Holiday Inn relaunch

Holiday Inn this month “launched” their brand “relaunch” which involves refreshing over 3,200 hotels by the end of 2010, new brand standards, touchpoints and of course a new logo & ads.

Whilst Holiday Inn perhaps hasn’t grown as fast as other IHG brands in the last few years, there are over 1,000 Holiday Inn & Holiday Inn Express hotels in the development pipeline.  With US$1 billion being put behind this relaunch, its easy to see that IHG intend to capitalise on good trading at the moment created by travellers downgrading from 4/5 star hotels & new traveller markets opening due to Low Cost airlines.  It also makes this project the largest single initiative in the global hospitality industry.

Whilst the relaunch is being presented as a quick thing, its actually been going on since 2007. There are currently over 800 hotels which have undergone the “refresh”.  What the launch is more about is starting to rebrand Holiday Inn in guest’s minds now that sufficient density has been achieved with the refits.  With refreshes happening fairly quickly, its now more possible to ensure a level of consistency across the chain.  Its also important for them to do this relaunch to place a level of pressure on Holiday Inn branded hotel owners – who have to pay for the refresh of their hotels. They currently have a deadline of  31st January 2010 to have their hotels refreshed but of course with the level of nervousness which has pervaded the hospitality industry due to the economic crisis, some have dragged their heels.  Raising the guest’s expectations will hopefully push along those hotels – as will the growing weight of evidence as to the difference it makes. John Merkin, senior VP, brand management for Holiday Inn brands in the Americas said at the NYI International Hospitality Investment Conference that on a one year study, properties which had gone through the refresh had a 6% REVPAR premium over those who had not – mainly achieved through higher occupancy rates.  And all of that was without the new logo or added marketing support.

So what are their new ads like?  Here are the first two, which nicely integrate Holiday Inn’s sponsorship activities with their mainstream advertising.

These ads also clearly show some of Holiday Inn’s touchpoints – a choice of pillow styles, a decent shower head & a shower curtain that works.  That may sound fairly basic but you don’t want to know how many hotels don’t get those very basic elements right.