Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inns, introduces Orange Lake Resort & Country Club in 1982

Kemmons Wilson Reinvents the Lodging Industry—and Doesn't Stop There
By 1952, Kemmons Wilson's entrepreneurial spirit and uncanny ability to spot and buy choice land had made him one fortune already. But it was the family vacation the Wilsons took that year that made him a legend.

At his wife Dorothy's urging, Kemmons interrupted his relentless work schedule to take a much-needed family vacation with her and their five children. The family set out from their Memphis home to see the landmarks in Washington, D.C. Kemmons did see the landmarks, but what he also saw was a great, big opportunity.

Roadside lodgings at the time were iffy propositions at best. You couldn't count on finding clean comfortable accommodations and, when you traveled with your family, whatever you found was expensive. Motels charged extra for each child who stayed in the room. In the Wilson family's case, that pushed the price of a single cramped room from $6 to $16. Kemmons was furious at how unfair this was to families. Another frustration was that few had restaurants on premises, which meant packing up the whole family again and trying to find a decent place to eat. One positive thing he found: a motel that had a pool the kids could enjoy was more enjoyable for the parents, too.

Kemmons decides to change things
Kemmons has said, "I like to think I'm so normal that anything I like, everybody else is going to like, too." So when he didn't find what he liked in the motel business, he decided then and there to build one he would like.

Actually, he decided to build 400—an outrageous idea at a time when there wasn't a 400-motel chain anywhere in the world. His vision was to build motels all across the country, each within a day's drive of the next. His would have larger, well-maintained accommodations people could count on. His would have a pool for the kids. His would have a restaurant with good food.

Returning from vacation, Kemmons began designing his prototype motel. The draftsman drawing up the plans happened to be watching an old Bing Crosby movie as he worked and jotted the name of the film at the top of the plans. Kemmons saw and liked it. The movie was "Holiday Inn." The rest is history.

An industry changes
Within ten years, Kemmons had opened his 400th motel and was opening an average of two new motels a week. He then introduced the first computerized reservation system—the Hollidex System developed for him by IBM—which enabled travelers to make reservations at any Holiday Inn anywhere with a single phone call. This gave him a tremendous edge over his competitors.

When Kemmons retired from Holiday Inn at age 66 in 1979, the company had annual revenues of more than $1 billion, 1,759 inns in more than 50 countries, and twice as many rooms as its closest competitor. Holiday Inn dominated the industry it had re-created.

That same year, Kemmons took a trip to Florida, staying with a friend who'd just bought something new—a timeshare week. The man who changed the lodging industry was intrigued. The idea for Orange Lake began to form, and one more industry—timeshare ownership—was about to change forever.