Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline. There are 100 million guest nights each year, globally.
==History==
Kemmons Wilson initially came up with the idea after a family road trip to Washington, D.C., during which he was disappointed by the quality and consistency provided by the roadside motels of the time. 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. The first Holiday Inn opened on Summer Avenue in Memphis, the main highway to Nashville, in 1952. The motel was demolished in the early 1990s, but there is a plaque commemorating the site.
Wilson partnered with Wallace E. Johnson to build additional motels on the byroads entering Memphis. Holiday Inn's corporate headquarters was in a converted plumbing shed owned by Johnson in 1953, when the company built its first four hotels, one covering each approach to Memphis. On the occasion of Johnson's death, Wilson was quoted as saying, "The greatest man I ever knew died today. He was the greatest partner a man could ever have." 
Together they started what Wilson would shepherd into Holiday Corp., one of the world's largest hotel groups.
In 1957, Wilson franchised the chain as Holiday Inn of America and it grew dramatically, following Wilson's original tenet that the properties should be standardized, clean, predictable, family-friendly and readily accessible to road travellers. By 1958, there were 50 locations 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, Quality Inn, Howard Johnson's, and Best Western. By June 1972, when Wilson was featured on the cover of Time magazine, there were over 1,400 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide. Innovations like the company's Holidome indoor pools turned many hotels into roadside resorts.
The company later branched into other enterprises, including Medi-Center nursing homes, Continental Trailways, Delta Queen, and Show-Biz, Inc., a television production company that specialized in syndicated country music shows. Wilson also later developed the Orange Lake Resort and Country Club near Orlando and a chain called Wilson World Hotels. The family of founder Kemmons Wilson still operates hotels as part of the Kemmons Wilson Companies of Memphis. Wilson retired from Holiday Inn in 1979.
thumb|left|New style Holiday Inn near the Chicago Midway International Airport
Although still a healthy company, changing business conditions and demographics saw Holiday Inn lose its market dominance in the 1980s. Holiday Inns, Inc. was renamed "Holiday Corporation" in 1985 to reflect the growth of the company’s brands, including Harrah's Entertainment, Embassy Suites Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Hampton Inn. In 1988, Holiday Corporation was purchased by UK-based Bass PLC (the owners of the Bass beer brand), followed by the remaining domestic Holiday Inn hotels in 1990, when founder Wilson sold his interest, after which the hotel group was known as Holiday Inn Worldwide. The remainder of Holiday Corporation (including the Embassy Suites Hotels, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Hampton Inn brands) was spun off to shareholders as Promus Companies Incorporated. In 1990, Bass launched Holiday Inn Express, a complementary brand in the limited service segment.
In 1994, Bass launched Crowne Plaza, a move into the upscale hotel market. In 1997, Bass created and launched a new hotel brand, Staybridge Suites by Holiday Inn, entering the North American upscale extended stay market. In March 1998, Bass acquired the InterContinental brand, expanding into the luxury hotel market. In 2000, Bass sold its brewing assets (and the rights to the Bass name) and changed its name to Six Continents PLC. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) was created in 2003 after Six Continents split into two daughter companies: Mitchells & Butlers PLC to handle restaurant assets, and IHG to focus on soft drinks and hotels, including the Holiday Inn brand.
The brand name Holiday Inn is now owned by IHG, which in turn licenses the name to franchisees and third parties who operate hotels under management agreements.
In January 2002, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company, led by Ravi Saligram, was producing a new 130-room "Next Generation" prototype hotel to rebuild the brand. It would include a bistro-like restaurant and an indoor pool. The first of these prototype hotels, the Holiday Inn Gwinnett Center, was built in Duluth, Georgia, in 2003.
On 24 October 2007, IHG announced a worldwide relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand. The relaunch is "focused on delivering consistently best in class service and physical quality levels, including a redesigned welcome experience [and] signature bedding and bathroom products..." The first relaunched Holiday Inn opened in the USA in the spring of 2008. Currently there are more than 2,500 relaunched Holiday Inn brand hotels around the world, and the Holiday Inn global brand relaunch process is reported to be completed by the end of 2010.IHG announces worldwide brand relaunch of Holiday Inn
In September 2008, IHG announced the creation of a new timeshare brand, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, a strategic alliance with The Family of Orange Lake Resorts. The Holiday Inn at Chessington World of Adventures is safari-themed, with a Zafari Bar and Grill.
===Great Sign=== 
The "Great Sign" is the roadside sign used by Holiday Inn during their original era of expansion in the 1950s-1970s. It was introduced by Kemmons Wilson when he opened his first motel on August 1, 1952. The signs were extremely large and eye-catching, but were expensive to construct and operate. The sign, including the script logo, was originally designed by Memphis, TN artist, James A. Anderson, Sr., a commercial artist who later became known for his oil paintings of Mexico and the American southwest. The manufacturers of the sign were members of the Balton family, whose ancestor D.F. Balton founded Balton & Sons in Memphis in 1875. The story goes that the sign’s colors were selected because they were favorites of Wilson’s mother. In 1982, following Wilson's departure, the Holiday Inn board of directors made the decision to phase out the "Great Sign" in favor of a cheaper and less catchy backlit sign that still maintained the original script logo. The decision was not without controversy as it essentially signaled the end of the Wilson era and removed a widely recognized company icon.
In 2003, in a program of hotel redesign, the company brought back a revamped version of the Great Sign that showed up the company's advertising under the slogan "Relax, it's Holiday Inn." The makeover came with a new prototype hotel that included photography of the sign and a retro-style diner named after founder Kemmons Wilson.
===Business relationship with Gulf Oil===
In 1963, Holiday Inns signed a long-term deal with Gulf Oil Corporation in which the lodging chain would accept Gulf credit cards to charge food and lodging at all of its hotels (in the United States and Canada). In return, Gulf would build service stations on the premises of many Holiday Inn properties, particularly those along or near major U.S. and Interstate highways. Many older Holiday Inns locations (including some no longer part of the chain) still have the service station properties intact today, either still in operation or closed down. With the exception of a few locations in the eastern U.S., hardly any of the still-open stations are now Gulf outlets. The portion of the agreement which permitted Gulf credit cards to be used for payment of food and lodging at Holiday Inns was copied by competing lodging chains and major oil companies during the mid-to-late 1960s. Most of those agreements fizzled out with the 1973 oil crisis. The Gulf/Holiday Inn arrangement ended around 1982.
===Historical trademark conflicts===
*For two decades a hotel called Holiday Inn located in Niagara Falls, Ontario prevented the Holiday Inn Corporation from operating one of its own hotels in that city since the name was already in use. The hotel used a logo similar to the old Holiday Inn logo from the 1970s. The Holiday Inn Corporation directory referred to the hotel as "not part of this Holiday Inn system". The hotel also owned the holidayinn.com domain, Holidayinn.com which forced the much larger corporation to use holiday-inn.com. In 2006, an agreement between IHG and the Niagara Falls, Ontario hotel owners was reached that allowed both the Hotel and Holidayinn.com to be incorporated into the IHG system.Holiday Inn Niagara Falls
*During the 1960s and early 1970s, Holiday Inn hotels located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina were simply called "Holiday" because a local motel already had the "Holiday Inn" name. The name was contested by Holiday Inns, Inc. v Holiday Inn before the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina (Florence division) in 1973. The South Carolina Holiday Inn had franchised their name to Strand Development Corporation, which filed a counterclaim against Holiday Inns, Inc.Holiday Inns, Inc. v. Holiday Inn, 364 F.Supp. 775 (S.C., 1973). The dispute resulted in a concurrent use registration for the Myrtle Beach hotel, which still operates as "Holiday Inn", although it is required to use a distinctly different font.
== Logos ==
Image:Holiday Corporation Logo - 1985-1990.jpg|Holiday Corporation logo: 1985-1990
File:Holiday Inn Logo.png|Previous Holiday Inn logo used from August 1, 1952-October 2007
File:Holiday Inn Logo.svg|Current Holiday Inn logo used from October 2007-present
==Brands==
thumb|200px|thumb|Holiday Inn in Cardiff
thumb|right|200px|Express by Holiday Inn, Park Royal, London.
 
*Holiday Inn – the most recognizable tier of service. There are two distinct types: high-rise, full-service plaza hotels and low-rise, full-service hotels. The former also included many high-rises with round, central-core construction, instantly recognizable from the 1970s. Both offer a restaurant, pools at most locations, room service, an exercise room, and functional but comfortable rooms. 
** Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites – properties offering all the amenities and services of a regular Holiday Inn but consists of rooms mixed with suites.
** Holiday Inn Resort – Offering all the amenities and services of a full-service Holiday Inn, resorts are considered a more of an advertising branding than a completely different brand. Most Holiday Inn Resorts are located in high leisure tourism markets.
*Holiday Inn Select – upper range full-service hotels which cater to business travelers. In 2006, it was announced that Holiday Inn Select hotels will be discontinued. Existing hotels may continue to operate under the Holiday Inn Select flag until their existing license expires, however many are converting to Crowne Plaza or regular Holiday Inn hotels, with no further marketing or advertising based around the "Select" moniker.
*Holiday Inn Sunspree Resorts – properties in resort areas with full-service amenities and deluxe service. These are typically very large properties.
*Holiday Inn Garden Court – which exist only in Europe and South Africa and are designed to reflect the national culture.
*Holiday Inn Express – Smaller versions of Holiday Inn hotels with fewer amenities and services.
===Other===
Although originally called "Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza", the Crowne Plaza moniker was split from Holiday Inn in 1994 to form a distinctive brand.
During the 1960's & 70's, there were several Holiday Inn Jr. motels with just 44-48 guest rooms located in portables. Locations included Camden, Arkansas, Rantoul, Illinois. Cleveland, Mississippi, Sardis, Mississippi, Farmington, Missouri, Springfield, Tennessee and Columbus, Texas. A traditionally constructed lobby building featured a Holiday Grill restaurant. The Camden location had just 32 rooms while the Rantoul location had 64 rooms.
Holiday Inn Magazine was a monthly publication for guests during the 1970's. It featured travel destination and attraction stories in addition to a featured hotel property. 
In 1996, Holiday Inn hired advertising firm Fallon McElligott, dropping Young & Rubicam after a 6 year relationship.Elliot, Stuart (August 22, 1996) New York Times
Some hotels in the UK are equipped with a Chargebox, a machine for charging devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, iPods, PSPs, and other small, mobile electronics.
==Holiday Inn Club Vacations==
In the early 1980s Wilson bought a large plot of land bordering Walt Disney World. On this land he built the Orange Lake Resort. Recently, Orange Lake has bought out other resorts and still plans to acquire more. Because there are now many resorts in the company the Holiday Inn Vacation Club was launched in September 2008. There are currently six Holiday Inn Club Vacations resort properties: Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort, Orlando, FL; Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Lake Geneva Resort, Lake Geneva, WI; Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Ascutney Mountain Resort, Brownsville, VT; Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Bay Point Resort, Panama City, FL; Holiday Inn Club Vacation at South Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC; Holiday Inn Vacation Club at Smoky Mountain Resort, Gatlinburg, TN.
==References==
==External links==
* Official website
* Holiday Inn Hotels review
* Holiday Inn relaunch
* Great Sign history
* "Come Inn off the Highway" - USA Today article, May 24, 2002
* I Remember JFK, a Baby Boomer's Pleasant Reminiscing Spot: Holiday Inns
* New style Holiday Inn Review
* Classic Classy Holiday Inn, A Facebook page commemorating The Great Sign and Holiday Inn
Category:Companies established in 1952
Category:Hospitality companies of the United States
Category:Hotel chains
Category:Intercontinental Hotels Group brands
Category:Companies based in Memphis, Tennessee
Category:Companies based in Atlanta, Georgia
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