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Fall 2004, Volume 46, Number 2

Giving Back

By Ann Carney. Photography by Jason Marsh.

As a young man, John McKibbon III missed out on one major opportunity in the hotel industry. So when a second one came along in 1992, he jumped at the chance. Before even conferring with his board, McKibbon committed to building 17 Marriott Courtyard hotels in the Southeast.

His foresight paid off.

In just three years, McKibbon built 15 sites.

McKibbon is no stranger to the hotel industry. He’s the third-generation head of McKibbon Hotel Management, a company founded by his grandfather, John McKibbon Sr., more than 75 years ago. The company currently owns and operates 38 hotels in seven states, including 10 in the Tampa Bay-Sarasota area, through franchise agreements with Marriott, Hilton and Sheraton.

Now, in the quiet way he’s been known to give something back, McKibbon has made a major gift to USF’s new School of Hotel and Restaurant Management. Through his fund with the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, McKibbon pledged a major gift to the school. His gift, combined with a State of Florida Matching Grant, established a $502,500 endowed professorship which was conferred on Dr. John R. Walker earlier this year.

McKibbon’s hotel experience began when he was a teenager working in the laundry room of his father’s Holiday Inn in Gainesville. He earned a bachelor of science degree in hotel and restaurant management from Florida International University in 1975, and in 1977, joined his family’s company. In 1991, he was named president and in 1993, chairman and CEO. He additionally holds the title of president of Residence Inn by Marriott Franchise Association, and is actively involved in community organizations and boards.

In the mid-1990’s, McKibbon and his technical support experts created an Internet-based, accounting system for hotels with multiple locations. That led to the formation of M3 Accounting Services, a separate company that now provides accounting services for about 500 hotels. Subscriber hotels input data which travels via Internet to M3’s Georgia data center where it is processed, reported and stored. The end result is a highly efficient, cost-effective accounting system that eliminates a hotel’s need for expensive hardware and an information technology staff.

McKibbon hopes this software can benefit students in the school. In the hotel business, he says, technology is the name of the game.

“Better educated people will help us become more efficient,” McKibbon says. “The goal must be to increase efficiency in all areas of our operations.”

McKibbon moved his hotel management company to Tampa in 1992. He’s quick to say the city has played an important role in his success.

“We’ve got some very talented people here in the company, but we’ve had a lot of help along the way,” he says. “The city has been wonderful to us. People here are friendly and helpful, and there’s been a lot of quality growth.”

That growth is important to the hospitality industry. “It’s important for a city to have good quality hotels of all types,” McKibbon says. “And that takes educated people who really love the business.”

Thanks to his company’s generous gift, that education is now a reality for students at USF’s newest school.

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