WASHINGTON, DC— October 14, 2015, Stanley Turkel has been named the recipient of the Historic Hotels of America 2015 Historian of the Year Award. Turkel was honored with this distinguished award on October 9, 2015 at West Baden Springs Hotel (1902) at French Lick Resort in West Baden Springs, Indiana. This is the second year in a row Turkel has been awarded this prestigious honor.
The Historic Hotels of America Historian of the Year Award is presented to an individual for making a unique contribution in the research, and presentation of history and whose work has encouraged a wide discussion of greater understanding and enthusiasm for American History and historic hotels.
Turkel is a well-known consultant in the hotel industry. Prior to forming his hotel consulting firm, Turkel was the Product Line Manager for worldwide hotel/motel operations at the International Telephone & Telegraph Company (IT&T) overseeing the Sheraton Corporation of America. Before joining IT&T, he was the Resident Manager of the Americana Hotel (1,842 guestrooms), General Manager of the Drake Hotel (680 guestrooms) and General Manager of the Summit Hotel (762 guestrooms), all in New York City.
Turkel is one of the most widely-published authors in the hospitality field. More than 275 articles on various hotel subjects have been posted in hotel magazines and on the Hotel-Online, BlueMauMau, HotelNewsResource and eTurboNews websites. Two of his hotel books have been promoted, distributed, and sold by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry and Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels East of the Mississippi). A third hotel book (Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York) was called "passionate and informative" by The New York Times. His fourth hotel book was described by The New York Times: "Nostalgia for the City's caravansaries will be kindled by Stanley Turkel's…fact-filled… ‘Hotel Mavens: Lucius M. Boomer, George C. Boldt and Oscar of the Waldorf.”
“We are pleased to name Stanley Turkel as the recipient of the Historic Hotels of America 2015 Historian of the Year Award for the second consecutive year,” said Lawrence Horwitz, Executive Director of Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide. “Stanley Turkel is a great storyteller. Turkel stimulates significant interest in historic hotels. He makes you want to travel back in time to the early days of these historic hotels and you feel as if you were there. Turkel brings the tales of these treasured historic hotels to life.”
Upon being informed that he had been named Historic Hotels of America 2015 Historian of the Year, Stanley Turkel noted, “According to Dr. Samuel Johnson, ‘There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn’ and Turkel added, “according to Mark Twain, ‘All saints can perform miracles but only a few can manage a hotel.’
