Holiday Inn, one of the worlds most iconic hotel brands, today marks its 60th Anniversary and the start of a global consumer campaign to celebrate the brands innovative heritage.
From the first Holiday Inn hotel in Memphis Tennessee, the brand founded by Kemmons Wilson in 1952, has grown to 3,375 hotels globally across its family of brands, which includes Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Resorts and Holiday Inn Club Vacations.
Introduced to our country decades ago, South Africa is currently home to two Holiday Inn and four Holiday Inn Express hotels, spread between Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal and the Western Cape. The Holiday Inn is a well-loved brand by South Africans and very recently won a prestigious TGI Icon Brand Award competing among many other familiar hotel brands.
As well as being one of the most recognised brands in the world, Holiday Inn has been at the forefront of industry innovation and has a rich history of firsts including being the first international hotel brand in China in 1984. Today, it is also the first international hotel brand to open its 60th hotel in Greater China, Holiday Inn Changbaishan Resort. From the first roadside motel in 1952 to the recent completion of the $1 billion global refresh, Holiday Inn has continued to evolve to meet the needs of its guests.
The 60th Anniversary is a global celebration of firsts for Holiday Inn and were excited about sharing this innovative heritage with our guests. We have all experienced firsts in our lives and will continue to do so, but most importantly well never forget them. At Holiday Inn weve celebrated many firsts through the years. From the first hotel to let children stay and eat for free, to our 1 billion dollar global refresh. So were celebrating 60 years of firsts with those who mean the most to us – our guests – by inviting them to share their memorable firsts with us and giving them a chance to create some new memories with Holiday Inn, says Verchele Wiggins, Vice President, Global Brand Management, Holiday Inn Family of Brands.
