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the hotelier
John Q. Hammons Fall 2009
John Q. Hammons, the founder, chairman and CEO of Springfield, MO-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts
IN JUNE, 1999, MPG* had the pleasure of interviewing John Q. Hammons, the founder, chairman and CEO of Springfield, MO-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, and again in 2004. During the 1999 interview, Joel Hueske, the publisher of MPG*, and Mr. Hammons joked about age. Joel had just turned 50 and, in February of 1999, John Q. celebrated number 80. “I’m feeling funny about this 50 thing,” Joel confided. John Q. laughed. “I’ve had more success in my hotel career since I turned 70,” he proclaimed. Joel left the interview with a good feeling. “Perhaps my great years are still to come,” he thought. In February of this year, John Q. reached another milestone year – number 90. With the help of Bruce Serlen, executive editor, and his team at HOTEL BUSINESS magazine, MPG* is honoring a man whose life and career have served as a model and an inspiration. Bruce spoke with a number of industry leaders about John Q. and shared their remarks in an excellent story about Mr. Hammons in his publication’s April issue. “He has created quality properties, executed outstanding customer service practices and ensures that his successes are shared by many through generous contributions to local communities,” said Marriott International’s chairman and CEO, J.W. (Bill) Marriott, Jr. FelCor Lodging Trust’s chairman, Thomas Corcoran, Jr., said, “He’s been an inspiration to all of us in his commitment to building quality hotels. Even when the times have been horrible, John Q. has been out there, putting his name on the line.” The American Hotel & Lodging Association’s president and CEO, Joseph McInerney added his thoughts regarding John Q. success in developing full-service hotels and convention centers in secondary markets, “It’s been a tremendous achievement. He’s really created a hotel environment in cities that probably wouldn’t have had one otherwise.” It’s hard to imagine a developer today having the same kind of sustained career Hammons has had, Hospitality Artists, LLC’s chairman, Toma Brashear, noted. “Now we have big equity firms that develop on this scale. But for an individual, I don’t think we’ll see somebody have a career like he’s had for a long time, if ever.” John Q. Hammons’ hotel career has spanned 51 years and in the last year alone he has opened major hotel properties, upscale Embassy Suites with spas and convention centers, in San Marcos, TX, Norman, OK and Loveland, CO. MPG* recently talked with John Q. about the state of the hotel industry, his philosophy about hotel development and his definition of success. MPG*: What are your thoughts about the current economic situation? John Q: “We are at a period that very few people have ever observed. You have to go back to the days of Herbert Hoover in the 30’s and early 40’s and that was a very tough time. I was born in 1919 and I’m 90 years old. My mind is strong and my health is good and I get around okay. This past year, I had to watch my flying because I had a little blood problem, but now I have that cured so I can fly in my airplane (a Lear 45) anytime.” MPG*: What’s the current state of the hotel industry? John Q: “Lots of people have gotten into the hotel business in recent years without a lot of experience and without a lot of money. The banking situation has been so loose that almost anybody could borrow money. A lot of the bankers had not experienced tough times so they were loose in their attitude towards lending money and they have been too relaxed about that and it’s caused a lot of problems for the banks. So, they’ve had to quit lending money, and rightfully so.” MPG*: Please share your hotel development philosophy. John Q: “Thirty eight years ago, I went out to California and I saw the creation of the limited service hotels. They had nothing but rooms. I decided not to get into that rat race and I knew that that the interstate highway system was being developed in a great fashion. I had seen in the 40’s and 50’s that the big hotels with meeting space had been quite successful. There weren’t too many of them but they were first class and were able to encourage the big companies to go to the big cities and have meetings. I didn’t want to join the group that was going to go broke so I went to the interstate highways. I began to notice that companies were leaving Michigan and New England because of the weather and the unions. They were going into the south, the southeast and the southwest. And they began to progress into the mid-states like Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. The new interstate highways were being developed with pretty nice hotels so I began following that route. Most of these people are in trouble because they picked a location without any thought to a market. You have to have a market or you can’t win. Many people in the hotel business today don’t know how to define a market or find a market. I also began to notice that major cities began charging $12-18 to park and I said I’m going out where I can put a hotel and a convention center and have free parking. I’ll always offer free parking.” MPG*: Mr. Hammons, one more question. How do you define success? John Q: “The final result is being profitable and making money at what you do - that’s really the bottom line. You’ll never get to the bottom line unless you know how to treat people and do it promptly, courteously, and pay attention to the needs of the customer.” According to Steve Minton, Mr. Hammon’s architect, “He has BIG dreams and he is always dreaming.” |
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