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| Founded | 1953 |
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| Founder | Marion W. Isbell and Michael Robinson |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 851 (December 31, 2022) [1] |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Parent | Wyndham Hotels and Resorts |
| Website | www |
Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. As of December 31, 2022, it operates 851 hotels with 120,344 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand. [2]
The Ramada name derives from the Spanish term rama (meaning "branch"). [3] Temporary open-air structures called "ramadas" (meaning "porch" or "arbor"), made of brush or branches (similar to an arbor) were popular in Arizona during harvest time. [4] Company websites commonly refer to the structure as a "shady resting place". [5]
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Longtime Chicago restaurateur Marion W. Isbell (1905–1988) founded the chain in 1953 [6] along with a group of investors including Michael Robinson of McAllen, Texas (who later went on to start Rodeway Inns in the early 1960s) and Del Webb of Phoenix (who owned the New York Yankees and went on to establish his own lodging chain, Hiway House, in 1956). Other original investors of Ramada Inns included Isbell's brother-in-law Bill Helsing; Max Sherman, a produce operator from Chicago dubbed "The Tomato King"; Chicago attorneys Ezra Ressman and Mort Levin; and Frank Lichtenstein and Robert Rosow of San Antonio, Texas.[ citation needed ]
Early in 1952, Marion W. Isbell received a phone call from his brother-in-law, Bill Helsing. Bill informed him of a hotel deal in Flagstaff, AZ that he was going to invest in and wanted to know if Marion would be interested in joining him. This first investment resulted in a rapid return on capital.
Ramada opened its first hotel, a 60-room facility, on U.S. Route 66 at Flagstaff, Arizona in 1954 and set up its headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, where the chain built the Sahara Hotel on North 1st Street downtown in 1956 (which later became the Ramada Inn Downtown) and a 300-room Ramada Inn in the 3800 block of East Van Buren in 1958 that would become the chain's flagship property and headquarters. Like his contemporary, Holiday Inn hotel-chain founder Kemmons Wilson, Isbell devised the idea of building and operating a chain of roadside motor hotels when, while on a cross-country trip with his wife Ingrid and their three children, he noted the substandard quality of roadside motor courts along US highways at the time. He had the idea to develop a chain of roadside motor hotels conveniently located along major highways which would provide lodgings with hotel-like quality at near-motel rates plus amenities such as TV, air conditioning, swimming pools, and on-premises restaurants.
From its start in the 1950s until around 1976, Ramada's logo featured a friendly bald innkeeper, dubbed "Uncle Ben". He sported an apron (later a suit and tie) and held a top hat in one hand; in the other hand was a red trumpeted banner that read "Ramada Inn Roadside Hotels". From 1976 to 1982, the chain's logo was a simple rounded rectangle that read "Ramada Inn" in the original design's gothic Western-style lettering. of the original design. From 1982 to 2004, Ramada changed to a revised, rounded rectangular design with more "modern" lettering.
At one point the chain was owned by Ramada Inns, Inc., a holding company set up by Isbell to oversee Ramada's various divisions including hotel operations, franchising, real estate, and equipment purchasing. Under Isbell's leadership, Ramada grew into one of the nation's largest lodging chains during the 1960s and 1970s with 100 Ramada Inns in operation by 1964, which grew to 250 in 1970 and nearly 650 by 1976. By the late 1970s, Ramada ranked as the second-largest hotel chain in the U.S. behind industry leader Holiday Inn. Also during the 1970s, Ramada expanded into worldwide operation by opening new hotels in various European nations and on other continents.
Marion W. Isbell served as president and CEO of Ramada until 1970 when he resigned from the presidency and turned it over to his son, William M. Isbell. The senior Isbell continued as the chain's CEO until his retirement in 1972, then Chairman of the Board until 1979. William M. Isbell would serve as Ramada's president and CEO until 1981.
Ramada developed a chain of in-hotel restaurants similar to the Howard Johnson's restaurants, operating them under various names including Uncle Ben's Kitchen, Ramada Pancake Cottage, and Chez Bon, as well as other names used by individual franchises. The company-owned Ramada restaurants became defunct in 1990, though the franchised hotels still include on-premises restaurants.
In an attempt to revive the company's lagging business in 1989, Ramada Inns, Inc. decided to split its hotel/restaurant businesses and its gaming businesses. The Ramada hotels and restaurants were sold for $540 million to New World Development Company and the gaming business which included the Tropicana Las Vegas, Tropicana Atlantic City, and Ramada Express in Laughlin, Nevada, were spun off to a new company called Aztar Corporation. In the original deal for the gaming business, Ramada shareholders were to get $7 in cash per share plus half a share of the new Aztar Corporation. However, this changed quickly to a new deal where shareholders would receive $1 per share plus one share of Aztar Corporation. In the late 1990s, Ramada was sold to Cendant Corporation of New York City.
Under Cendant's (and now Wyndham's) ownership, Ramada franchises Ramada Inn, Ramada Limited, Ramada Plaza, and Ramada Suites in the United States and Canada. Ramada itself no longer directly or indirectly owns or operates any of the Ramada hotels. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, Ramada hotels are owned and operated or franchised by Ramada International, which was owned by hotel operator Marriott International. However, in 2004, Ramada International was purchased by Cendant, giving Cendant the worldwide rights to the Ramada name. Ramada International remains separate from the Ramada operations in the United States and Canada. In 2006, Cendant spun off its hotel operations, including Ramada, to Wyndham Worldwide.
The chain offers different hotel "tiers" based on price and services offered. [7]
One of the "tiers" is no longer part of Ramada: Ramada Renaissance, a division of upscale businesses and resort hotels begun in 1982. When Ramada was sold in 1989, the new owners divided the Renaissance Hotels brand into its own chain and then sold it to Marriott in 1997.
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In Australia, Ramada Inn Parkville was a traditional motel in Parkville, Melbourne affiliated with the Australian "Golden Chain" group of hotels and motels. It underwent extensive renovation at one point but was known locally for its use of the Uncle Ben vintage logo and idiosyncratic abbreviation of the word "kilometre" on its signage. The motel was rebranded in c.2006–09 as "Parade Inn" and was demolished less than a decade later, making way for a residential development.
In the United Kingdom, Jarvis Hotels Ltd were the largest franchisee of the Ramada brand. They operated corporately as "Ramada Jarvis Hotels". Six of the properties were bannered as Country Collection hotels; they are properties that were historic buildings that had been owned by local business magnates and in beautiful landscaped gardens. Ramada Jarvis went into liquidation in September 2011, ceasing trade on every hotel formerly franchised from Ramada. Ramada's United Kingdom operations came to an end. Shortly after, selected Days Hotels were rebranded as Ramada hotels, bringing the brand back to the United Kingdom.
Ramada manages three properties in Indonesia, two are located at Bali, and one at Surakarta. It manages three hotels on Sri Lanka's western coast, under the "Ramada" name, including one in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo. The Ramada Colombo used to be the Holiday Inn Colombo but management has changed. Ramada International also operates three hotels in Pakistan, under the same name "Ramada", in cities including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Multan. Ramada manages one property in Mongolia, which is located in Ulaanbaatar. There are many hotels of Ramada operating in India as well.
A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries after World War II, the word motel, coined as a portmanteau of "motor hotel", originates from the Milestone Mo-Tel of San Luis Obispo, California, which was built in 1925. The term referred to a type of hotel consisting of a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot and in some circumstances, a common area or a series of small cabins with common parking. Motels are often individually owned, though motel chains do exist.
Howard Johnson's, or Howard Johnson by Wyndham, is an American hotel chain with locations worldwide, as well as a former restaurant chain. The chain began as a restaurant founded by Howard Deering Johnson in 1925; in the 1950s, the company expanded operations by opening hotels, then known as Howard Johnson's Motor Lodges, which were often located next to restaurants. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, it was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S., with more than 1,000 combined company-owned and franchised outlets.
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Cendant Corporation was an American provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. In 2005 and 2006, it broke up and spun off or sold its constituent businesses. Although it was based in New York City, the majority of its headquarters employees were in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey.
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Choice Hotels International, Inc. is an American multinational hospitality company based in North Bethesda, Maryland. The company, which is one of the largest hotel chains in the world, owns several hotel brands ranging from upscale to economy. As of the third quarter 2023, Choice Hotels franchised nearly 7,500 hotels, representing nearly 630,000 rooms, in 46 countries and territories.
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Westmont Hospitality Group is a company nominally based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada which owns and manages hotels. It was founded by the Mangalji family. It is one of the biggest hospitality management companies. It currently is managed by Majid Mangalji. The total revenue for this company is $700 million.
Days Inns – Canada is a hotel chain with over 110 independently owned and operated properties and over 8,810 rooms. Its franchises cover a wide range of urban, airport and resort properties in primary and secondary markets across Canada. An upper-economy brand, Days Inns – Canada master franchise is held and managed by Realstar Hospitality which is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.
Marion William Isbell was an American restaurateur and founder of Ramada Inns, Inc.
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