Wilhelm Wessman, Icelandic hotel industry pioneer, dies

Wilhelm Wessman, one of Iceland’s best-known and most respected pioneers in hotel and restaurant operations, died at Landspítali hospital on Monday, August 3, Morgunblaðið reported.

Wessman was born in Höfn in Hornafjörður on October 2, 1942. He was the fifth of seven children of tailor Elof Wessman and homemaker Dagný Wessman.

He had a significant impact on Iceland’s tourism and hotel industries during his career. He studied at the Icelandic Hotel and Restaurant School from 1960 to 1963 before travelling to Italy, where he qualified as a teacher of hotel studies at the ENALC hotel school in Castelfusano, which operated under the Council of Europe.

Wessman began working at Hotel Saga in 1967. He held various management positions there for almost 15 years and later became managing director of the hotel’s conference and restaurant operations from 1982 to 1989. At the same time, he shared his expertise as a guest lecturer at the Icelandic Hotel and Restaurant School.

In 1989, he became hotel manager of Holiday Inn in Reykjavík, a position he held until 1994. At the time, the hotel was a hub for international accommodation in the capital.

His expertise was also used abroad. From 1994 to 2002, he worked as a consultant and regional manager for InterContinental Hotels Group. He was responsible for quality management and the implementation of operating standards in Europe and Africa. After his work abroad, he returned to consultancy.

Wessman continued his education throughout his life. He obtained teaching credentials at upper-secondary level in 1995 and graduated as a general tour guide from the Icelandic School of Tour Guiding in 2013, specialising in English and Danish.

Wessman is survived by his wife, Ólöf Wessman, born in 1949, and their children, Linda, born in 1966, Róbert, born in 1969, and Gunnhildur, born in 1972. He had six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.