LAS VEGAS -- If a
new prototype unveiled this month is any indication, tomorrows
Holiday Inn will not be your grandfathers Holiday Inn -- though old
generation and new many look surprisingly similar in many ways.
Taking a cue from
the automobile industrys retro-design philosophy, Holiday Inn will
resurrect once-familiar features like the Holidome but supplement
them with state-of-the-art technologies.
When Kemmons Wilson
opened the first Holiday Inn on Aug. 1, 1952, in Memphis, it was
designed to address all the problems Wilson faced the previous year
on a road trip with his family.
It quickly became
the chain that defined hotel for young baby boomers.
More than 50 years
later, Holiday Inn has grown into one of the most recognized hotel
brands in the U.S. and one of the most important brands in
InterContinental Hotels Groups portfolio.
Holiday Inn U.S.
has sold just under 19 million rooms through June, said Steve
Porter, InterContinentals president for the Americas, which from
public records, we estimate to be 18% more than
Marriott.
Three years ago,
when Holiday Inn crossed the 50-year mark, Mark Snyder, who
previously headed Hiltons Embassy Suites brand, was brought onboard
to guide the chain into the new millennium.
A 53-year-old
brand, like a 53-year-old person, has its own specific set of DNA,
said Snyder, now Holiday Inns senior vice president of brand
management.
[You have to] draw
on that DNA and figure out whats relevant.
Key elements of
that DNA revolve around expectations of a family-friendly hotel
with clean comfortable rooms that offer good value.
Continuing the
basic concept, a 143-room prototype was introduced in
2004.
That seems to be
the right size for a Holiday Inn, Snyder said at a briefing here
during the InterContinental Hotel Groups annual investment
conference.
With a nod to the
original Holiday Inn, the new prototype features comfortable rooms
and large public areas, plus a restaurant named Kems Comfort Food,
saluting Holiday Inns founder.
The menu includes
such stick-to-your-ribs staples as meatloaf and fried
chicken.
At the same time,
the new hotels are wired for Internet access, and new technology is
integrated throughout the hotel experience.
For example, Kems
customers can order off of a handheld electronic tablet, which
allows them to communicate directly with the kitchen, Snyder said.
Also, there are TVs in the restaurants booths.
Holiday Inn is also
reinvigorating its Holidome, an enclosed pool and recreation area,
with new standards that include wading pools, a play center, a hot
tub and other water and recreational activities.
About 130 Holiday
Inns that currently have Holidomes will upgrade by 2007.
Building on the
Holidome concept, Holiday Inn has also designed new standards for
indoor water parks featuring a 32-foot flume slide that extends
outside the hotel proper.
Eight hotels
already have indoor water parks, and six more are expected to open
water parks next year.
Proving that
recreation areas drive revenue, Snyder said that Holiday Inns with
Holidomes or indoor water parks can add as much as $28 to their
rates and typically have 20% higher occupancy levels.
Holiday Inn, which
encompasses the Holiday Inn Express and Nickelodeon Family Suites
by Holiday Inn brands, is also taking steps to spruce up its
Holiday Inn Select brand, reinventing the business travel hotels to
be more responsive to customers between the ages of 24 and 40 --
Generation Xers.
Holiday Inn Select
hotels will, among other things, feature Nautilus fitness centers,
Sporting News Grill restaurants, bath amenities by Garden Botanika,
Wolfgang Puck coffees and in-room clocks designed to accommodate
digital music devices such as Apple iPods.
And as Generation
Xers travel with their children, Snyder said he believes they will
still chose Holiday Inn -- just as their baby boomers parents
did.
To contact
reporter Michael Milligan, send e-mail to [email protected].