Holiday Inn

This article is about the hotel chain; for the film, please see Holiday Inn (film).

Holiday Inn is a brand name applied to hotels within the InterContinental Hotels Group.

History

The original Holiday Inn chain of hotels was founded in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee by homebuilder Kemmons Wilson to provide inexpensive family accommodation for travellers within the USA. The first Holiday Inn was built by Wilson on Sumner Avenue in Memphis on the main road to and from Nashville.

Wilson initially came up with the idea after a family road trip to Washington, DC, during which he was disappointed by the quality and consistency provided by the roadside motels of that era. The name Holiday Inn was given to the original hotel by his architect Eddie Bluestein as a joke, in reference to the Bing Crosby movie.

Wilson soon franchised the chain and it grew dramatically, following Wilson's original tenet that the properties should be standardized, clean, predictable, family-friendly, and readily accessible to road travelers. By 1958 there were 50 Inns across the country, 100 by 1959, 500 by 1964, and the 1000th Holiday Inn opened in San Antonio, Texas in 1968. The chain dominated the motel market, leveraged its innovative Holidex reservation system, put considerable financial pressure on traditional hotels, and set the standard for its competitors like Ramada Inns, Travelodge, Howard Johnson's, and Days Inn. By 1972, when Wilson was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, there were over 1,400 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide.

Holiday Inn was the first hotel chain to co-produce (or sponsor) a syndicated game show, He Said, She Said, in 1969.

Although still a healthy company, changing business conditions and demographics saw Holiday Inn lose its market dominance in the 1980s. In 1988 Holiday Inns International was purchased by UK-based Bass Brewers (ultimately to become the InterContinental Hotels Group), followed by the remaining domestic Holiday Inn hotels in 1990, when founder Wilson sold his interest. The brand name Holiday Inn is still owned by the original Holiday Inn group and leased as a franchise to InterContinental.

Holiday Inn Express

Holiday Inn Express (Express by Holiday Inn outside North America) is a type of mid-range Holiday Inn that usually lacks a restaurant and lounge. They also offer a complimentary continental breakfast; recent promos have featured their cinnamon rolls. A long-running ad campaign tells viewers they are "smart" for staying at Holiday Inn Express. InterContinental Hotels Group; the parent chain of Holiday Inn Express has blended this slogan with the Internet; opening a "Smart Store" on their website; allowing customers to buy showerheads, towels, toiletries, and cinnamon rolls; identical to those featured at the hotels. Holiday Inn Express is usually considered a separate brand from Holiday Inn. There are over 1500 Holiday Inn Express hotels worldwide.

Brands

A Holiday Inn Select (http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/sl/1/en/home) is an upper range full-service hotel which caters to business travelers. Other Holiday-Inn-branded hotels include:

Holiday Inn Sunspree Resorts – destination resorts

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ss/1/en/home

Holiday Inn Garden Court – which exist only in Europe and South Africa and are designed to reflect the national culture
Holiday Inn Family Suites Resort (also called Nickelodeon Family Suites) — Nickelodeon-themed hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Although originally called Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, Crowne Plaza split to form a distinctive brand from Holiday Inn in 1994.

Recently, Staybridge Suites by Holiday Inn has become simply Staybridge Suites.

Commercials

In the mid-2000s, Holiday Inn began producing television commercials similar to those from GEICO. The ads consisted of someone doing something they were not capable of doing, but then stating that they were actually capable due to the fact that they "stayed at a Holiday Inn (Express) last night".

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/c/2/content/dec/teaser/hi/1/en/lp/look.html (holidayinn.com/tvads)

Official Hotel of Major League Baseball

On April 27, 2006 Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP), Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), and the InterContinental Hotels Group announced a 3 year sponsorship deal to make Holiday Inn "The Official Hotel Of Major League Baseball" ^* As part of the deal Holiday Inn will run a certain amount of commercials during Major League Baseball games and other MLB produced programming, be the main sponsor of one of the activities of fanfest during the All Star Week, and offer sweepstakes to its Priority Club Members offering once in a lifetime opportunities and other MLB apparel. http://auctions.priorityclub.com/?cm_re_name=MLBAuction

Official Hotel Partner of Jeff Burton and Car 29

On March 17, 2006 Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts announced it’s NASCAR Busch Series debut as the primary sponsor of the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) Chevrolet and driver Jeff Burton. The schedule will include 10 races this season.

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/c/2/content/dec/teaser/pc/0/en/lp/hi/racing.html

Priority Club Rewards

Holiday Inn was the first hotel chain to introduce a frequent stayer reward program. It debuted in 1977 as Holiday Inn Inner Circle, but was quickly reorganized into Priority Club Worldwide and later Priority Club Rewards.

Priority Club Rewards was voted Program of the Year at the 18th Annual Freddie Awards!

With nearly 400,000 frequent travelers voting for their favorite rewards programs, the Freddie Awards are the most prestigious consumer-generated awards in the industry. In addition to being named program of the year, Priority Club Rewards was also honored with Freddie Awards for the Best Award, Best Bonus, Best Member Communications, and Best Website!

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/home

External links

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