Esso Motor Hotel

Esso Motor Hotel was a Swedish subsidiary of U.S. oil company Esso, the managed hotels in Europe.

History

In Scandinavia, emerged with the emergence in the 1960s, car traffic, the desire for overnight lodging for motorists. The Esso station on the E 20 in Sweden Laxå, halfway Stockholm and Gothenburg offered the first bedroom, until 1963 there is a Motorby ( Swedish Motor Village ) opened and the Esso Motorhotell AB was founded. Then Motorbys followed in Härnosand, Östersund and Vara and a motel in Örkelljunga. A Motorby combines a petrol station and workshop with food, such as self -service restaurant and kiosk, and bedrooms which are directly accessible from the parking lot. Later Esso Motor Hotels were better equipped with restaurant, bank, gym, sauna, swimming pool and meeting rooms, especially for business travelers. The first three Motorbys were repaired for Esso Motor Hotel, but the branches in Vara and Örkelljunga remained in the low quality level as Esso Motel.

A total of up to 1973 59 Esso Motor Hotels were opened: 32 in Scandinavia, eight in the UK, ten in Germany, two in Belgium, three in the Netherlands, one in Austria and three in Italy. The hotel outside Scandinavia were managed by the Esso Motor Hotel Inc. in London.

The Esso route

After the opening of the first three hotels in Sweden followed in 1965 expanding abroad with a branch in Brescia. The route from Sweden to the coast of Italy should be equipped with hotels, so that Scandinavians were able to drive your own car to Italy. From Mölndal ( Gothenburg ) led the route via the ferry at Helsingborg to Glostrup (Copenhagen) and from there via the, then new, Vogelfluglinie to Germany. In Germany Esso chose the HaFraBa route and south of the current Basel I 25 through the Mont Blanc tunnel. In Italy led the way through the Valle d' Aosta and the Autostrada Serenissima Brescia. The hotels were built at intervals of approximately one day of travel. A reservation system allowed reservation at the next hotel along the way. The first house in Germany, Hotel in Hanover was opened in spring 1966 in the fall of 1966 followed Freiburg im Breisgau. With the opening of the hotels in Copenhagen ( Glostrup ) and Courmayeur it was possible to drive all the way from Sweden to Brescia with overnight stays in Esso Motor Hotels. After this north-south route followed in 1967, four houses: two in Germany ( Sindelfingen, Heidelberg) and two in Sweden. The two Swedish homes in Jönköping and Norrköping were built along the road from Stockholm to Helsingborg, so that the travelers from Stockholm could save going through Laxå and Mölndal.

Growth

Beginning in 1968 were 14 hotels in operation, 6 of them in Sweden, and ran a large construction project. According to plan, there should be in the summer of 1968 in Sweden already 19 Esso Motor Hotels and 1969 and in 1970 should Eight additional houses will be opened. Instead of the name Motel Motor Hotel was chosen to better equipment to emphasize. The Swedish offices in Vara and Örkelljunga were continued as a basic motel and have therefore never called Motor Hotel. Outside Sweden, the UK branch in South Mimms on the ferries to Belgium and the house in Born (The Netherlands ) was connected to the Esso route. In Denmark the house ( Legoland hotel today ) opened in Billund in June 1968 along with the theme park Legoland. In Maidenhead (England), a new Motor Hotel was built together with the Esso Education Centre and in Casteau the first house was opened in Belgium near SHAPE. During 1968, doubled the number of motor hotels, but only nine new hotels were opened, and the foundations laid for a further five houses in Sweden. The next doubling was achieved only at the beginning 1973.

After 1968 business came increasingly as customers into consideration and new hotels, including five in Germany, were built in or near commercial cities. From the end of 1969 were given new homes at least 100 rooms and existing homes have been extended. In 1970 the House in Edinburgh opened the still reckoned with tourists as customers, but also in the UK, the proportion of business travelers rose. In the year 1972, except Esso Motor Hotel many, mostly American, competitors in the European hotel business and had Esso Motor Hotel several houses in Norway, the UK and Germany under construction. These new beds were still to that since the mid -1960s, greatly increased number of beds.

Sale

In the early 1970s a surplus of hotel beds originated and Esso money needed for oil drilling digestion, Esso decided to exit.

Crest

In 1972, nine of the ten hotels in Germany and the office in Linz leased to Crest Hotels. The house in Freiburg, was not taken from Crest. The remaining nichtskandinavischen houses, including the under-construction hotel in Runcorn, were sold at Crest Hotels. 1976, the name was changed in Euros Crest and Crest wanted to expand into Germany. Six new branches should to come and Crest acquired the ten leased houses. The previous Esso Motor Hotels and the six new ones were then, as the houses bought in 1972, continues to operate as all euro Crest. Later Crest has sold its hotels at other hotel chains on.

Scandinavia

The 32 Scandinavian offices were initially operated by the business with the Crest of Esso on. The Danish houses were later sold. Lego 1974 bought the hotel in Billund, 1979 Glostrup was continued as an independent Glostrup Park Hotel. In Sweden, more hotels have been built as Esso Motor Hotel from 1973 yet. In 1974 there were 28 branches in Sweden, October 1976 already 44 Besides the Esso Motor Hotels betrab Esso in Sweden and the Esso Scandic hotels, hotels in the city center without Filling station and garage, Esso motels, as Örkelljunga and Vara, with minimal equipment and Taverna, rest stops along the kingdom road. In 1977, Esso Motor Hotel 10%, the Swedish hotel beds but 25 % market share. 1983, Sweden had 41 Esso Motor Hotels, Motels and 6 Esso Esso 8 Scandic Hotels. 1984 Esso finished the whole hotel business and sold the Swedish subsidiary of Scandinavian investors, after which the name was changed to Scandic Hotels.

Esso Motor Hotels

Swell

• Hotel Chain
• Former company (Sweden)