Kemmons Wilson Net Worth

. Kemmons Wilson was a self-made businessman who rose from humble beginnings to become the founder of the 'Holiday Inn' chain of hotels. After his father's death, Wilson took up the responsibility of providing for his family, selling ice cream, cigars and popcorn. He saved his profits and eventually acquired movie theatres in many cities. After a bad experience at a roadside motel, Wilson was motivated to build hotels that were clean, affordable and family-friendly. His 'Holiday Inn' hotels became popular in the United States and around the world, and Wilson eventually sold the business to 'Bass PLC' in the UK.
Kemmons Wilson is a member of Business People

Age, Biography and Wiki

Who is it? Businessman
Birth Day January 05, 1913
Birth Place Osceola, United States
Age 107 YEARS OLD
Died On February 12, 2003(2003-02-12) (aged 90)\nMemphis, Tennessee
Birth Sign Aquarius
Occupation Builder/Developer Founder, Holiday Inn

💰 Net worth

Kemmons Wilson, a renowned businessman in the United States, is expected to have a net worth ranging between $100,000 to $1 million in 2024. Known for his entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen, Wilson has made significant contributions to various industries throughout his career. He rose to prominence as the founder of the renowned hotel chain, Holiday Inn, which revolutionized the hospitality industry. With his exceptional leadership and visionary approach, Wilson established a brand that became synonymous with quality and affordability. Today, his net worth showcases the success and impact he has had in his business ventures.

Some Kemmons Wilson images

Biography/Timeline

1942

Wilson initially came up with the idea after a family road trip to Washington, D.C., during which he was disappointed by the quality of the roadside hotels of that era. The name Holiday Inn was given to the original hotel by his Architect Eddie Bluestein as a joke, in reference to the 1942 movie of the same name.

1952

He opened the first Holiday Inn motel in Memphis in 1952, and quickly added others to create an entire hotel chain. Holiday Inn went international in 1960. Wilson and his financial partner Wallace E. Johnson (1901-1988) were practicing Christians who saw to the placing of a Bible in every one of their hotel rooms and who donated much of their growing fortunes to charitable enterprises.

1957

In 1957, Wilson franchised the chain as Holiday Inn of America and it grew dramatically, following Wilson's original tenet that the properties should be standardized, clean, predictable, family-friendly and readily accessible to road travellers.

1958

By 1958, there were 50 locations across the country, 100 by 1959, 500 by 1964, and the 1000th Holiday Inn opened in San Antonio, Texas, in 1968. The chain dominated the motel market, leveraged its innovative Holidex reservation system, put considerable financial pressure on traditional hotels and set the standard for its competitors, like Ramada Inns, Quality Inn, Howard Johnson's, and Best Western.

1968

In 1968, Wilson bought Continental Trailways and merged the bus company into Holiday Inn. From then until 1979, when Holiday Inn sold Trailways to private investor Henry Lea Hillman Sr. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Holiday Inn television commercials were prone to show a Trailways bus pulling into the parking lot of a Holiday Inn hotel.

1972

By June 1972, when Wilson was featured on the cover of Time magazine, there were over 1,400 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide. Innovations like the company's Holidome indoor pools turned many hotels into roadside resorts.

1974

In July 1974, Wilson, along with Isaac Hayes, Al Wilson (singer), Mike Storen and others, bought the Memphis Tams franchise in the American Basketball Association. They changed the team to the Memphis Sounds. They quickly built a strong roster, obtaining players such as Mel Daniels and Rick Mount. The team was the most successful pro basketball team that Memphis ever fielded; it finished fourth in the ABA's Eastern Division, advancing to the 1975 ABA Playoffs before losing the Eastern Division semifinal series four games to one to the eventual 1975 ABA champion Kentucky Colonels.

1979

Wilson retired from Holiday Inn in 1979. In 1988, Holiday Corporation was purchased by UK-based Bass PLC, followed by the remaining domestic Holiday Inn hotels in 1990, when founder Wilson sold his interest, after which the hotel group was known as Holiday Inn Worldwide.

1982

Wilson was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1982.

1996

His 1996 autobiography, Half Luck and Half Brains, tells the story of Holiday Inn.