As Holiday Inn turns 70, IHG Managing Director for Australasia and Pacific, Matt Tripolone, looks to the next phase of the hotel brand.
This year, our Holiday Inn brand celebrates its 70th anniversary. Today, it is the world’s largest hotel brand family with over 4,200 hotels and more than half a million keys globally. Owners have really embraced the Holiday Inn brand and we currently have 31 open or pipeline Holiday Inn hotels across Australasia – this number will only continue to rise. The great thing about this brand is that it continues to innovate, evolve, and push the boundaries in order to keep up with the changing needs of travellers. Currently we’re seeing the refreshed Holiday Inn brand identity rolled out in hotels across our region including Holiday Inn Werribee and Holiday Inn Queenstown Remarkables Park, which both feature our signature Holiday Inn open lobby concept which seamlessly blends the front desk, restaurant, bar, lounge area and business centre into one highly-flexible space.
The other great feature for our Holiday Inn brand is that it easily takes its rightful place in both CBD and regional locations. We are seeing strong interest from owners in bringing the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands to regional locations, and a particular appetite for owners wanting to incorporate the ‘Suites’ product into their offering. We recently opened the first Holiday Inn Express and Suites hotel in the Sunshine Coast with partners Pro-invest Hotels, and feedback from guests on the space and functionality of the suite product has been fantastic. As part of the suite offering, the rooms are fitted with kitchenettes to cater to extended stay guests and those wanting to be more self-sufficient, and in Holiday Inn Sunshine Coast’s case, some come with open air terraces. Other Holiday Inn Suite hotels we have in the pipeline are a state-of-the-art Holiday Inn and Suites Ballarat Goldfields and Holiday Inn Express and Suites Parramatta, with plenty more to come.