PR Newswire
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2014
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
ROOMS AT THE INN
Profile America — Friday, December 12th. Many Americans drive on their vacations, and if they don't stay with relatives they often stay at one of the nation's many motels. The term motel came to have meaning only when the automobile started to dominate the landscape and the term "motor hotel" came into general use. The first motel opened on this date in 1925 in San Luis Obispo, California. It featured a sign with flashing lights that changed the first letter so that it alternated the words "hotel" and "motel. It had accommodations for 160 guests in individual chalets, each with bathroom, telephone, and a garage. Today, there are close to 50,000 hotels and motels across the U.S., employing almost 1.5 million people. With a total of 4.9 million rooms available, occupancy averages over 62 percent. Profile America is in its18th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources:
Kane's Famous First Facts, 2429
Hotels, motels and employment/NAICS 721110: http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=BP_2012_00A1&prodType=table
Rooms and occupancy: http://www.ahla.com/content.aspx?id=36332
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau