Conrad Hilton

Conrad Nicholson Hilton was an American hotelier, who single handedly established the Hilton Hotel chain, the first of its kind in post-World War I era. Born towards the end of nineteenth century to a hard working father, who owned a general store and a devout mother, he learned the value of both work and worship early in his life. Although his initial aim was to become a banker, he became an hotelier when he watched streams of visitors entering and leaving the hotel in which he was sitting. Subsequently, he bought the hotel and within a year recouped his investment not only by optimizing the use of space, but also by providing additional benefits to the guests. Thereafter, he went on to acquire seven more hotels until the Great Depression almost reduced him to bankruptcy. However, he did not dither from his goal and once the depression was over, he began to add more hotels to his chain. By the time he retired, the chain owned 188 hotels in 38 cities within the country and 54 hotels abroad.