Our Unique Company Culture
FelCor is not your ordinary real estate investment company. The company's family-oriented, entrepreneurial and fun corporate culture is the direct result of co-founders Hervey Feldman (the "Fel") and Tom Corcoran (the "Cor"). Together, Hervey and Tom built what is today the second largest public hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) in the U.S. based on ingenuity, hard work and the ideals of working together as a family and having fun.
Although Hervey passed away in 2004, his spirit lives on at FelCor. Hervey, known as the father of Embassy Suites Hotels®, and Tom, a lodging and restaurant executive, first became friends in Topeka, Kansas, more than 25 years ago. In 1991, they purchased their first hotel - the Holiday Inn® at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. One year later, they acquired the Embassy Suites hotel in Tulsa, OK and bought five Park Suites® hotels that were in the process of being converted to the Embassy Suites brand in 1993.
In 1994, FelCor (NYSE: FCH) went public as a REIT, but the company's deeply ingrained ethics, ideals and spirited corporate culture has remained the same because it is considered a key element in the company's ongoing success.
The essence of FelCor's unique corporate culture can be seen in one of the company's more unique corporate events - the Chairman's Luncheon. Tom started this tradition of cooking and fun when he and Hervey first founded FelCor, and the tradition continues today.
Every other month, a handful of employees are selected at random and given the task of creating a five to seven course meal from scratch based on a theme given to them by Tom at 7:00 a.m. on the day of the lunch. Regardless of each employee's level of cooking expertise, the team works together to shop for ingredients and spends the morning working hard over a hot stove.
Chairman of the Board Tom Corcoran believes the Chairman's Luncheon is a great team-building exercise. It also exemplifies FelCor's unique and invigorating company culture.
