One of the larger challenges my grandparents faced, was keeping the motel up to certain standards. If maintenance wasn't enough of a hassle, there was also the problem of keeping the motel within a franchise, in order to provide a customer-friendly standard that was dependable. Remember, this is back in a time where Yelp and Google reviews weren't even possible, and customer service relied heavily on either word of mouth, or of an excellent local reference.
"It
was a lot of pressure. Business things went south…little things like being a
member of the Best Western system. They dropped us at the end of the first year.
They had kept the place listed on their system when Ruth was running it, out of
sympathy (I’m convinced). When she left, they gave us a quick inspection, a gig
list three pages or so long and a year to get it fixed up. That was a little
un-realistic. Dad got a little bit of slack, but somewhere in the second year,
we were out. That one hurt." - Jerold Bishop
So, after being dumped by Best Western, which was and still is a huge franchise chain, my Grandparents were able to find another, more local chain that was headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the time, the franchise was small, only boasting a mere 32 motels in 1963, but quickly exploded by the year 1974, which totaled approximately 770 properties.
"The Friendship Inns" was the name, and that became part of their lifeblood in order to bring in more patrons throughout their time as owners. This alliance gave them the ability to be listed in Triple AAA tourist guides, along with their membership and meeting minimal standards of cleanliness, service, comfort, and integrity.
This was also their listing in the Cache Valley phonebook, as recent as 1969, as a FRIENDSHIP INN AND KOFFEEHOUSE, regardless of their name still remaining MITCHELL MOTEL.
Works Cited:
1) Jackle, John A., Sculle, Keith A., and Rogers, Jefferson S.. The Motel in America. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. Print. Pages 168-69.
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