Talk:Holiday Inn

Holidomes
The article repeatedly refers to the Holidomes, yet doesn't explain what they are: A 60's/70's Holiday Inn design with a traditional 2-story layout; however instead of surrounding a parking lot they feature balconies enclosing a courtyard featuring check-in, bar/restaurant, pool & landscaping, all evoking an outside resort. They played off the then-current "in the future we'll all live in climate-controlled domes" theme while providing travelers with a reliable place to relax in a faux outside & let their children burn off energy in a secure space. In this case the 'dome' was a standardized beam & board design with skylights. 24.91.16.234 05:33, 4 December 2007 (UTC) Michael

Merge the Great Sign article?
I added a photo of the old "Great Sign" that was used for 1950s and 1960s era. If you still want to merge the Great Sign article then go ahead but the description of the photo pretty much covers it. --&#91;jonrev] 06:31, 21 August 2006 ( UTC )

Please keep the content of the Great Sign for it describes the American Icon well. Always room for improvement but the Great Sign should not just be described by a photo. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gmconway1953 (talk • contribs) 15:43, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

Spokesmen
Can anyone find out who those three spokesmen from the Holiday Inn commercials are? I feel that series of commercials has become famous enough to warrant inclusion in the article.

-- the impact of Holiday Inn on the roadside and its travelers cannot be underestimated.

Is that really what is meant? Or should it read the impact of Holiday Inn on the roadside and its travelers cannot be overestimated?

Sebastjan

Actually, Crowne Plaza is a seperate brand. I actually work for Intercontinental Hotels group, and can attest that we are never, ever to refer to CP as a holiday inn...i am moving CP info to its own page: Crowne Plaza. [[user:JonMoore| J ON, Conqueror of Men - (Talk to Me, Baby!)]] 22:31, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Holiday inn Beirut
This page could do with a mention of the Holiday Inn in Beirut and a picture, surely there isn't a Holiday Inn as famous as this one 78.146.69.209 (talk) 20:28, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Advertising
"It is one of the world's most recognized hotel brands with a global reputation for service, comfort and value." Wow, this is advertising pure and unconcealed! I would expect that in a commercial, not an encyclopedia. --46.183.96.224 (talk) 20:37, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Relocated content
The following unreferenced content was relocated here from the article as original research/extraneous/and out of proportion in its significance to the article's subject.

Perhaps it can be reworked, edited down, and referenced, then re-integrated in some fraction back into the article.

Great Sign
The "Great Sign" is the roadside sign used by Holiday Inn during their original era of expansion in the 1950s-1970s. It consisted of a marquee box; a tower with either red, orange, or blue neon lighting, a large chasing arrow that always pointed towards the motel/hotel, and a four-stage flashing animated neon star at the top. It had 1500 ft of neon tubing and over 500 incandescent light bulbs. It was introduced by Kemmons Wilson when he opened his first motel on August 1, 1952. The signs were extremely large and eye-catching, but were expensive to construct and operate. The manufacturer of the sign was Balton & Sons Sign Company (now Balton Sign Company and Frank Balton Sign Company}, whose ancestor D.F. Balton founded Balton & Sons in Memphis in 1875. In shop sketch artists Gene Barber and Rowland Alexander did the original design of the sign. Original engineering drawings were also done by Rowland Alexander of Balton & Sons Sign Company. 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 made the decision to phase out the "Great Sign" in favor of a cheaper and less catchy backlit sign that still maintained the original backscript logo (this changed after the second remodel). The decision was not without controversy as it essentially signaled the end of the Wilson era and removed a widely recognized company icon. Wilson was angered about this, saying, "It was the worst mistake they ever made". Wilson so loved the sign that it was engraved on his tombstone. The majority of the signs were sold as scrap metal and recycled.

In 2003, in a program of hotel redesign, the company brought back a revamped version of the Great Sign that showed up the company's advertising under the slogan "Relax, it's Holiday Inn." The makeover came with a new prototype hotel that included photography of the sign and a retro-style diner named after founder Kemmons Wilson. The idea was later scrapped.

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. However, 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 glory. It is currently being restored and reassembled, and after completion, it will be displayed at the National Save the Neon Signs Museum in Minot, North Dakota. Also, an intact sign (sans the star section, but currently being worked on) that came from a Las Vegas location stands outside of the new 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 with a private collector in Kentucky. These signs are all that is left of a classic American Icon.

Wikiuser100 (talk) 04:39, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Insufficiently germane content
The following content was relocated to Talk as insufficiently germane to the article's subject:

Historical trademark conflicts

 * For two decades, a hotel called Holiday Inn located in Niagara Falls, Ontario prevented the Holiday Inn Corporation from operating one of its own hotels in that city since the name was already in use. The hotel used a logo similar to the old Holiday Inn logo from the 1970s. The Holiday Inn Corporation directory referred to the hotel as "not part of this Holiday Inn system". The hotel also owned the holidayinn.com domain, which forced the much larger corporation to use holiday-inn.com. In 2006, an agreement between IHG and the Niagara Falls, Ontario hotel owners was reached that allowed both the Hotel and Holidayinn.com to be incorporated into the IHG system.

In the sweep of Holiday Inn's history and breadth of the current enterprize the items are inconsequential. Wikiuser100 (talk) 05:00, 18 December 2013 (UTC)
 * During the 1960s and early 1970s, Holiday Inn hotels located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina were simply called "Holiday" because a local motel already had the "Holiday Inn" name. The name was contested by Holiday Inns, Inc. v Holiday Inn before the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina (Florence division) in 1973. The South Carolina Holiday Inn had franchised their name to Strand Development Corporation, which filed a counterclaim against Holiday Inns, Inc. The dispute resulted in a concurrent use registration for the Myrtle Beach hotel, which still operates as "Holiday Inn", although it is required to use a distinctly different font.

Private collector in Kentucky?
The article currently states that one of the original "Great Sign" models is owned by a private collector based out of Kentucky. I haven't been able to find any sources that confirm this. This page seems to be the only website that has this information. Does anyone have information on this, or should we delete it entirely? The information would be interesting if true, so I was hoping someone knew something. AlmightyMushroomMan (talk) 01:11, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Someone keeps adding this back. To include it, it needs not only to be cited to an RS, but that RS needs to tell us why this fact would add to our readers' understanding of the topic. As it is it's just a random fact. EEng 21:33, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

Holiday Inn Belfast
I am writing this in the Holiday Inn in Belfast, which is no longer in the location shown in the 'History' section, so it's not a very good example any more! 62.253.24.82 (talk) 22:40, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

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British-owned American brand
What, if anything is that meant to mean? We shouldn't be using Wiki as some sort of willy waggling competition. It is a British company, that used to be American. I suggest deleting this from the first sentence and covering in the history part. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.233.77.59 (talk) 19:41, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

Investor Ben Mallah to sell several hotels Covid closure or forced sales in the hotel business
Investor Ben Mallah to sell several hotels - Tampa Bay Timeshttps://www.tampabay.com › News › Business Jun 11, 2021 — Mallah is selling two hotels near Tampa International, including the Four Points by Sheraton Suites Tampa Airport Westshore and the Holiday Inn. Mallah said he made the decision to sell several of his hotels after more than a year of “bleeding” money to keep them open. To maintain the hotels, he had to spend about $200,000 a month per hotel — losing hundreds of thousands a month with no end. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.124.226.238 (talk) 16:33, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

My 80 year Mom was robbed by the Holiday Inn!
This is a sad day because my mother made a reservation at a Holiday Inn through the 1-800. She is going to Pennsylvania to see family. She called and booked a 2 rooms at Holiday Inn in Pennsylvania or so she thought. She got the reservation email an noticed the address was in Oregon. She called within 15 minutes of the phone call and was told too bad her reservation cannot be transferred, voided, or cancelled. She called and spoke to a supervisor and she would not help her and she called the property and they would not help her either.

I can't believe that holiday inn is robbing my mother. Further more Holiday Inn did not get to where they are now by treating customers like this. Ii don't see how the people involved can sleep at night knowing that they just took my mothers retirement money. They told her that her rooms are in Oregon and that was all that could be done. This is absolutely unacceptable.

I would like for someone in the corporate office in AltAna Georgia. 210 412 3527.

In utter Disbelief, Scott 72.177.232.152 (talk) 22:23, 19 June 2024 (UTC)