chain . for the 1942 film starring bing crosby and fred astaire see holiday inn film . for other uses see holiday inn disambiguation . holiday inn hotels type subsidiary of the intercontinental hotels group industry hotels founded august 1 1952 ; 64 years ago 1952 08 01 memphis tennessee u.s. founder kemmons wilson headquarters atlanta georgia u.s. number of locations 3 649 area served americas europe middle east africa asia pacific services food services lodging conventions meetings timeshares parent intercontinental hotels group divisions holiday inn express website www.holidayinn.com footnotes references 1 holiday inn is an american brand of hotels which is part of the intercontinental hotels group . originally a u.s. motel chain today it is one of the world s largest hotel chains with 463 435 bedrooms in 3 649 hotels globally hosting over 100 million guest nights each year . 2 3 the hotel chain is based in atlanta georgia . contents 1 history 1.1 1950s 1970s 1.2 the great sign 1.3 1980s present 2 logos 3 brands 3.1 other 4 historical trademark conflicts 5 references 6 external links history edit a holiday inn in belfast city centre northern ireland 1950s 1970s edit kemmons wilson a resident of memphis tennessee was inspired to build his own motel after being disappointed by poor quality and inconsistent roadside accommodation during a family road trip to washington d.c. the name holiday inn was given to the original hotel by his architect eddie bluestein as a joke in reference to the 1942 christmas themed musical film holiday inn starring bing crosby and fred astaire . their first hotel motel opened in august 1952 as holiday inn hotel courts at 4925 summer avenue in memphis the main highway to nashville . in the early 1990s it was demolished leaving behind a plaque commemorating the site . wilson partnered with wallace e. johnson to build additional motels on the roads entering memphis . 4 holiday inn s corporate headquarters was in a converted plumbing shed owned by johnson . in 1953 the company built its next three hotels which along with their first hotel covered each approach to memphis . the second motel was built on u.s. 51 south . it was followed by two more in 1953 one on highway 51 north and another on u.s. 61 . on the occasion of johnson s death in 1988 wilson was quoted as saying the greatest man i ever knew died today . he was the greatest partner a man could ever have . together they started what wilson would shepherd into a holiday corporation one of the world s largest hotel groups . by the beginning of 1956 there were 23 holiday inns operating with seven more due to open by year s end . in 1957 wilson began franchising the chain as holiday inn of america mandating its properties be standardized clean predictable family friendly and readily accessible to road travelers . the chain grew dramatically as a result with 50 locations across the country by 1958 100 by 1959 500 by 1964 and the 1 000th holiday inn in san antonio texas in 1968 . in 1965 the chain launched holidex a centralized reservation system where a visitor to any holiday inn could obtain reservations by teleprinter for any other holiday inn location . the only comparable systems at the time were operated by airlines sabre made its debut in 1963 . promoting itself as your host from coast to coast holiday inn added a call center after at & t s introduction of 1 800 toll free telephone number service in 1967 and updated its systems as desktop microcomputers an invention of the 1970s found their way into travel agencies . 5 branded as the nation s innkeeper the chain put considerable financial pressure on traditional motels and hotels setting the standard for competitors like ramada inn quality inn howard johnson s and best western . by june 1972 with over 1 400 holiday inns worldwide wilson was featured on the cover of time magazine and the motto became the world s innkeeper . in the 1960s holiday inn began franchising and opening campgrounds under the holiday inn trav l park brand . these recreational campgrounds were listed in the holiday inn directories . 6 7 in 1963 holiday inn signed a long term deal with gulf oil corporation where it agreed to accept gulf credit cards to charge food and lodging at all of its american and canadian hotels in return for gulf building service stations on many holiday inn properties particularly near major u.s. and interstate highways . the arrangement was copied by competing lodging chains and major oil companies during the mid to late 1960s but fell out of favor following the 1973 oil crisis . the gulf holiday inn arrangement ended around 1982 . the company later branched into other enterprises including medi center nursing homes continental trailways delta queen and show biz inc. a television production company that specialized in syndicated country music shows . wilson also developed the orange lake resort and country club near orlando and a chain called wilson world hotels . the acquisition of trailways in 1968 lasted until 1979 when holiday inn sold trailways to private investor henry lea hillman sr of pittsburgh pennsylvania . in the years during which trailways was a subsidiary of holiday inn television commercials for holiday inn frequently showed a trailways bus stopping at a holiday inn hotel . wilson retired from holiday inn in 1979 . as of 2014 wilson s family still operates hotels as part of the kemmons wilson companies of memphis . the great sign edit this section has multiple issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message this section may require copy editing for grammar style cohesion tone or spelling . you can assist by editing it . december 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message the iconic great sign was a familiar sight on us highways in the 1950s 60s and 70s the great sign is the roadside sign used by holiday inn during its original era of expansion in the 1950s 1970s . it was perhaps the company s most successful form of advertising . it was extremely large and eye catching but was expensive to construct and operate . the manufacturer of the sign was balton & sons sign company and it was originally designed by sketch artists gene barber and roland alexander . wilson wanted a sign that no road traveler could miss at least 50 high and visible in both directions . he also wanted a marquee so that the inn could welcome different groups to the hotel . the original sign cost 13 000 . 8 the story goes that the sign s colors were selected because they were favorites of wilson s mother . the popularity of the sign led to many clones being produced some of which remain to this day . in 1982 following wilson s departure the holiday inn board of directors phased out the great sign in favor of a cheaper and less catchy backlit sign . the decision essentially signaled the end of the wilson era and wilson considered it the worst mistake they ever made . he so loved the sign that it was engraved on his tombstone . 9 the majority of the signs were sold as scrap metal and recycled . several intact fragments of the famous sign have been restored and relit mostly the holiday inn top section of the sign and the marquee box . in 2006 a complete sign was finally found . the disassembled sign complete with star marquee box and the sign base was discovered in a backlot in minnesota . on june 3 2007 it was purchased by a neon sign restoration expert in order to restore it to its 1950s appearance . it would be displayed at the national save the neon signs museum in minot north dakota . also an intact sign that came from a las vegas location stands outside of the american sign museum in cincinnati ohio . another intact and operating holiday inn great sign is at the henry ford museum in dearborn michigan and one is with a private collector in kentucky . 1980s present edit holiday inn clock in sutton greater london although still a healthy company changing business conditions and demographics saw holiday inn lose its market dominance in the 1980s . holiday inns inc. was renamed holiday corporation in 1985 to reflect the growth of the company s brands including harrah s entertainment embassy suites hotels crowne plaza homewood suites and hampton inn . in 1988 holiday corporation was purchased by uk based bass plc the owners of the bass beer brand followed by the remaining domestic holiday inn hotels in 1990 when founder wilson sold his interest after which the hotel group was known as holiday inn worldwide . the remainder of holiday corporation including the embassy suites hotels homewood suites and hampton inn brands was spun off to shareholders as promus companies incorporated . in 1990 bass launched holiday inn express a complementary brand in the limited service segment . 10 11 12 iconic holiday inn sarajevo home of foreign correspondents during 1984 winter olympics and throughout of siege of sarajevo during bosnian war in 1997 bass created and launched a new hotel brand staybridge suites by holiday inn entering the north american upscale extended stay market . in march 1998 bass acquired the intercontinental brand expanding into the luxury hotel market . in 2000 bass sold its brewing assets and the rights to the bass name and changed its name to six continents plc. intercontinental hotels group ihg was created in 2003 after six continents split into two daughter companies mitchells & butlers plc to handle restaurant assets and ihg to focus on soft drinks and hotels including the holiday inn brand . 13 the brand name holiday inn is now owned by ihg which in turn licenses the name to franchisees and third parties who operate hotels under management agreements . 14 in 1999 the hotel that changed into the nickelodeon suites resort orlando in 2005 opened called holiday inn . the wall street journal reported in 2002 that the company led by ravi saligram was producing a new 130 room next generation prototype hotel to rebuild the brand . it would include a bistro like restaurant and an indoor pool . the first of these prototype hotels the holiday inn gwinnett center was built in duluth georgia in 2003 . on october 24 2007 ihg announced a worldwide relaunch of the holiday inn brand which spelled trouble for the remaining motels . the relaunch was focused on delivering consistently best in class service and physical quality levels including a redesigned welcome experience and signature bedding and bathroom products . the first relaunched holiday inn opened in the us in spring 2008 . currently there are more than 2 500 relaunched holiday inn brand hotels around the world and the holiday inn global brand relaunch process was completed by the end of 2010 . 15 by then the majority of the hi motels were removed from the chain with a few exceptions in the 1980s and 1990s hi hotels were built alongside the motel properties i.e. baton rouge louisiana in order to provide more amenities and newer rooms . when the relaunch occurred these motels were either demolished or closed off even if a full service hotel was already on site . today less than 10 holiday inn motels