100 Entrepreneurs Who Changed The World
65. Charles Kemmons Wilson (1913-2003)
“Work only a half a day; it makes no difference which half-it can be either the first 12 hours or the last 12 hours.”
Charles Kemmons Wilson was an American businessman and hotelier. He is founder of Holiday Inn, which owns and operates hotels and motels across the United States.Kemmons Wilson decided to become a hotelier after a family road trip to Washington, D.C. During the trip, he was very disappointed with the low quality state of many hotels and motels. He sought to change the industry, to make affordable, family-friendly hotels and motels that offered quality, cleanliness, and were enjoyable. He wanted his hotels to be a place people wanted to come back to. In just over decade, after starting from scratch, Kemmons Wilson and his partner Wallace Johnson owned more than 1000 Holiday Inns. His success enabled him to really leverage the market, causing big competitors to have to lower rates and strive to be better.
