In 1901, Buffalo hosted the Pan-American Exposition. Statler built a hotel on the Exposition grounds and called it "Statler's Hotel". It was a temporary wooden structure intended to last the duration of the Exposition. With 2,084 rooms, it could accommodate 5,000 guests. Although the Exposition was deemed an overall failure due to a number of factors, Statler was one of the few vendors to make a small profit. His next venture was the Inside Inn, built for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. Another temporary wooden structure, it was the world's largest hotel with 2257 rooms. A grand success, the hotel made Statler a net profit of $361,000 and laid the groundwork for his first permanent hotel. The hotel was then sold for scrap and dismantled. The Inside Inn was near the edge of Forest Park in St. Louis, where Highway 64/40 now traverses the location.
Company history
The first "permanent" Statler hotel was designed by August Esenwein and James A. Johnson, built in Buffalo, New York, and offered 300 rooms and bathrooms. The hotel was successful and led to a chain of hotels in other cities. Statler's intent was not to compete with the luxury hotels, but to provide, clean, comfortable, and moderately-priced rooms for the average traveler. Statler was the first major hotel chain to have a bathroom in every room. His innovative Statler Plumbing Shaft is still used in modern construction. From providing paper and pens for correspondence to a light in the closet, Statler brought the average traveler a level of luxury that was otherwise unaffordable. Rooms were originally available at what seemed a very cheap price, leading many other hoteliers to predict the failure of the Buffalo hotel. The opening night price was as low as $1.50 for a guest room, leading to the slogan "A Room and a Bath for a Dollar and a Half". The hotel had a $500,000 line of credit available, but maintained positivecash flow and Statler never used the line of credit. Each of the subsequent Statler Hotels built upon this formula for success. Reflecting the era's enthusiasm for scientific management, Statler took pride in how he standardized questions of room design. His hotels had minimal wasted space, particularly on the guestroom floors, and he strove to have room layouts that would maximize efficiency and profitability. After Statler's death in 1928, the company built hotels in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, California, Hartford, Connecticut, and Dallas, Texas. Many of these hotels were designed by the architectural firm of George Post & Sons, the successor firm of George B. Post. In the mid- and late-1940s, pianist Liberace "gained national exposure through his performance contracts with the Statler and Radisson hotel chains". The Hotels Statler Company, Inc., was sold to Conrad Hilton's Hilton Hotels in 1954 for $111 million, then the world's largest real estate transaction.
