Holiday Inn offers a globally recognized hospitality franchise with multiple brand formats, all under the corporate flag of IHG, which has nearly 6,000 hotels approaching nearly 1,000,000 guest rooms worldwide.

Find the right franchise for you. Take our quiz!

Holiday Inn Franchise Formats Offered

The Holiday Inn Franchise brand offers several formats.

Holiday Inn

The core Holiday Inn format represents a midscale, full-service guest experience designed around the brand promises of comfort, value and reliability. The standard Holiday Inn hotel format is meant to be adaptable for development in a wide variety of markets.

Holiday Inn's buildout and service emphasize three key attributes: arrival (from exterior design to lobby decoration to lighting to staff disposition), guestrooms (flexible and adaptable for the needs of the contemporary traveler), and guest stay (all about an open, relaxed, comfortable, and convenient experience, from the accommodations to the wifi and power outlets to the dining and drink options, and more).

Holiday Inn Express

The Holiday Inn Express format is aimed at travelers who value consistency, customer service, and convenient facilities at a limited service segment price point. The Express format has a major emphasis on operational efficiency, with over 80% of a location's space dedicated to revenue generation. Holiday Inn Express is one of the fastest-growing brands in the entire IHG hotel portfolio.

Holiday Inn Express' amenities are entirely designed to deliver the highest impact on guest satisfaction per dollar of cost invested. Notable amenities include Express Start Breakfast, Express Recharge, Express Essentials, The Power Shower, and a uniquely empowered customer service staff.

Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express Franchise Opportunities - History

Beginning as a budget-conscious motel chain in 1941, Holiday Inn became one of the most respected hotel franchises on the planet, expanding to multiple continents and currently boasting nearly a quarter million bedrooms worldwide. Holiday Inn Express was founded in 1991 to give customers a more affordable, limited service alternative to Holiday Inn. Crowne Plaza, which launched in 1994, was initially called “Holiday Inn Crown Plaza” but dropped the first part of its name to help set it apart as a distinct brand.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express Franchise Fees, Initial Investment and Requirements

Initial Investment

The total investment necessary to own a Holiday Inn franchise of a typical 143-room Holiday Inn hotel, excluding acquisition of the underlying real estate and certain other costs, is $14,078,650 to $19,253,705. This includes a franchise application (franchise fee) of $50,000, which in certain special circumstances, at the franchisor's election, can be reduced to $25,000 or $15,000.

The total investment necessary to open a typical 93-room Holiday Inn Express hotel franchise, excluding acquisition of the underlying real estate and other costs, is $7,881,597 to $11,081,667. As with the standard format, these costs include a $50,000 franchise application fee, which may be reduced to as little as $25,000 or $15,000 in certain circumstances.

Franchise Application Fees

When franchisees submit an application for a Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express franchise, whether for new development, conversion, transfer of ownership, or re-licensing, there is an initial application fee of $500 per guest room (for a minimum total fee of at least $50,000). In certain special circumstances, the franchisor may grant licenses to operate a Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express for a limited term; at the franchisor's election, the fees in these circumstances can be reduced to $250 or $150 per guest room (at a minimum fee of $25,000 or $15,000, respectively).

Royalties and Program Contributions

Holiday Inn franchisees must pay a monthly 5% royalty fee on gross room revenue. Holiday Inn Express franchisees must pay a monthly 6% royalty fee on gross room revenue. There are additional ongoing fees for brand marketing programs, technology, and certain other items.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express Franchise System Size and Composition

As of September 30, 2019, the standard Holiday Inn brand had 1,249 open hotels worldwide, representing some 229,655 rooms. The brand's global development pipeline consisted of 287 hotels, representing 55,888 rooms in pipeline. In the Americas region, there were 754 open hotels (126,275 rooms) and 101 hotels in pipeline (12,991 rooms).

As of September 30, 2019, the Holiday Inn Express brand had 2,826 open hotels accounting for 292,562 rooms worldwide. There were a further 771 hotels in the brand's development pipeline, representing some 97,267 rooms. The Americas region comprised 2,339 of the open hotels (211,944 rooms) and 472 of the hotels in the development pipeline (45,262 rooms in pipeline).

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express are two brands in the broader IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) franchised hotels portfolio.

As of September 30, 2019, IHG's global footprint included 5,795 open hotels (864,699 rooms) and 1,941 hotels in the development pipeline (289,135 rooms), broken down as follows:

• Americas: 4,249 open hotels (517,909 rooms) and 1,139 pipeline hotels (118,280 rooms)
• Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEAA): 1,103 open hotels (216,847 rooms) and 405 pipeline hotels (84,209 rooms)
• Greater China: 443 open hotels (129,943 rooms) and 397 pipeline hotels (86,646 rooms).

Other than the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands, hotels in the IHG family include:

• InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
• AtWell Suites
• Crowne Plaza
• Regent Hotels & Resorts
• Kimpton Hotel & Restaurants
• Hotel Indigo
• EVEN Hotels
• HUALUXE Hotels & Resorts
• voco Hotels
• Holiday Inn Club Vacations
• Holiday Inn Resort
• avid hotels
• Staybridge Suites
• Candlewood Suites
• Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas