Editing Motel (section)

===Ownership chains===
The earliest motel chains, proprietary brands for multiple properties built with common architecture, were born in the 1930s. The first of these were ownership chains, in which a small group of people owned and operated all of the motels under one common brand.

[[Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts]], founded 1929 in East [[Waco, Texas]], was the first such chain with seven motor courts by 1936 and more than twenty by 1955.<ref>{{cite web | title=Torrance, Edgar Lee (1893-1971)| date=November 2, 2016 | publisher=The Handbook of Texas Online | url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_582.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Alamo Plaza | website=highwayhost.org | url=http://www.highwayhost.org/AlamoPlaza/alamoplaza1.htm}}</ref> With Simmons furniture, [[Beautyrest]] mattresses on every bed, and telephones in every room, the Alamo Plaza rooms were marketed as "tourist apartments" under a slogan of "Catering to those who care."

In 1935, building contractor Scott King opened King's Motor Court in [[San Diego, California]], renaming the original property [[Travelodge]] in 1939 after having built two dozen more simple motel-style properties in five years on behalf of various investors. He incorporated and expanded the entire chain under the TraveLodge banner after 1946.<ref name="motelinamerica">{{cite book |title=The Motel in America | author=John A. Jakle |author2=Keith A. Sculle |author3=Jefferson S. Rogers | page=156 | publisher=JHU Press | isbn=0801869188 | year=2002}}</ref>

In 1937, [[Colonel Sanders|Harlan Sanders]] opened a motel and restaurant as [[Harland Sanders Café and Museum|Sanders Court and Café]] alongside a fuel station in [[Corbin, Kentucky]]; a second location was opened in [[Asheville, North Carolina]], but expansion as a motel chain was not pursued further.<ref>{{cite web | title=KFC | website=roadsidearchitecture.com | url=http://www.agilitynut.com/eateries/kfc.html | access-date=March 31, 2012 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720233915/http://www.agilitynut.com/eateries/kfc.html | archive-date=July 20, 2012 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Harland Sanders Museum and Café | publisher=Corbin KY tourism | url=http://www.corbinkytourism.com/sandersKFC.htm | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201111320/http://corbinkytourism.com/sandersKFC.htm | archive-date=December 1, 2010 }}</ref>