17 September 2009

Holiday Inn stacks a full house to celebrate 1,200 relaunched hotels globally

First-ever "Key Card Hotel" Debuts in New York City And Free Nights Up For Grabs At Holiday Inn Hotels Around The World

NEW YORK (September 17, 2009) - IHG, the world's largest hotel group, today unveiled the Holiday Inn "Key Card Hotel," the first-ever hotel made of key cards in New York City, to mark the relaunch of 1,200 Holiday Inn hotels globally in September.  Holiday Inn has also launched its global "Key to Change" promotion, giving guests the chance to win an all-expense paid trip to a relaunched Holiday Inn of their choice, anywhere in the world.

The $1 billion Holiday Inn relaunch is the largest in the history of the hospitality industry, with more than 3,300 hotels being updated - improving quality and driving consistency at Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels around the world. The global estate is expected to be relaunched by the end of 2010.

"The Holiday Inn brand relaunch continues to gain momentum with over 1,200 relaunched hotels anticipated globally through September.  Our success with this initiative reinforces our leadership position in the branded hotel category and further demonstrates our ongoing commitment to improving quality and consistency at our over 3,300 hotels around the world," said Kevin Kowalski, senior vice president, Global Brand Management, Holiday Inn Brands. "The Key Card Hotel is a fun and interactive way to showcase the changes happening at our hotels and is the only structure of its kind to ever be created by a hotel brand."

The  400 sq. ft.  "Key Card Hotel," built by world record-holding Cardstacker Bryan Berg, includes a guest bedroom, bathroom and lobby, all fully equipped with life-sized furniture made out of Holiday Inn key cards. The largest card structure Berg has ever built and the only one in the world of its kind, the Holiday Inn "Key Card Hotel" will be open to the public from 17 September through 21 September at the South Street Seaport in downtown Manhattan. The first 250 guests who attend the "Key Card Hotel" grand opening on September 17 at 2:00pm (EST) will receive a free night stay at any Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express around the world.

During the five day event, Bryan Berg will build a freestanding 9-ft replica of New York's Empire State Building in the lobby of the "Key Card Hotel," using Holiday Inn branded playing cards. 

Berg said, "This is my largest cardstacking challenge to date and the only card creation I have ever made at full human scale, which is fitting since Holiday Inn is one of the largest and most successful brands in the hotel industry. I think it's a great way to celebrate relaunching 1,200 Holiday Inn hotels globally."

Guests around the world can experience the changes happening at Holiday Inn by entering the "Key to Change" promotion online (http://www.holidayinn.com/Key) and claiming their "virtual key card" game piece between 14 September and 22 October 2009.  Guests can enter for a chance to win free nights at a newly relaunched Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express and the grand prize winners who find the "master key" will win an all-expense paid trip to a  Holiday Inn of their choice, anywhere in the world.  Key Card game pieces will also be sent to all Holiday Inn Priority Club Rewards members and given to guests who stop by the "Key Card Hotel" during the five-day event.  

To experience the exciting changes happening at Holiday Inn, view Bryan Berg building the Holiday Inn "Key Card Hotel" or to register for the "Key to Change" promotion, please visit www.holidayinn.com/Key

Checking-in to the Key Card Hotel

  • Made of more than 200,000 Holiday Inn key cards
  • Weighs 4,000 pounds
  • Four months to construct

About Bryan Berg

Bryan Berg broke the Guinness World Record for the World's Tallest House of Cards in 1992 at the age of seventeen, with a tower fourteen feet, six inches tall.His latest record-holding structure in the category is over twenty-five feet tall.  Berg also established a new record category for World's Largest House of Cards in 2004, and continues to hold both records. Berg holds a Professional Degree in Architecture from Iowa State University and a Masters in Design Studies from Harvard.  Learn more at http://www.cardstacker.com/.

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Media Contacts

Natasha Gullett
IHG
+1 770-604-5597
[email protected]

Emma Corcoran
IHG 
+44 7787 724751
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Notes to Editors:

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 4,300 hotels and almost 630,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®, and also manages the world’s largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club® Rewards with 44 million members worldwide.

IHG has nearly 1,600 hotels in its development pipeline, which will create 140,000 jobs worldwide over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards programme at www.priorityclub.com. For the latest news from IHG, visit our online Press Office at www.ihg.com/media

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