02 September 2015

Holiday Inn Express® Brand Launches World's First "Pancake Selfie Express" With One-Of-A-Kind Technology

Hotel Brand Brings “Pancake Selfies” to the People with Nine-City Tour

ATLANTA – IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), one of the world’s leading hotel companies, today announces yet another massive leap in the field of breakfast superiority with the launch of the “Pancake Selfie Express,” the newest stroke of genius from the Holiday Inn Express® brand’s Creative Director and Breakfast Excellence Honcho, actor/comedian Rob Riggle. The nine-city tour, which hits the road today, allows flapjack fans in some of the busiest cities in the Southwest and along the West Coast to enjoy a selfie on a pancake made by “The Stack Station,” the brand’s super smart, one-touch pancake machine. The innovative piece of breakfast machinery was named this summer through a crowdsource naming contest in which more than 28,000 wordsmiths suggested their best and brightest monikers for a chance to win bragging rights and a trip to Vermont, maple syrup Heaven.

Jennifer Gribble, Vice President, Holiday Inn Express® Brand, Americas, IHG said: “Everyone knows that breakfast is the most important and smartest meal of the day; everyone also knows that people love selfies. Leveraging state-of-the-art technology, we combined the two to bring the ‘Pancake Selfie Express’ to the masses. This clever concept is the perfect fit for our latest Stay Smart® campaign because it brings our Express Start™ breakfast offering to travelers in a fun and engaging way to show them why the Holiday Inn Express brand is the smart choice. We are excited to send the ‘Pancake Selfie Express’ out on the road, delivering freshly baked, high-tech pancakes and driving breakfast enthusiasm along the way.”

The “Pancake Selfie Express” features five push-button pancake machines, each producing one pancake per minute as well as finely-tuned lasers which then imprint selfies taken via mobile phone camera directly onto each pancake. The selfie technology is a first for any hospitality brand. The nine-city tour begins in Dallas at Pegasus Plaza at City Center (Sept. 2-4) before continuing on to Austin (Sept. 6-7), Phoenix (Sept. 11-14), San Diego (Sept. 17-19), Long Beach (Sept. 21-22), Los Angeles (Sept. 24-27), San Francisco (Oct. 2-3), Oakland (Oct. 5-6) and Sacramento (Oct. 9-11). Locals in each city can visit the truck for their own pancake selfie as well as the chance to win breakfast-inspired swag and IHG® Rewards Club points to be applied towards future stays at Holiday Inn Express properties. For updates on when and where the truck will pop up in their city, hungry consumers can visit the Holiday Inn Express brand’s Twitter and Facebook  pages or staysmart.com.

About the Holiday Inn Express® Brand
Holiday Inn Express® hotels are modern hotels for value-oriented travelers. Fresh, clean and uncomplicated, Holiday Inn Express hotels offer competitive rates for both business and leisure travelers. Guests Stay Smart® at Holiday Inn Express hotels where they enjoy a free hot Express Start™ breakfast bar with new healthier offerings, free high-speed Internet access and free local phone calls (U.S. and Canada only). There are currently nearly 2,400 Holiday Inn Express hotel locations around the globe. For more information about Holiday Inn Express hotels or to book reservations, visit www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress. Find us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/hiexpress or Facebook www.Facebook.com/holidayinnexpress.

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For further information please contact:

Jordan Worrall
[email protected]
+1 (770) 604 5010

About IHG®

IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including InterContinental® Hotels & ResortsKimpton® Hotels & RestaurantsHUALUXE Hotels and ResortsCrowne Plaza® Hotels & ResortsHotel Indigo®EVEN® HotelsHoliday Inn® Hotels & ResortsHoliday Inn Express®Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 4,900 hotels and 724,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries, with more than 1,300 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG® Rewards Club, the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programme with more than 88 million members worldwide.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. More than 350,000 people work across IHG’s hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihg.com/media and follow us on social media at: www.twitter.com/ihgwww.facebook.com/ihg and www.youtube.com/ihgplc.