Intercontinental news, Vol. 3, No. 3, May 1967

              i i INTER? CONTINENTAL
HOTELS
NEWS
MAY/JUNE, 1967 VOLUME 3, NO. 3
INTER »CONTINENTAL PUBLISHES ITS GOURMET COOKBOOK
Food and the many ways of cooking it have interested man since time immemorial, and experimenting with different kinds of food has become an international pastime. Catering to this interest as it does to its many guests around the world, Inter* Continental Hotels has produced the INTER-CONTINENTAL GOURMET COOKBOOK by Myra Waldo, published by Macmillan. The book reflects the great variety of different dishes that are seen on the menus of most Inter* Continental hotels around the world. In addition to recipes each chapter features a description of the area or country and comments on its food in general.
The book is a natural outgrowth of the many changes the hotel industry has undergone in the last two decades. The great, ornate, palace-styled buildings are fading away and rising in their stead are the modern, efficient edifices conceived to provide complete comfort to an ever increasing group of travelers.
This mid-century revolution is, perhaps, most noticeable in Inter*Continental’s restaurant facilities. Gone are the vast “hotel dining rooms” of fifty years ago . . . with their endless menus with items of varying significance. Inter*Continental’s philosophy is to create restaurants specializing in far fewer culinary presentations but featuring the very best of international cuisine highlighted by local dishes.
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Richard Simpson (left) of the Department of Interior and Graphic Design, who designed the book; Peter Balas, Vice President—Food and Beverage Operation; Myra Waldo, author of the Inter-Continental Gourmet Cookbook.
HOW PAN AM LAUNCHED AND OPERATES ITS BIG INTER. CONTINENTAL HOTEL CHAIN
(Air Transport World has kindly given us permission to reprint an abridged version of this article by John McLeod which appeared in their May 1967 issue)
With all the world of airlines seemingly about to take the big plunge into the hotel business, it looks more and more like Pan American World Airways is sitting in the catbird seat.
Pan Am’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Inter*Continental Hotels, this year will open its 37th and 38th hotels at Lahore and Rawalpindi in Pakistan. This will bring its total of rooms on six continents to 11,121 and its total of sales to an estimated $80,000,000.
The beginning was a conversation at the White House toward the end of World War II between Mr. Trippe and President F. D. Roosevelt on what could be done to stimulate economic development in South America.
Max Hampton, public relations director of Inter*Continental, tells the story in his lively new book, “Throw Away The Key”.
“At the State Department’s request, Pan Am made that survey and submitted its findings: there were not enough first-class hotels—or in many instances, even adequate ones—to accommodate travelers. With supreme logic, Pan Am summed it up: if people have no place to stay when they get there they are not likely to go there at all. The State Department nodded solemnly at this good sense. They looked searchingly at Pan Am and asked, in effect, ‘So?’
“So Pan Am faced up to the job and in 1946 formed . . . Inter*Continental Hotels.” It now has a 21-year head start on airlines just getting into the hotel business.
Just how deeply, however, is Pan Am really involved in its subsidiary? How closely are they linked?
Inter*Continental’s senior Vice President-Marketing, Henry W. Beardsley, points out four definite intimate relationships :
1.	Inter* Continental Hotels looks to Pan Am “for a great deal of international know-how.”
2.	Purchasing and sales personnel are principally recruited from Pan Am personnel.
3.	Inter*Continental leases rights to Pan Am’s international communications network, Panamac.
4.	Pan Am promotes Inter*Continental in its routine selling efforts.
He points out, however, two ways in which Inter* Continental retains its individuality.
1. Our guests arrive on many airlines and we recognize each one equally.
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