But no matter the problems, AirBNB continues to grow. They react well. Gebbia, now the CEO, has a deep pipeline of advisors he can call on in times of crisis. Whether corporate finance, issues with corporate infighting, crisis management, or whatever the world throws at them, the founders and the team they've surrounded themselves with have proven capable of doing almost anything. Today, AirBNB handles over half a million transactions per night. They are strongest with millineals, but get better and better at expanding out of their core market. One adjacency would be corporate bookings through a partnership with Concur and others, something we saw with Uber as well. Another adjacency. They now make more money than the Hilton and Hilton subsidiaries. Having said that, the major hotel chains are all doing better financially today than ever before and continue to thrive maybe despite, or maybe because AirBNB. That might be misleading though, revenue per room is actually decreasing correlative to the rise of AirBNB. And of course that's amplified at the bottom tier of hotels. Just think of what would have happened had they not noticed that rooms were selling out for a conference in 2007. Would what we now call the “sharing” economy be as much a thing? Probably. Would someone else have seized the opportunity? Probably. But maybe not. And hopefully the future will net a more understanding and better connected society once we've all get such intimate perspectives on different neighborhoods and the amazing little ecosystems that humanity has constructed all over the world. That is the true disruption: in an age of global sterility, offering the most human of connections. As someone who loves staying in quirky homes on Airbnb, a very special thanks to Chesky, Gebbia, Blecharczyk, and the many, many amazing people at Airbnb. Thank you for reacting the way you do to problems when they arise. Thank you for caring. Thank you for further democratizing and innovating hospitality and experiences. And most importantly, thank you for that cabin by the lake a few months ago. That was awesome! And thanks to the listeners who tuned in to this episode, of the History of Computing Podcast. Have a great day!
In this episode, we talk Jay B. Myers (Award-Winning Author & Serial Entrepreneur) as we discuss overcoming adversity in business, why he decided to sell his business, and his newest venture JBM Enterprises. We even talk a little baseball. Check out his website to book him for speaking engagements. Check out all of Jay's books on Amazon. Follow him on LinkedIn **More On Jay Myers** Jay B. Myers is the founder of Interactive Solutions Inc. (ISI), a Memphis-based firm that specializes in video conferencing, distance learning, telemedicine, and audio-visual sales and support. Jay started ISI in 1996 and has built it into a $25-million company with 51 employees and offices in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, as well as Birmingham, AL, Oxford, MS, and Little Rock, AR. ISI has received numerous corporate awards and recognitions in the past several years. The company was named seven times in the past 11 years to INC. Magazine's list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. ISI also was recently featured in the Small Business section of the Wall Street Journal. Also, ISI was named the Memphis Business Journal Small Business of the Year in 2001, and 2003 was the first recipient of the Kemmons Wilson (founder of Holiday Inn) Emerging Business Award. Before starting ISI, Jay earned numerous sales awards while working for international corporations such as Eastman Kodak and Hewlett Packard. In 2007, Jay published his first book, Keep Swinging: An Entrepreneur's Story of Overcoming Adversity and Achieving Small Business Success, and subsequently received the 2010 Ethan Award for success as an entrepreneurial author. A natural storyteller, Jay is a sought-after speaker at CEO conferences and entrepreneurial development programs where he shares inspiring stories and practical tips based on growing ISI from $11- to $25-million during the Great Recession. Jay's message, as detailed in his second book, Hitting the Curveballs: How Crisis Can Strengthen and Grow Your Business, reveals creative, practical strategies to achieve business success in difficult times. Visit our website TheStartupLifePodcast.com Follow The Startup Life Podcast Facebook Page Want gear from The Startup Life? Check out our gear! Check out other great podcasts from The Binge Podcast Network. Written by: Dominic Lawson Executive Producers: Dominic Lawson and Kenda Lawson Music Credits: **Show Theme** Behind Closed Doors - Otis McDonald **Break Theme** Cielo - Huma-Huma Sponsors/Partners Contact DR and Associates today for all of your marketing needs online at www.drandassociates.com, on social media, or at 615-933-3681 Start your Target journey here!
In this episode of Memphis Type History: The Podcast, you’ll find out how the drive-in movie theater started, hear Rebecca’s sister tell her childhood memories of the drive in, and answer the question that has been the source of many contentious debates in Memphis for years: which side of the highway was the Summer Avenue Drive in originally located? Richard Hollingshead starts the Drive-In, of course, for his mom. As a sales manager for his father’s company, Whiz Auto Products, Hollingshead understood the automobile and society’s love for cars. He also understood some people, like his mom, had a hard time finding a comfortable seat in the town’s lavish theater. Thus, he worked on an idea to create a movie watching experience in the comfort of your own car. Mounting a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car, tying sheets to trees, and with his radio, he practiced his clever project in his own driveway. In May of 1933 he received a patent for his concept and opened the first Drive-In Theater on Tuesday, June 6 of the same year in Pennsauken, New Jersey. At some point between the late 1950s to early 60s around 4,000 Drive-In theaters existed across the country. One of the largest was in Copiague, New York which provided space for 2,500 parked cars, a kid’s playground and a full service restaurant. Apparently, there were several factors in the decline of the drive-in. First, the widespread adoption of daylight savings made it difficult for the movies to start at a reasonable hour. Secondly, the oil crisis in the seventies made people more unlike to do anything in the car if they could avoid it. Still, drive-ins have managed to survive into the current era but there are fewer than 500 in existence today. GROWING UP AT THE DRIVE-IN Rebecca's sister actually has some vivid memories of going to the movie theater, especially the drive in where we grew up in South Texas. The whole experience of bringing food, packing into the car, seeing some new and exciting film, was an escape from what could sometimes feel like an otherwise dull and restricting working class lifestyle. It should be noted in the podcast Rebecca's sister says she was born in 1979 which is true even though she tries to sound more like 79 years old to make the memory more genuine. Plus they sound almost exactly alike so hopefully this helps distinguish them. THE SUMMER AVENUE DRIVE IN GREAT DEBATE That brings us to the Summer Avenue Drive-In. If you talk to many Memphians, especially those that have lived here for a long time, you’ll run into questions about what side of the highway it was on originally: west or east? It turns out that’s a trick question because it was neither on the east or west side of the highway because at the time there was no highway! The current drive-in did move into its current location, across the highway to the west after the construction of the highway in 1966. The original drive-in was said to have the largest marquee sign in the South and the second largest car capacity at more than 600. We also learned the founder of Holiday Inn, Kemmons Wilson, was one of the original owners of the movie theater and he intended for there to be a skating rink directly in front of the screen. In addition, the original theater offered services many of us would love to have access to, especially moms, like warming a bottle of milk for a baby! Although the skating rink may or may not have actually ever been used and several of the other big ideas for the theater were never realized, it was still very popular and entertained crowds for many years. It did close and was eventually demolished before the new Summer Drive-In opened in 1966. Caitlin and Rebecca went to see a movie at the current Summer Drive-In several years ago. You’ll have to listen to the podcast to get the whole story, though. You’ll also hear about someone who may be living in an apartment above the concession stand. The Summer Drive-In now remains a popular spot for families, teenagers, and just about anyone who loves movies in Memphis. You can listen to the movie audio through a radio station that tunes in once you drive onto the lot and the sign is characterized by vintage sculptures and a classic Beetle car above the marquee. For full show notes, visit memphistypehistory.com/drivein
In this episode of Memphis Type History: The Podcast, I tell Rebecca all about Memphis' first all-girl radio station, WHER. Started by Sam Phillips in 1955, WHER featured women at all levels of making radio happen, from ad sales to management and, of course, the jockettes. There were a lot of radio stations in Memphis at this time, so Phillips put a twist on his and hired all women! We're sure he was inspired tons by his wife, Becky Phillips, who had the best radio voice he'd ever heard. Kemmons Wilson also went in on the endeavor with money and rooms at the Holiday Inn to house the station. The décor was ultra pastel and feminine... truly something to behold! And so were many of the on-air talent. We talk about Janie Joplin, Bettye Berger, Donna Bartlett, Marge Thrasher, Dean "The Hat" Duvall, and Dotty Abbot (aka Dolly Holiday). Head over to memphistypehistory.com/radio for show notes!
Ray Schultz, shares major hotel history way back to his involvement with Kemmons Wilson, creator of the Holiday Inn brand. Hear how Schultz started with Holiday Inns, Inc., in 1970, and how he founded the Hampton Inn brand in 1983. We hear those stories, through his days as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Promus Hotel Group. But first, Glenn speaks with Donna Quadri-Felitti, the Marvin Ashner Director and Associate Professor, School of Hospitality Management at Penn State. Subscribe on iTunes: No Vacancy with Glenn Haussman Subscribe on Android: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ifu34iwhrh7fishlnhiuyv7xlsm Send your comments and questions to Glenn@rouse.media. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/novacancy Follow Glenn @TravelingGlenn Learn more at http://novacancy.libsyn.com Produced by Jeff Polly: http://www.endpointmultimedia.com/
“God has placed us in the marketplace as trophies of His grace, for the purpose of radiating Christ and sharing the light of the gospel in the darkness of society.” – Richard Hamlet. Today, Richard shares from 2 Kings 7:9. Real Time in the Marketplace Back in 1952, a man named Kemmons Wilson changed history […] The post A Glimpse of Hope appeared first on Ministry in the Marketplace.
As the sons of Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, Spence, Bob, and Kemmons, Jr. were expected to follow in their famous father’s footsteps. In this episode, Memphis native Kemmons Jr. discusses how the three brothers divide the duties of the diverse corporation. Like their father, all three sons are veteran pilots. Bob Wilson details how they combined their love of flying with their experience in the hospitality industry. In 1979, Kemmons Wilson retired from Holiday Inn. Two years later, he brought that same innovative spirit to the vacation resort industry. Spence Wilson explains.
On November 9th, 1965 a power outage plunged New York City into darkness during rush hour. Clarksdale native, George Falls was in a helicopter with Holiday Inn founder, Kemmons Wilson when the lights went out. He recalls the ride back to New York City in total darkness and the way people made the best of a bad situation. This extended cut gives many more details than the original radio version.
After building the first four Holiday Inns in Memphis, Kemmons Wilson teamed up with Mississippians Wallace Johnson and Bill Walton to begin selling franchises. Mike Sturdivant, of Glendora, was a recent Harvard graduate in 1956. He recalls meeting Wilson and opening his first Holiday Inn in Meridian. Soon Sturdivant and his former college roommate, Earle Jones, began opening Holiday Inns across the state. He remembers how the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 affected their business. By 1976, when Studivant sat down to reflect on twenty years in the business, their company, Mississippi Management was operating over 2000 hotel rooms. Today, MMI of Flowood. operates over 100 properties throughout the southeast.