Esso Motor Hotel was a Swedish subsidiary of the American oil company
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...
, for running hotels in Europe.
History
![Essomotorby2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Essomotorby2.jpg)
In the 1960s, with the rise of the numbers of travelers by car, the Scandinavian governments asked for dormitories for motorists at the service stations along the highways. The first that offered bedrooms to motorists was the Swedish Esso filling station along the
E20 in
Laxå
Laxå is a locality and the seat of Laxå Municipality in Örebro County
Örebro County ( sv, Örebro län) is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Västra Götaland, Värmland, Dalarna, Västmanland, Södermanlan ...
, halfway between
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
and
Göteborg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...
, resulting in a complete ''Motorby'' in 1963 and the establishing of Esso Motor Hotel AB. A Motorby (Swedish for ''Motor village''), is a filling station with workshop combined with a hotel specially for motorists with direct access from the parking to the rooms. All rooms and services, as a shop and cafeteria, are situated at ground floor level. The first motorby at Laxå was followed soon by motorbys at Härnosand, Östersund and Vara and a motel in Örkelljunga. The later built Esso Motor Hotels were provided with far more features than a ''motorby'', as a waiter served restaurant, bank, fitness room, sauna, pool and meeting rooms, mainly to satisfy business travelers. The first three motorbys were upgraded to Esso Motor Hotel, but Vara and Örkelljunga were rated as Esso Motel with minimized services.
Until the splitting at the beginning of 1973, 59 Esso Motor Hotels were opened: 27 in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, 3 in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, 2 in
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, 3 in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, 3 in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, 8 in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
(notably at
Wembley Park
Wembley Park is a district of the London Borough of Brent, England. It is roughly centred on Bridge Road, a mile northeast of Wembley town centre and northwest from Charing Cross.
The name Wembley Park refers to the area that, at its broadest ...
,
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
), 1 in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, 10 in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and 2 in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. The chain had an internal reservation system by which the customer could book the Esso Motor Hotel for the next stage of his journey. The hotels outside Scandinavia were managed by Esso Motor Hotel inc. in London.
The Esso Route
After the first three motor hotels in Sweden expansion abroad followed in 1965. The Scandinavian holidaymaker should be able to drive to the Italian coast using Esso Motor Hotels during the journey. The Hotels were situated in a one-day driving distance from each other. The northern end of this "Esso route" was
Mölndal
Mölndal () is the seat and administrative centre of Mölndal Municipality, located just south of Gothenburg on the west-coast of Sweden. About 40,000 of the municipality's 60,000 inhabitants live in Mölndal proper.
Geography
Mölndal is located ...
in Sweden which opened in 1966, the southern end was
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...
in Italy which opened in 1965. The Swedish-Danish bordercrossing was made by ferry at
Helsingborg
Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...
, from Denmark to Germany the route followed the, then new,
Vogelfluglinie
The (German) or (Danish) is a transport corridor between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Hamburg, Germany.
As the Danish and German names (literally: '' bird flight line'') imply, the corridor is also an important bird migration route between arctic ...
. In Germany the
HaFraBa autobahn route was chosen and south of
Basle
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...
the route of the present
E25 through Switzerland, France and the new
Mont Blanc Tunnel
The Mont Blanc Tunnel is a highway tunnel between France and Italy, under the Mont Blanc mountain in the Alps. It links Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France with Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy, via the French Route Nationale 205 and the Italian T ...
. In Italy Brescia was reached through Valle d'Aosta and the Autostrada Serenissima. The intermediate hotels were situated in Hannover, Courmayeur, Freiburg and Glostrup (Copenhagen). From Brescia the tourists could follow their way to the various resorts on the Adriatic in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
as well as in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. More differentiation was created in 1967 by two more Hotels, Heidelberg and Sindelfingen in the south of Germany. In Sweden the hotels at Nörrköping and Jönköping were opened in 1967 too. These two enabled the travellers from and to Stockholm to follow the direct route from Stockholm to Helsingborg instead of the longer one via Laxå and Mölndal. In 1969 the southern end shifted to
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, but Esso's Italian partner
Pavesi Pavesi is an Italian surname.
Notable people
* Attilio Pavesi (1910–2011), Italian cyclist
* Carlo Pavesi (1923–1995), Italian fencer
* Donato Pavesi (1889–1946), Italian racewalker
*Eberardo Pavesi (1883–1974), Italian cyclist
* Stefano P ...
built five hotels between Florence and
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
. From the initial plan for the route from
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
in the North to Sicily in the South only the hotel in Trondheim was added afterwards.
Expansion
Fourteen hotels were in use in February 1968, six of them in Sweden and an ambitious expansion plan has been launched. The word "Motel" was avoided in order to emphasize the extra features the "Motor Hotel" provides compared to a normal motel. In Sweden the number of hotels should raise to 19 by half 1968, 27 by 1969 and 35 by 1970. In 1968 the British holidaymakers were connected with the ''Esso route'' from the hotel in South Mimms via the carferries to Belgium and the new hotel in Born in the Netherlands. In Denmark the hotel in Billund was opened together with
Legoland
Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...
. In Casteau (Belgium) a hotel was opened next to
SHAPE
A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material type.
A pl ...
situated in Casteau since 1 April 1967 and in Maidenhead a new hotel was combined with the Esso trainingcentre. The number of hotels had been more than doubled by the end of 1968, although the expansion in Sweden was behind schedule. After 1968 the growth slowed down and the next doubling wasn't reached until the end of 1972. Further expansion followed mainly in Scandinavia and with more business related hotels in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands (Antwerp and Amsterdam in 1969 and Velp in 1970). Edinburgh still expected tourists as customers but business travellers got a bigger share in Britain as well. From 1970 on new hotels were built with at least 100 rooms and smaller hotels were enlarged.
At the beginning of 1972 many, also American, competitors from Esso Motor Hotel were building or completing several hotels in the European cities and Esso had several hotels nearing completion in Norway, Britain and Germany. These new beds were added to the hotel capacity already created since the mid sixties resulting in a surplus of rooms.
New owners
The saturation of the hotel market in the European cities and the need for cash to finance the oil exploration did Esso decide to sell the hotels outside of Scandinavia.
Crest
The hotel in Freiburg was sold, the nine remaining German and the only Austrian Hotel were leased to
Crest Hotels
Crest Hotels Limited was a Bass-Charrington subsidiary operating the hotel interests of the brewery company in the United Kingdom. Crest's headquarters were in the former Hunt Edmunds brewery premises in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
History
In 19 ...
at the end of 1972. The other hotels outside Scandinavia, including the ninth British hotel at that time under construction at Runcorn, were sold to Crest Hotels as part of the same deal. From 1976 on the 17 hotels bought by Crest were rebranded as EuroCrest Hotel. In 1976 Crest wanted to double the number of hotels in Germany and bought the leased hotels in Germany and Austria that were rebranded as Eurocrest as well. Eventually Crest sold all its "Esso Motor Hotels" to other hotel chains.
Scandinavia
After the deal with Crest at the end of 1972, 32 hotels remained in Scandinavia, 27 of them in Sweden.
The Danish hotels were sold as well in the seventies, in 1974 Lego bought the hotel in Billund renaming it in Vis-a-Vis Hotel and later on Hotel Legoland. In 1979 the Glostrup hotel changed to Glostrup Park Hotel. Meanwhile, the expansion in Sweden and Norway continued from 28 in Sweden in 1974 to 44 in October 1976.
[Die Zeit 1976 nr.43, 15 Oct. 1976, "Schweden bittet sich billig an"] Besides the Esso Motor Hotels the chain created parallel markets of hotels, without motorist services, in cities branded as ''Esso Scandic'' and ''Esso Motels'', such as Örkelljunga and Vara, with minimized services. Esso also operated roadside restaurants branded as Taverna. In 1977 Esso Motor Hotels owned 10% of the hotelcapacity in Sweden but had a 25% marketshare. In 1983 Esso decided to leave the hotel business. At that time 41 Esso Motor Hotels, 8 Esso Scandic Hotels and 6 Esso Motels were operated in Sweden. The locations in Sweden and Norway were sold to a group of investors. After the detachment from the Esso-company in 1984 the Hotel-chain changed its name in
Scandic Hotels
Scandic Hotels is a hotel chain headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with its main operations in the Nordic countries. Alongside hotels in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, the company also has a presence in Germany and Poland. As of 31 Decem ...
.
Esso Motor Hotels
See also
*
List of hotels
This is a list of hotel-related list articles.
By type
* List of casino hotels
* List of chained-brand hotels
* List of largest hotels
* List of tallest hotels
By country
*Hotels are indexed by country in alphabetical order and are mainly f ...
*
List of motels
This is a list of motels. A motel is lodging designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles. Entering dictionaries after World War II, the word motel, coined in 1925 as a portmanteau of ''motor'' and ''hotel'' or ''mot ...
Notes
References
* 115 Anni Esso Italiana 1891-2006, Rome 2006
{{ExxonMobil
Defunct hotel chains
Hotels in Sweden
Defunct companies of Sweden
ExxonMobil brands