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Crystal Inn born of diesel fuel marketing and Harvard MBA By
Laren Hawkins
The hotel on 300 W. 600 South in Salt Lake City is no different in most ways than other hotel competitors. It has beds, bathrooms, furniture and vending machines. The halls extend from one doorway to the other like corridors on the movie The Shining. So what makes this hotel different from all the rest? There is a 24-hour front desk staff that cordially greets you as you enter the building and check in. The courtesy shuttle van is parked outside the lobby waiting for its next group of airport-bound travelers. After check-in, the elevator sweeps you up to the appropriate floor and you step off anxiously looking for your room number. 338. You look left then right hoping the next set of numbers will be yours. Finally you've found it. Once the electronic key card is inserted into the door lock, a green light flashes at you from it's shinny brass frame, giving you the "go ahead," and you walk into the room. The room is laid out perfectly for the business traveler. A large king-size bed, cleanly made with a worm lavender-colored bedspread, entices you to stretch out and enjoy a comfortable night's rest. A 3' x 6' armoire holds a 25'' television screen and VCR. The oversized room looks like two as a divider discreetly separates the room. In one section is the king bed and in the opposite section is a large sitting area, with a sofa, lounge chairs and a work desk. The room seems perfectly situated for accomplishing the business person's needs. You wonder as many travelers do, "who built such a well thought-out hotel?" It all started once upon a time... Well to be exact, November 1992. Jay Call, then 55-years-old and founder of "Flying J", the highest-volume marketer of diesel fuel along the nation's highways, decided to try his hand at the hotel business. He came across a 2-acre piece of land for sale in Salt Lake City. There he built his first hotel--a 175-room business traveler's hotel, the Crystal Inn. Mr. Call named the facility after his daughter Crystal Call and invited his then 31- year-old Harvard graduate to leave her sales-marketing job and operate his newly founded hotel. Crystal had no experience in hotels. Her education established her knowledge in marketing, but she lacked the necessary experiences of running the day-to-day functions of a hotel. She decided to take advantage of an opportunity to learn the business from an acquaintance of the family who owned several hotels in Oregon. Crystal volunteered and spent one month learning the operations of the hospitality industry. Everything from cleaning rooms to customer relations. She wanted the full experience. "Just because you have an MBA from Harvard, doesn't mean you know how to clean a room," Mr. Call recalls saying to his daughter. After a month of learning the lodging industry, Crystal returned to Utah and began designing her father's hotel interior. Crystal wanted the hotel to be different from all the others. She wanted to create a feeling of comfort and class. "I wanted and still want to create a feeling of home. The Crystal Inn should be a home away from home," says Crystal. Shortly after the opening of his hotel, Jay Call decided it was time to take a back seat in the hotel business. He turned it over to his daughter and her new husband and Harvard classmate, Chuck Magellet. The unique hotel became a hit among many business travelers in Salt Lake. The demand for this type of hotel was booming. The new Crystal Inn opened with a full house in April 1994. It has maintained a phenomenal 85% occupancy since its opening. Crystal and Chuck made their next moves. Within three years, they opened similar hotels in North East, Md.; Gulfport, Miss.; Aurora, Colo.; Brigham City and Logan, Utah. All opened with typical "Flying J" success. Soon after these openings, Jay Call asked the Salt Lake based company, MacCall Management, to operate the existing six other name-brand hotels then currently managed by Flying J. Chuck and Crystal agreed and added them to their portfolio of successful hotels. Owning and operating twelve hotels all in a matter of five years, the young couple have no plans of stopping. They are currently building a Crystal Inn in Great falls, Mont. They are also looking to acquire existing hotel properties throughout the country, hoping to expand even further. "We are excited about the future in the hospitality industry, but we want to pace ourselves and make sure we make the correct decisions," says Chuck. Pacing themselves is probably a good idea since their new additions to their family have come. In September of this year, the Magellet family added twins to their family of four. During the years of developing MacCall Management, Chuck and Crystal had two children. But now with the newly-arrived twins, they are feeling a greater demand on their time. Despite all of these new pressures, the company is forcing its way ahead in maintaining its edge and leadership in the hotel market. Their goals are clear for the future. They want to manage many more hotels within the next few years. Success is often difficult to come by as an entrepreneur. The Magelett family realize this and are grateful for the success they have found so far.
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