Holiday Inn Founding Family Share Keys to Success
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Holiday Inn Founding Family Share Keys to Success
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Category: Worldwide - Industry economy
- Hotel projects
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2012-11-16
38 new Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels to open across the Middle East and India as Holiday Inn celebrates its 60th anniversary
Pushing boundaries, innovating and adapting to guests’ ever changing needs were pinpointed as key to Holiday Inn’s success by the son of the brand’s founder, Spence Wilson, who is visiting the region this week. These traits have been inherent in the brand since its launch 60 years ago, and continue to drive the pipeline of 38 new Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels due to open across the Middle East and India in the next five years.
Seven new Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels are planned in the Middle East alone, adding to the 25 hotels already open in the region. In India the brand will grow by over 400 percent as 31 new Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels open across the country, including the country’s first Holiday Inn Express due to launch later this month.
Spence Wilson, son of Kemmons Wilson, the founder of the Holiday Inn brand, said: “More travellers have stayed at a Holiday Inn than any other hotel on the planet. From Elvis Presley, who stayed at a Holiday Inn while performing at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Centre, to Barack Obama, who took his family to the Holiday Inn Accra. People connect with brands they know and trust and Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express continue to give guests the consistent quality that my father set out to provide right from the start. We’re very proud to be a part of that heritage.”
Having recognised a gap in the market for consistent, quality motels in the early 1950s, Kemmons Wilson set out to establish a family-friendly hotel brand that consumers could trust. The brand came to the Middle East in 1977, making 2012 the brand’s 35th year in the Middle East, while the brand celebrates its 60th anniversary worldwide.
Through his innovative vision, Holiday Inn has led industry innovation from the beginning and has a rich history of ‘firsts’. Kemmons revolutionised the market through the offering of family facilities, televisions and air-conditioning in every room – a first for motels in the 1950s.
It was the first hotel brand to be franchised in 1954 and in 1965, launched the world’s first computerised booking system. Expansion came rapidly and by 1967 Holiday Inn launched its first hotel in Europe, reaching 1,000 hotels worldwide by 1968.
Holiday Inn was also the first international hotel brand to enter China in 1984. Today, there are 63 hotels in Greater China, with an expected 38 more to come.
Pascal Gauvin, Chief Operating Officer, India, Middle East and Africa for IHG commented:
“Holiday Inn has had a great 35 years in the region and continues to perform and grow today. It continues to demonstrate its strength as a midscale brand by providing guests in our markets with great experiences at good value.
“We look forward to the launch of our first Holiday Inn Express in Ahmedabad later this month as we continue to grow the brand family, and we’re delighted that the Wilson family are here to celebrate yet another milestone in the brand’s history with us.”
Today, there are 3,414 properties in the Holiday Inn brand family globally, with another 682 due to open in the next three to five years.
About IHG: IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with nine hotel brands including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, EVEN Hotels and HUALUXE Hotels & Resorts. IHG also manages Priority Club Rewards, the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programme with over 69 million members worldwide.
IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,500 hotels and more than 672,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories. With more than 1,000 hotels in its development pipeline, IHG expects to recruit around 90,000 people into additional roles across its estate over the next few years.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.
About Holiday Inn: With over 1,230 hotels worldwide, Holiday Inn is the most widely recognised lodging brand in the world. In fact, Holiday Inn was the first international midscale hotel brand to open in China in 1984. Holiday Inn provides the services that business travellers need, while also offering a comfortable atmosphere where all people can relax and enjoy amenities such as restaurants and room service, swimming pools, fitness centres and comfortable lounges. The casual atmosphere and amenities such as meeting and on-site business facilities, KidSuites rooms and, Kids Eat and Stay Free programmes, demonstrate the long-standing commitment of Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts to serving travellers and have helped to establish the brand as “America’s Favourite Hotel.”
About Holiday Inn Express: Holiday Inn Express hotels are modern hotels for value-oriented travellers. Fresh, clean and uncomplicated, Holiday Inn Express hotels offer competitive rates for both business and leisure travellers. Guests Stay Smart at Holiday Inn Express hotels where they enjoy a free hot Express Start Breakfast Bar, free high-speed internet access and free local phone calls (US and Canada only). There are currently more than 1,900 Holiday Inn Express hotel locations around the globe.
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