|
|
|
|
the hotelier
Nick Massad NICK MASSAD is president of Houston-based American Liberty Hospitality and is a 1973 graduate of
Nick: I wanted to earn some money.
I started at a Dairy Queen in Dallas which was the fast food of the industry in the ‘60’s. I found that I enjoyed the business, especially restaurants. I started college at UT-Arlington and worked at the front desk, as a bellman and as a night auditor at a Howard Johnson Motor Inn on the old Dallas Turnpike next to Six Flags. It didn’t take me long to learn that the hotel business was easier than the restaurant business because I typically worked in the kitchen - a hot job with long hours.
How did you first learn about the Hilton College at U of H? One day, the GM of the Howard Johnson, Ron Davis, came in with a brochure from the founding dean of the Hilton College, James Taylor. Dean Taylor had sent one to every GM in Texas to promote the new school. I never realized that I could get a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management so it was exciting to me.
Did you ever tell Dean Taylor that his brochure brought you to U of H? Yes. I told him that his direct mail changed my entire life.
What was your first job after college? In our college classes, professors would make announcements about companies that were interviewing. Dr. Clinton Rappole announced that he’d gotten a call from Don Brennan, a friend of his from Cornell and the GM of a small Sheraton in Dallas. Don was looking for a food and beverage director. Don’s Sheraton happened to be a few blocks from where I went to high school in Dallas so I called him, went to Dallas for an interview and got the job. I was later promoted to resident manager and in 1975, when Don took another job, I was promoted to GM of that 154-room Sheraton. American Liberty Oil Company was the hotel’s parent company. American Liberty decided they wanted to focus on oil and gas and ranching, and my wife, Vicky, and I were able to acquire their hospitality division, American Liberty Hospitality. We gave them some cash, they took a note and we built the company over the next couple of years to pay off the note. Since 1990, we’ve owned the company and have acquired and disposed of various hotels. During the last five years we’ve concentrated on development and new construction. Our big project was the Cypress Bend Resort in Many, Louisiana that opened in 2000 and our Hilton Garden Inn in the Houston Galleria that opened in 2005. We have a second Hilton Garden Inn going up in Houston at I-10 and Dairy Ashford that will open in August 2008. We are also developing two Embassy Suites, one in downtown Houston and one in NASA-Clear Lake.
Tell us about your decision to provide your gift to the Hilton College. It is something that I have always wanted to do.
Not only did the school change the direction of my career - graduation, my job with American Liberty, meeting Vicki, raising our family - I knew it was having a big impact on other people. I’ve had it in mind forever, but I just didn’t have the ability to make it happen. When the college’s new dean, Dr. John Bowen, came to the Hilton College he brought in Jon Schultz as development director for the college. It’s a fancy title for fundraiser and Jon has made tremendous progress. American Liberty had matured to the right level and the college has the right leadership with a lot of momentum, so I felt that the time was right for someone to make a big commitment to the college and help make it the greatest hotel college in the country.
How did you decide on the amount of your gift? Jon called me about a year ago. He knew that I really loved the history of this industry and we talked about documenting some of the great hoteliers. He suggested that the school’s archives need to be expanded and renovated and he suggested a library. With six months of planning, we saw how much money we could get from the university and from the Hilton Foundation. The total cost for the project ended up being $3 million. Our gift at that point had grown to $1.2 million. Before we signed the documents, I called Jon and told him I wanted to move the number up to $1.5 million to cover half the project’s cost. That number is significant to students at this college. The original gift from Conrad Hilton to open the college in 1969 was $1.5 million. This is really thrilling for Vicky and me because we have three children that have graduated from the college and part of our motivation is to keep them supportive and involved.
If you were addressing a group of young people considering a career in this business, what advice would you give them? First of all, you have to love it. Life is too short to be unhappy. Find a company with an environment that fits you and be happy. And, as Dean Taylor always said, “Hard work always makes good luck.” |
|
||||||
: What attracted you to the hospitality industry?