Conrad Hilton

The book I read to research this post was Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton which is a very good book which I bought from a local secondhand bookstore. This book was written in 1957 but is essentially an autobiography about how he built up the Hilton Group of hotels. At that time there were many luxury hotels like the Waldorf Astoria in New York going out of business and he bought them up cheaply. Many of his gains were made when there was a recession and he knew there was a market for luxury hotels. Of course the wealthy will always have to stop in a luxury hotel whether or not there is a recession. One of his substantial gains was made in Hawaii in 1941 when World War 2 was going on and many thought the Japanese might land there. He thought if the Japs land there we're all done for and bought a luxury hotel in Honolulu quite cheaply. He did his research and checked the hotel was empty beforehand. Of course he had lots of money when he needed it and bought one hotel chain for $111 million. This is a fascinatinating account of how someone built a business empire and I really enjoyed it. Many businesses cut back on investment when there is a recession which is exactly the time when it's cheapest and the time to strike. This version of the book contains a foreword by his son Barron Hilton. At one stage he was so poor a bellboy had to give him enough money to buy something to eat.