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ca. 1960s: Kummerlowe Archive (mouse over for 1995 satellite view) |
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Above:
Believed to be the Roanoke, Virginia Holiday Inn on the
corner of Orange Ave. and Williamson Road. aerial
view |
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A
Maturing Field: Having reached a period
of developmental adolescence during the golden age of American
post World War II prosperity, the motel industry faced a
period of rapid expansion marked by an innovative and orderly
standardization requiring employees to be versed in new
systemized methods. However there was reportedly a very
finite pool of experienced moteliers and by some estimates
during the early 1960s as many as 90,000 new "motel-men"
would be needed to fill the ranks in order to serve the
motoring public by the end of that decade! Thus a number
of enterprising entrepreneurs concocted hospitality training
programs oriented to the motel industry appealing to primarily
young men seeking bright prosperous futures. |
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The
American Motel School Incorporated was one of several organizations
created to offer training programs for prospective motel
workers. The images seen on this page and the next were
from an album of propaganda designed to attract students
and to generally garner support for the school. |
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Above:
Perhaps not at all plausible, a Holiday Inn employee is
depicted greeting arriving guests. |
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Below:
A compact naugahyde-esque lobby. |
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"This
program of instruction is a natural outgrowth stemming from the
motel industry itself. It was conceived and compiled to fill existing
needs for trained personnel. Its contributors are for the most part
motel managers and motel executives whose broad exposure to and
experience with the traveling public is considerable. From these
successful management executives have come the ideas, methods, and
techniques in all phases of motel management considered herein--American
Motel School, Inc." |
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| Above
& Below: Unknown Holiday Inns in contrasting styles--first
a three story property designed for a near downtown setting and the
second, a more modern high-rise for compact downtown locations. |
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American
Motor Inns (AMI), once the largest Holiday Inn franchisee
with properties located primarily in the eastern United
States and headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, was enlisted
by the American Motel School to provide much of the information
for its curriculum. |
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Higher:
Unknown HI locations with happy AMI employees--even St.
Bernards were welcomed where ordinances permitted. |
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Above:
An important part of a successful operation was having a
competent switchboard operator--one ringydingy...two
ringydingy! |
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Left:
Each HI was required to have a Holidex terminal in operation
24 hours a day. Holidex was the name of HI's trend setting
and innovative centralized reservations system which utilized
Teletype
terminals
to connect its network. |
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Below:
A smartly dressed employee keeps track of guest tickets
at the front desk. |
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