Holiday Inn Near Me

For decades the Holiday Inn chain has proved a welcome site to road weary passengers, business people, and families traveling while on vacation. With clean guestrooms, modern amenities, and perks such as continental breakfast, a stay at a Holiday Inn is always guaranteed to leave you well rested and satisfied.

Are you interested in finding a Holiday Inn near you? You’ve come to the right place! Simply browse Holiday Inn near me on the map below and find a list of Holiday Inn locations in near your current point on the map. Looking for a bit more information on this famed hotel chain? Read on for facts, trivia, and so much more! You might just learn something new to share on your next road trip.

Holiday Inn Near Me – Find it on the Map

Holiday Inn Near Me – Holiday Inn Trivia

What year was Holiday Inn first invented?

If you’re traveling on any major highway or interstate in the US, odds are you’ll see more than your fair share of Holiday Inn locations dotted along the landscape. Obviously, this wasn’t always the case. So when exactly was Holiday Inn first conceptualized? Read on as you search Holiday Inn near me. According to brand lore, Holiday Inn was first dreamt up in 1951 when Kemmons Wilson was on a family road trip. During the trip, Kemmons found himself and his family feeling pretty dissatisfied with the subpar motels that were located along their travel route. Wilson was particularly peeved that every hotel seemed to add surcharges for his children, who occupied far less space than he and his wife. The road trip challenged Wilson to envision a chain of clean affordable hotels located along major freeway exits. Not only would these hotels be more spacious and well kept than the motels of the day, but they wouldn’t charge children under the age of 12. Wilson ran with his vision and opened the first Holiday Inn in Memphis, Tennessee in 1952. The original hotel offered 120 clean and well decorated guest rooms with air conditioning, television, and a telephone. Children under 12 stayed for free when accompanied by their parents. The hotel also offered kid friendly amenities such as an outdoor swimming pool.

Holiday Inn is one of the most recognizable hotel chains in the world.

How did the advent of the highway help Holiday Inn?

The highway has been instrumental in helping families to travel more easily from place to place. What you might not know is that the advent of the highway has also allowed many businesses to flourish and attract new customers. The Holiday Inn is no exception. Consider this as you search Holiday Inn near me. In 1956, the $76 billion federal highway development project proved a unique opportunity for Kemmons Wilson to expand his business ten fold. As families took to the freeways in epic numbers in order to explore the country, Wilson began recruiting investors looking for a great opportunity. He quickly attracted many investors and began offering his stock publicly in 1967, which allowed him to generate capital for the chains continuing expansion. At this point in time, the Holiday Inn brand also expanded into Europe by offering the Holiday Inn Leiden.

Holiday Inn Near Me – Holiday Inn Facts

On The Cusp of Innovation

One thing that you’ll notice while searching Holiday Inn near me is that the brand has always been on the forefront of technology. Not only was Holiday Inn one of the first brands to jump on the Wifi band wagon, but way back in 1965, Holiday Inn was jumping on board with America’s newfound fascination with Computers. Holiday Inn embraced this technological innovation during its major expansion. They contacted IBM to help design and roll out the chain’s famous Holidex system. This computerized system not only made booking more efficient for both guests and clerks, but it allowed for a constant flow of information between the chain’s hotels and the brand’s headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. With this information in mind, Holiday Inn could analyze guest data and gain a bit of insight into those who were staying at their various hotel locations. By 1995, Holiday Inn was on the cusp of another technological innovation: online booking. They became the first hotel chain to allow guests to book directly through the hotel’s website rather than over the phone or in person.

A New Century, A New Look

Holiday Inn has always been focused on offering clean and modern guest rooms that offer some respite from the exhausting nature of a long trip. In order to stay relevant and keep up with the competition, Holiday Inn decided to undergo a massive renovation in 2007. This is when the brand announced a $1 billion dollar face lift for its Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands. During the project, hotel owners were tasked with refurbishing rooms, modernizing hotel interiors, furnishing rooms with new bedding, offering better shower heads, and raising customer service standards to help comply with new mandates. At the time of the expansion, the brand was renovating more than 3,100 hotel chains. As you search Holiday Inn near me, consider just how important modern and clean guest rooms really are to your overall hotel experience.