Have you ever been to San Antonio, New Mexico?
Some questioning, don’t you mean Texas? Others wondering where is New Mexico!
It so happens, that I have. It was by choice that I found myself there earlier this week to join a conference call with a client. Suffice to say that San Antonio is a small (70 people) town in a quiet corner of the south western state of New Mexico. Between there and where I was, are the wide open spaces of the United States.
Why all the hype? San Antonio is the birth place of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton. Where he grew up garnering a motivation to make a start in the hotel business. The first hotel he was involved in was there. When he passed in 1979 the company had 250 mostly owned hotels with a Net Profit of $67M and an ADR of $43. To see San Antonio today prompts wonder as to how this could come to pass.
San Antonio’s other point of note is that it was at the epicentre of a pivotal moment in humanity. You could call it a big bang. Up the road is the Trinity site where Oppenheimer and co developed the nuclear bomb. At the time Robert Oppenheimer had a clear vision of the impact the first nuclear weapon would mean for mankind. And yet we’ve defied those odds.
What’s left of the vestige that bore one of the most significant organisations in our industry? Nothing.
The one remaining artifact is the original hardwood bar counter from the hotel. I was informed with authority that it was carried in decades ago to the Owl Bar & Café. The centrepiece of a watering hole for the aging residents of San Antonio. The Trinity scientists, known at the time as ‘prospectors’ also frequented the place. A curious place for a conference call too.
From little things, big things grow. I wonder what Conrad would think about the Hilton of today.
Life is so tech. And hospitality is such a fascinating story filled industry.
Cheers, Mark Fancourt
