Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn is a British-owned American brand of hotels, and a subsidiary of

Holiday Inn Hotels
InterContinental Hotels Group. Founded as a U.S. motel chain, it has grown to be
one of the world's largest hotel chains, with 1,145 active hotels as of September 30,
2016.[3][4] The hotel chain is based inDenham, Buckinghamshire.

Contents
History Type Subsidiary of the
1950s–1970s InterContinental
The Great Sign Hotels Group
1980s – present
Industry Hotels
Logos
Founded August 1, 1952
Brands Memphis,
Other
Tennessee, United
Historical trademark conflicts States
See also Founder Kemmons Wilson
References
Headquarters Denham, United
External links Kingdom
Number of 1,145[1]
locations
History Area served Americas, Europe,
Middle East, Africa,
Asia-Pacific
1950s–1970s Services Food services,
Kemmons Wilson, a resident of
lodging,
conventions,
Memphis, Tennessee, was inspired
meetings,
to build his own motel after being
timeshares
disappointed by poor quality and
Owner InterContinental
inconsistent roadside
Hotels Group
accommodation during a family
Divisions Holiday Inn Express
road trip to Washington, D.C. The
name "Holiday Inn" was coined by Website www.holidayinn
A Holiday Inn in Belfast City Centre, .com
Wilson's architect Eddie Bluestein
Northern Ireland
as a joke during construction of the Footnotes / references
[2]
first hotel, in reference to the 1942
Christmas-themed, musical film Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.
Their first hotel/motel opened in August 1952 as "Holiday Inn Hotel Courts" at 4925 Summervenue
A in Memphis, the main highway
to Nashville. In the early 1990s it was demolished, leaving behind aplaque commemorating the site.

Wilson partnered with Wallace E. Johnson to build additional motels on the roads entering Memphis.[5] At the time Holiday Inn's
corporate headquarters was in a converted plumbing shed owned by Johnson. In 1953, the company built its next three hotels which,
along with their first hotel, covered the roads that led to Memphis. The second motel was built on U.S. 51 South. It was followed by
two more in 1953, one on Highway 51 North, and another on U.S. 61. Upon Johnson's death in 1988, Wilson was quoted as saying,
"The greatest man I ever knew died today. He was the greatest partner a man could ever have." What they started together, with
Wilson later helming the project, became the Holiday Corporation, one of the world's lar
gest hotel groups.

By the beginning of 1956, there were 23 Holiday Inns operating with seven more due to open by the year's end. In 1957, Wilson
began marketing the chain as "Holiday Inn of America", mandating its properties be standardized, clean, predictable, family-friendly,
and readily accessible to road travelers. The chain grew dramatically as a result, with 50 locations across the country by 1958, 100 by
1959, 500 by 1964, and the 1,000th Holiday Inn (inSan Antonio, Texas) opening in 1968.

In 1965, the chain launched Holidex, a centralized reservation system where a visitor to any Holiday Inn could obtain reservations,
by teleprinter, for any other Holiday Inn location. The only comparable systems at the time were operated by airlines (Sabre made its
debut in 1963). Promoting itself as "your host from coast to coast", Holiday Inn added a call center after AT&T's introduction of +1-
800 toll-free telephone numberservice in 1967, and updated its systems as desktop microcomputers, an invention of the 1970s, found
their way into travel agencies.[6]

Branded as "The Nation's Innkeeper", the chain put considerable financial pressure on traditional motels and hotels, setting the
standard for competitors likeRamada Inn, Quality Inn, Howard Johnson's, and Best Western. By June 1972, with over 1,400 Holiday
Inns worldwide, Wilson was featured on the cover ofTime magazine and the franchise's motto became "The W
orld's Innkeeper".

In the 1960s, Holiday Inn began franchising and opening campgrounds under the Holiday Inn Trav-L-Park brand. These
[7][8]
recreational campgrounds were listed in the Holiday Inn directories.

In 1963, Holiday Inn signed a long-term deal with Gulf Oil Corporation where it agreed to accept Gulf credit cards to charge food
and lodging at all of its American and Canadian hotels, in return for Gulf building service stations on many Holiday Inn properties,
particularly near major U.S. and Interstate highways. The arrangement was copied by competing lodging chains and major oil
companies during the mid-to-late 1960s, but fell out of favor following the 1973 oil crisis. The Gulf/Holiday Inn arrangement ended
around 1982.

In 1971, the company constructed the Holiday Inn University and Conference Center, a teaching hotel for training new employees, in
Olive Branch, Mississippi. In 1973, the company built the Olive Branch Airport north of the University as a home base for its
corporate aircraft.

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 developed the
Orange Lake Resort and Country Club near Orlando and a chain called Wilson World Hotels. The acquisition of Trailways in 1968
lasted until 1979, when Holiday Inn sold Trailways to private investor Henry Lea Hillman Sr of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the
years during which Trailways was a subsidiary of Holiday Inn, television commercials for Holiday Inn frequently showed a
Trailways bus stopping at a Holiday Inn hotel. Wilson retired from Holiday Inn in 1979. As of 2014, Wilson's family still operates
hotels as part of the Kemmons Wilson Companies of Memphis.

The Great Sign

The "Great Sign" was the roadside sign used by Holiday Inn during its original era of expansion from the 1950s to 1970s. It was
perhaps the company's most successful form of advertising. It was extremely large and eye-catching, but was expensive to construct
and operate. The manufacturer of the sign was Balton & Sons Sign Company, and it was originally designed by sketch artists Gene
Barber and Roland Alexander. Wilson wanted a prominent sign, desiring that it be at least 50 feet (15 m) high and visible in both
directions. He also wanted a changeable marquee to welcome different groups. The original sign cost $13,000.[9] It is said that the
sign's colors were selected because they were favorites of Wilson's mother. The popularity of the sign led to many imitations, some of
which remain to this day.
 In 1982, following Wilson's departure, the Holiday Inn board of directors phased out the
"Great Sign" in favor of a cheaper back-lit sign. The decision essentially signaled the end of
the Wilson era, and Wilson considered it "the worst mistake they ever made". He loved the
"Great Sign" so much that it was engraved on his tombstone, with the marquee reading
"FOUNDER" and the arrow aimed at his name.[10] The majority of the signs were sold as
scrap metal and recycled.

The iconic "Great Sign" was
a familiar sight on U.S.
highways in the 1950s,
1960s, and 1970s
Several intact fragments of the famous sign have been restored and relit, mostly the Holiday
Inn top section of the sign and the marquee box. In 2006, a complete sign was found. The
disassembled sign, complete with star, marquee box, and the sign base, was discovered in a
backlot in Minnesota. On June 3, 2007, it was purchased by a neon sign restoration expert, in
order to restore it to its 1950s appearance. It would be displayed at the National Save the Neon
Signs Museum in Minot, North Dakota. An intact sign that came from a Las Vegas location
stands outside of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. Another intact and
operating Holiday Inn Great Sign is at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and
yet another is with a private collector in Park Hills, Kentucky
.

1980s – present
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, 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, 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.[11][12][13]

In 1997, Bass created and launched a new

Iconic Holiday Inn Sarajevo, home of
foreign correspondents during1984
Winter Olympics and throughout of
Siege of Sarajevo during Bosnian
War
hotel brand, Staybridge Suites by Holiday
Inn, entering the North American upscale Holiday Inn clock in Sutton,
extended stay market. In March 1998, Bass Greater London
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.[14]
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.[15]

In 1999, the hotel that changed into theNickelodeon Suites Resort Orlandoin 2005, opened, called "Holiday Inn".
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2002 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 October 24, 2007, IHG announced a worldwide relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand, which spelled trouble for the remaining
motels. The relaunch was "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 U.S. in spring
2008. Currently there are more than 2,500 relaunched Holiday Inn brand hotels around the world, and the Holiday Inn global brand
relaunch process was completed by the end of 2010.[16] By then, the majority of the HI motels were removed from the chain, with a
few exceptions. (In the 1980s and 1990s, HI hotels were built alongside the motel properties [i.e. Baton Rouge, Louisiana] in order to
provide more amenities and newer rooms.) When the relaunch occurred, these motels were either demolished or closed off, even if a
full-service hotel was already on site. Today, fewer than 10 Holiday Inn motels still operate, others having been replaced by newer
Holiday Inn Express locations or having switched to other chains.

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.[17]

Logos

1985–1990 1983–2007 2007–present

Brands
Holiday Inn – This is 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– The properties offer all the amenities
and services of a regular Holiday Inn but consist of rooms mixed
with suites.
Holiday Inn Resort – The properties also offer all the amenities and Atrium interior at the Holiday Inn
services of a full-service Holiday Inn; resorts are considered more of
an advertising branding than a completely dif ferent brand. Most Sarasota Airport in Sarasota, FL
Holiday Inn Resorts are located in high-leisure-tourism markets.
Holiday Inn Club Vacations – Vacation Ownership / Timeshare
villas that offer more space and amenities than a standard hotel
room. The brand was formed as part of a strategic marketing
alliance with Orange Lake Resorts, which owns 26 resorts across
the United States. Orange Lake Resorts was started by Kemmons
Wilson, the founder of Holiday Inn. The company is still owned and
operated by the Wilson family.
Holiday Inn Select – These upper-range full-service hotels cater to
business travelers. In 2006 it was announced that Holiday Inn Select
hotels would 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 Holiday Inn in Cardiff
"Select" moniker. Several Select hotels still remain as of 2014.
 Holiday Inn Sunspree Resorts(officially named SunSpree) – The properties were typically very large, and located
in resort areas with full-service amenities and deluxe service. After 2010 they were incorporated as Holiday Inn
Resorts.
Holiday Inn Club Vacations – These are resorts aimed at families and are only based in the U.S. The
accommodations are mostly villas and suites. Membership operates similar to a flexible timeshare basis.
Holiday Inn Garden Court– The properties exist only in Europe andSouth Africa and are designed to reflect the
national culture.
Holiday Inn Express – The properties are smaller versions of Holiday Inn hotels with fewer amenities and services.
They are very similar to competitors likeLa Quinta Inn and Hampton by Hilton in which they appeal to middle class
customers.

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 1960s and 1970s, there were several Holiday Inn Jr. motels with just 44 to 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 1970s. It featured travel destination and attraction stories in
addition to a featured hotel property.

Elton John and Bernie Taupin composed the song "Holiday Inn" which was released on theMadman Across the Water album in 1971.
Elton explains to audiences that during their first years of touring across America, they would stay in the same identical rooms no
matter where they were. As Bernie summed up in the lyrics, "From a terminal gate to a black limousine, it's a ten-minute ride to the
Holiday Inn". [18]

Historical trademark conflicts

For two decades a hotel called Holiday Inn located inNiagara 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, [19] 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. [20]

During the 1960s and early 1970s, Holiday Inn hotels located inMyrtle Beach, South Carolinawere simply called
"Holiday" because a local motel already had the "Holiday Inn" name. The Myrtle Beach motel started as Ocean Front
Lodge in 1948 but changed the name to Holiday Inn in 1949 (three years before the founding of the chain), and put
up a sign in 1955 with similar lettering to that of the chain, which registered its sign in 1954. The chain first
franchised motels in the area in 1956. The Myrtle Beach hotel put up a sign resembling the "Great Sign" in 1968, and
used "®" with its name, though many of its items came from suppliers which assumed they were selling to the
chain.[21] The Myrtle Beach hotel "began aconcurrent use proceedingin the Patent and Trademark Office" in 1970,
which was suspended[22] when the name was contested before theUnited States District Court for the District of
South Carolina (Florence division) in 1973.[21] The court said the Myrtle Beach hotel had plenty of repeat business
and was not negatively impacted by the chain's motels in the area. The 1973 injunction meant the Myrtle Beach
hotel was granted the right to use the name but with a dif ferent style of lettering. The concurrent use proceeding
resumed for the Myrtle Beach hotel, which continued to operate as "Holiday Inn", although it was required to use a
distinctly different font. A 1976 ruling grantedthe Myrtle Beach hotel the right to a service mark. A 1979 order denied
a motion to modify the 1973 injunction, though it was believed the hotel had followed all restrictions. A 1981 decision
by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 1979 action. [22]

See also
List of chained-brand hotels
List of hotels
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
References
1. "Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts - Our brands - InterContinental Hotels Group PLC"
(https://www.ihgplc.com/en/our-bra
nds/holiday-inn). InterContinental Hotesl Group. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
2. "Supplementary Information"(http://www.ihgplc.com/files/results/results09Q1/downloads/slides09Q1.pdf)(PDF).
International Hotels Group. March 31, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
3. "Holiday Inn Express® - Our Brands - InterContinental Hotels Group PLC"
(https://www.ihgplc.com/en/our-brands/hol
iday-inn). Ihgplc.com. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
4. "Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts - Our Brands - InterContinental Hotels Group PLC"
(http://www.ihgplc.com/index.as
p?pageid=409). Ihgplc.com. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
5. "Wallace E. Johnson: Co-founder of HolidayInn chain" (http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-29/news/mn-2277_1_holi
day-inn). Los Angeles Times. April 29, 1988. Retrieved June 25, 2012. Fowler, Glenn (April 29, 1988)."Wallace E.
Johnson, Co-founder of Holiday Inns chain in 1950's"(https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/29/obituaries/wallace-e-joh
nson-co-founder-of-holiday-inns-chain-in-1950-s.html). New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
6. "HNN - Hoteliers bid adieu as Holidex checks out"(http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Article/7800/Hoteliers-bid-adieu-as
-Holidex-checks-out). Hotelnewsnow.com. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
7. "Removed From Timesharing, Jon DeHaan Stays Busy In Other Ways" (http://www.ampersandcom.com/ampersand
communications/JonDeHaanremovedfromtimesharing.htm) . Ampersandcom.com. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
8. "Daytona Beach Morning Journal - Google News Archive Search"(https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&
dat=19720513&id=UdAhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_J4F AAAAIBAJ&pg=4051,4031913). google.com.
9. Half Brains and Half Luck by Kemmons Wilson. p 52-53
10. Caitlin L. Horton. "The Holiday Inn Great Sign"(http://www.memphistypehistory.com/the-holiday-inn-great-sign/).
Memphis Type History. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
11. Wade, Betsy (December 16, 1990)."On the Road, Sleeping for Less"(https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?r
es=F30615FA3D5F0C758DDDAB0994D8494D81). The New York Times.
12. "You get what you pay for in economy motels" (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yYZJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6wsN
AAAAIBAJ&pg=1371,3991818&dq=Y ou+get+what+you+pay+for+in+economy+motels). The News and
Courier/Evening Post, Charleston, SC. November 11, 1990.
13. "Holiday Inn Enters New Market Area"(https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=m_oaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qUcEAAAAI
BAJ&pg=2064,1692894&dq=holiday-inn-express&hl=en) . Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky. October 8, 1990.
14. "Our History" (http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=326). InterContinental Hotels Group. January 9, 2008
.
Retrieved June 6, 2009.
15. Barbara De Lollis (July 23, 2007)."Holiday Inn chain gives itself a face-lift"(https://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2
007-07-19-holiday-inn_N.htm). USA Today. Retrieved August 3, 2007.
16. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC."InterContinental Hotels Group PLC : Media - News releases - InterContinental
Hotels Group (IHG) announces worldwide brand relaunch of Holiday Inn (24 October 2007)"(http://www.ihgplc.com/i
ndex.asp?PageID=116&NewsID=1888). ihgplc.com.
17. "Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts"(http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=409). InterContinental Hotels Group. May
12, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
18. [1] (https://web.archive.org/web/20101221233312/http://www
.berniejtaupin.com/discography.bt?ds_id=185)
19. "Welcome To The Holiday Inn By The Falls Website" (https://web.archive.org/web/19970403014514/http://www .holid
ayinn.com/). April 3, 1997. Archived fromthe original (http://www.holidayinn.com/) on April 3, 1997. Retrieved
April 14, 2017.
20. "Holiday Inn Niagara Falls - by the Falls Hotel by IHG"(http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/iagon?rpb=hot
el&crUrl=/h/d/hi/1/en/hotelsearchresults). Ichotelsgroup.com. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
21. "Holiday Inns, Inc. v. Holiday Inn, 364 F.Supp. 775 (S.C., 1973)"(http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FS
upp/364/775/2259034/).
22. "Holiday Inns, Inc., Appellee, v. Holiday Inn, Appellant, v. Strand Development Corporation, Defendant.,645 .F2d
239" (http://openjurist.org/645/f2d/239/holiday-inns-inc-v-holiday-inn).

External links
 Official Holiday Inn website
"Come Inn off the Highway" — USA Today article, May 24, 2002
I Remember JFK, a Baby Boomer's Pleasant Reminiscing Spot: Holiday Inns
Pictures of the Great Sign

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