Hotel Magnate Always Sees Room for Improvement

FARGO, N.D. — Gary Tharaldson says that he works only about 25 hours a week at his office but that he spends about 40 hours thinking of ways to make his business better.

“A lot of businessmen are really busy people,” Tharaldson says. “I choose not to be busy, but my mind is working. It’s a process where you try to be the best you can possibly be.”

His thoughts have helped Tharaldson Enterprises make $50 million a year and have helped make its 51-year-old owner and president worth about $575 million. Forbes magazine calls Tharaldson the richest man in North Dakota.

Tharaldson grew up in the tiny town of Dazey in east-central North Dakota. The high school farmhand and Valley City State University graduate tried teaching and selling life insurance before launching a lodging dynasty by opening a series of no-frills hotels and motels throughout the Midwest.

He now owns more than 235 hotels under 20 names--from Courtyard Marriotts to Super 8s--and aspires to add one new hotel every nine days.

“You always set goals, and that’s always been one of my goals: to be the best,” he says. “Money is just a measuring stick. It doesn’t mean that much to me. The game is what I like.”

One of his brainstorms was to put laundry rooms behind the front desk in his hotels. Doing laundry keeps his night clerks busy and saves him about $5,500 annually at each hotel--a total of about $1.25 million.

He pays the housekeepers who clean his 16,000 rooms by the number of suites cleaned, not by the hour, to save the company money and create a shorter workday for the staff.

“If we were paid by the hour, we’d lose money,” says Anne Schneiter, head housekeeper at Fargo’s Comfort Inn, who has been cleaning Tharaldson’s rooms for nine years.

Tharaldson, who owns only one suit which he seldom wears to work, says he has a relaxed, open-door policy with his workers and can answer any company-related question within 30 seconds. The father of six--from a newborn to a 28-year-old--Tharaldson offers free hotel stays on Thanksgiving and Christmas to people visiting hospitalized friends or family.

His business’ size allows him to buy items wholesale, and he arranges for others to use his dealers, with him getting a percentage. The buying network started in May, and Tharaldson expects that it will blossom into a $175-million project.

Tharaldson prides himself on being the best, whether he’s trying to strike a business deal or strike out a softball opponent. He has won state and national tournaments and been inducted into the state softball Hall of Fame.

“It’s a competitive spirit. It’s sort of the way I am and the way I operate my business,” he says, perched behind an organized desk in an office filled with trophies and awards. “The product continues to get better.”

There are no restaurants or room service at his hotels, Tharaldson says--just clean rooms, affordable rates ($30 to $70) and a positive attitude.

His 4,200 workers even get lessons on employee and guest appreciation.

“The other hotels I’ve worked for probably wouldn’t even know what that was,” says Alana Erstad, general manager of Fargo’s Econo Lodge, who was working a front-desk shift. “Everything seems to be more pulled together here. The atmosphere seems to be more relaxed, yet it’s professional.”

Customers can feel the difference.

“We’re very pleased. They’re so friendly, and their rooms are so clean,” says Pat Hunter, a Canadian who was staying at the Fargo Comfort Inn recently during a bus trip. “The only thing I have to complain about is if you want something to eat, you have to go and get it.”