Holiday Inn Express

History

Holiday Inn Express was founded in 1990 under the ownership of Bass. Plans at the time called for 250 locations to be open by 1995. The first three hotels under the Holiday Inn Express name all opened in 1990. These were located in Nashville, Tennessee; Abilene, Texas; and Poughkeepsie, New York. All three were converted from existing Holiday Inn properties.

In 1996, the brand's first European location opened in Scotland.

Starting in 1998, Holiday Inn Express started an ad campaign that featured ordinary people achieving superior feats, such as averting a nuclear disaster or performing like rock stars. When questioned on whether or not they are professionals, they would attribute their skills to their stay there with the reply: "No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!" The commercials originally ended with the tag line "It won't make you smarter. But you'll feel smarter." which was changed to "Stay smart, Stay at Holiday Inn Express." in 2000. The ads were created by Fallon Minneapolis, a unit of the French Publicis Group. These ads have received positive reviews, and have been so successful they have crossed over into popular culture, having been featured in late night comedian jokes and political cartoons. The ad campaign continued to air until 2009. It was revived in 2014 with new ads featuring comedian Jim Gaffigan. In 2015, ads featuring comedian Rob Riggle were produced.

Properties

Typical Holiday Inn Express hotels are built from corporate architectural prototypes, and tend to consist of 60–80 rooms, with a mix of suites and standard rooms in North American properties. Because the chain has been undergoing tremendous growth, the majority of Holiday Inn Express hotels are brand new or newly renovated.

The original Holiday Inn Express properties are considered two-star hotels or no-frills hotels with rooms comparable in quality to those of three-star hotel, but there would be no room service, restaurant, bar, swimming pool, health club, conference and meeting facilities nor other on-site amenities, offering only a continental breakfast and an exercise room. Newer Holiday Inn Express locations feature most amenities from the higher-end Holiday Inn brand, such as a restaurant and bar, conference rooms, and even a full fitness center with a swimming pool, making them both three-star hotels. The major differentiation between the brands continues to be location, with Express properties typically found in suburbs and along freeways, while the regular Holiday Inns are placed in urban areas (including downtown) and often near tourist attractions.

References

References

1. "Holiday Inn Express".
2. (8 June 2010). "Our History". InterContinental Hotels Group.
3. Wade, Betsy. (16 December 1990). "On the Road, Sleeping for Less". [[The New York Times]].
4. (11 November 1990). "You get what you pay for in economy motels}}{{Dead link". The News and Courier/Evening Post, Charleston, SC.
5. (8 October 1990). "Holiday Inn enters new market area". Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky.
6. (27 May 2005). "InterContinental's UK arm boosted by business travel upturn". Johnston Publishing Ltd.
7. (24 July 2000). "Holiday Inn Express Aims to Hone Image With Nontraditional New Ad Campaign". Wall Street Journal.
8. (October 5, 1990). "Holiday Inn unveils plans to strengthen lodging chain". [[The Commercial Appeal]].
9. "Holiday Inn Express factsheet". InterContinental.
10. Howard, Theresa. (16 July 2001). "Slogan's buzz fuels hotel's biz". USA Today.
11. (3 September 2014). "Holiday Inn Express Tries Funny to Sell Free Breakfast". The New York Times.
12. "Holiday Inn Express® Brand Hires Actor/Comedian Rob Riggle as Creative Director and Breakfast Excellence Honcho".
13. (10 August 2010). "Hotel owner adds 2 properties from defunct chain". [[The Daytona Beach News-Journal]].
14. (24 January 2011). "New owner seeks to return hotel to prominence". [[The Daytona Beach News-Journal]].
15. (26 September 2010). "Holiday Inn tweaks its brand to lure guests". [[Orlando Sentinel]].