COVERING the world's most successful innkeeper is frenetic business. That was the first fact learned by Correspondents Alan Anderson and John Tompkins as they followed Kemmons Wilson, board chairman of Holiday Inns, across two continents to gather material for this week's cover story. Anderson, based in our Rio de Janeiro bureau, accompanied Wilson on a swing through Brazil in search of new motel sites. Beginning as early as 4 a.m., Wilson, with Anderson in tow, visited with local officials, toured local marketplaces and even traveled the Amazon. "I had been warned about his pace," says Anderson, who is 29. "But I still wasn't ready for it. He worked constantly except for catnaps, and after a while I couldn't believe he was 30 years older than I." After dawn-to-dusk days in search of real estate, Wilson spent evenings in search of lighted tennis courts so he and his aides could squeeze in a set or two before bedtime. One 18-hour stretch of land hunting ended at the Tenis Clube Do Para in Belem, Brazil, where Anderson found himself whacking back Wilson's forehand drives at 10 o'clock at night.

After four sets of tennis, Wilson again turned his attention to real estate. How much did the courts cost? he asked. The fence? The club pool? In all, they covered 2,700 miles before Wilson headed home to Memphis. There the chase was taken up by Tompkins, who is based in New York and covers business news.

From the company's headquarters in Memphis to the Holiday Inn University being completed in Olive Branch, Miss., Tompkins observed Wilson at varied work and play for three days.

The tour ended three days later with tennis and gin rummy on a Wednesday evening. While Tompkins prudently took the spectator's role, Wilson played tennis with a group of his Memphis business acquaintances, then challenged a friend to cards. Tompkins shuffled as Wilson dealt his way to victory in five straight games.

Says Tompkins: "Wilson never claims to be 'just a country boy' or pretends not to be smart."

Contributing Editor James Grant, who wrote the story, chose a less exhausting approach to the Wilson phenomenon. On an inspection trip, he decided to sample the service at a pair of Holiday Inns outside New York City. In Kingston, N.Y., he found the staff conscientious; the motel manager phoned every name in the registry late one night until he finally matched Grant to the car in the parking lot with its lights left on.

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