Conrad Hilton was a world hotel emperor, an energetic and capable industrialist and a real optimist. He was born on December 25, 1887 and died on January 3, 1979.
His company, Hilton Hotels International Limited, now has more than 200 hotels worldwide with billions of dollars in assets, welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world every day and makes hundreds of millions of dollars in annual profits, making it the largest hotel in the world.
Early years
Hilton's father, Gus Hilton, emigrated with his family from Norway to Iowa and later to San Antonio, New Mexico, where he was born on Christmas Day 1887 in an adobe house full of groceries.
In 1907, economic panic struck the United States and overnight the Hiltons fell on hard times, with only a hardware shop full of goods left in their home. To get out of the crisis, they sold their goods at a bargain price and vacated the house to open a 'family hotel'. While his father was the manager and his mother the cook, Hilton and his brother Carl took on the role of soliciting customers. This experience provided Hilton with an excellent opportunity to run the hotel business later in life.
The small hotel, which the Hiltons ran miserably, was threatened with bankruptcy at times. For the young Hilton, opening a hotel was not his ambition at the time. His biggest dream was to open a bank and become a debonair banker, sitting in the big, bright office of the manager of the bank building, handling large sums of financial business.
He proudly told his parents that he wanted to become a banker and build three or four banks in the Rio Grande Valley.
The hotel kingdom
On 4 August 1925, the "Dallas Hilton" was finally inaugurated with a grand opening ceremony. Hilton hotels were built in Abilene, Waco, Marin, Plaisance, San Angelino and Lubbock. Hilton's business grew bigger and bigger. He set up the Hilton Hotel Company to unite all his chains. He was determined to expand to a wider world.
In the summer of 1937, Hilton looked at a hotel in San Francisco called the Sir Drake. It was a 450-room, 22-storey hotel with a luxury nightclub worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The owner was desperate to transfer the hotel. Hilton wasted no time in raising funds and bought the Sir Drake Hotel in January 1938, and in 1939 he bought the Brickell Hotel in Long Beach. Not satisfied with these successful acquisitions, Hilton's ambition was further fuelled.
Hilton set his sights on the Stevens Hotel in Chicago, the largest hotel in the world at the time. He made a special trip to investigate the hotel himself at the end of 1939. In 1945, after several rounds of bargaining with the owner of the Stevens Hotel, Hilton bought the hotel for $1.5 million. Soon after, he bought another of Chicago's most luxurious hotels, the Palmer Hotel, for a whopping $19.4 million.
Never satisfied, Hilton set his sights on the Waldorf Astoria, known as the "Queen of Hotels". Located on New York's Barktani Avenue, this 43-storey hotel with over 2,000 rooms has hosted kings, princes, queens, heads of government and millionaires from many countries around the world, making it the most luxurious and famous hotel in the world. Back in the early thirties, Hilton was smitten when he first saw pictures of the magnificent, recently completed Grand Hotel in the newspapers. He vowed that he would get his hands on this coveted and desirable property. After nearly twenty years of work, Hilton finally got his wish and in 1949 the hotel was finally his.
October 1954. In October 1954, Hilton made the biggest splash of his life when he bought the Statera Hotel Collection, a chain of ten first-class hotels, for a staggering US$110 million. This was the largest merger in the history of the hotel industry and the most expensive real estate transaction in the world at the time.
Hilton finally achieved his goal of becoming the king of the American hotel industry after a relentless struggle. He didn't stop there, but looked at the world of hospitality and established Hilton Hotels International Limited, expanding his hotel empire around the world. Hilton hotels have been built in Madrid, Istanbul, Havana, Puerto Rico, Berlin, Montreal, Cairo, Tokyo, London, Rome, Athens, Hong Kong and Bangkok ....... "The Hilton has spread across the globe, almost everywhere except Antarctica. Hilton's career has reached new heights, becoming the king of the world's hotels.
"You have to have a dream." In his late autobiography, the world-famous "King of Hotels" revealed the secret of his success: "I believe that the precursor to a great career is a great dream!"
Success factors
His mother said: to launch a big boat you must first find deep water - the golden rule of management for the world's hotel king, Conrad Hilton
Disasters are bad, but for some, they are a rare opportunity. And thus the path to success is set in motion. Conrad Hilton, the originator of Hilton, was an energetic and capable industrialist, and a real optimist. He attributed his success to.
1, The discovery of his own peculiar natural talents.
2,Having great ambition, the courage to think, to do and to envision.
3,Being fulfilled.
4, Being passionate about life.
5,Not to let what you possess possess you.
6,Not to worry when there is trouble.
7,Take up your full obligations to the world.
8, Do not dwell on the past.
9,Respect others - do not be contemptuous of anyone.
10,Pray with unceasing fullness of faith.
Conrad Hilton began his involvement in the hotel business with only $5,000 to hand. "How do I start a business?" Hilton asked his mother for advice. This was a great mother who seriously but firmly admonished her son: "You must find your own world. An old friend who started the business with your father once said, 'To launch a big boat, you must first find the deep water'."