Open Secrets of Success: The Gary Tharaldson Story

This book recounts the riveting story of Gary Tharaldson's phenomenal success in the hotel industry. Gary grew up in a small town in rural North Dakota in a loving but impoverished family. As a child, he dreamed of doing "something big." After college, he taught high school and sold insurance on the side. At 26 years of age, he founded Tharaldson Insurance Agency in Valley City, ND, and started investing in real estate, which led him to buy his first hotel there. Then "something big" happened. He started building and running hotels without partners or any formal training in the hospitality industry. To date, he has constructed more than 425 hotels (only 5 percent of them with partners) and will open his 500th hotel around 2020. Gary revolutionized hotel development and management with innovations and efficiencies that have become industry standards.