Portfolio Clients

Holiday Inn

Founded in 1952, the most recognisable brand within IHG Hotels & Resorts.

Holiday Inn was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee, after a disappointing family road trip convinced him that American travellers deserved a reliable, family friendly hotel they could trust wherever they stopped. The brand's Great Sign became so iconic that Wilson had it engraved on his own tombstone.

A history of firsts

Holiday Inn pioneered many features now standard across the hotel industry, including free parking, a swimming pool at every property and, in 1995, the world's first hotel booking made over the internet. The brand grew from Bass Brewery ownership in the late 1980s through Six Continents before becoming part of IHG Hotels & Resorts in 2003.

A truly global footprint

As of 2018, Holiday Inn operated at over 1,100 locations worldwide, making it one of the most recognisable hotel brands on the planet. The wider Holiday Inn family today includes:

Holiday Inn, the original full service brand
Holiday Inn Express, focused on efficient, friendly stays
Holiday Inn Club Vacations, for timeshare and family travel
Holiday Inn Resorts, for leisure focused destinations

Part of IHG Hotels & Resorts

Holiday Inn remains one of the flagship brands within IHG's portfolio, carrying forward Kemmons Wilson's original promise of dependable, welcoming hospitality wherever travellers find themselves.

Culture

True Hospitality for Good: IHG's shared purpose, lived out in one of the world's most recognised hotel brands
The Great Sign: a legacy of innovation, from the invention of modern hotel franchising to the industry's first internet booking
Consistency at scale: the same welcoming standard, wherever in the world a Holiday Inn is found
Room to Grow: structured career paths within one of hospitality's largest employers

Human Resources

As part of IHG Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn colleagues benefit from one of the hospitality industry's most established training infrastructures, including access to IHG Academy for those new to the sector.