IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) today announces the Holiday Inn brand’s new collaboration with the web and mobile travel platform Roadtrippers. The Holiday Inn brand’s Journey to Extraordinary campaign, which launched in the summer of 2014, continues this summer with a focus on celebrating the joy of travel and the shared experiences travelers have while on the road. Together, the Holiday Inn brand and Roadtrippers will make it easier and more enjoyable for travelers to plan, chronicle and share their extraordinary travel experiences as they hit the road this summer.
Joining forces with the Cincinnati-based Roadtrippers is a natural fit for the Holiday Inn brand, as both companies were born out of the quintessential American road trip. More than 60 years ago, Holiday Inn brand founder Kemmons Wilson took a road trip with his family. After being frustrated by the lack of consistent, family-friendly lodging available, he decided to create his own hotel brand, and the Holiday Inn brand has been championing enjoyable travel for guests ever since. Throughout that time, the brand has constantly innovated to deliver what is important to guests – a hotel that is warm, welcoming and makes them feel cared for where they can strengthen existing connections and make new ones, making their journeys more meaningful.
Heather Balsley, Senior Vice President, Americas Brand Management, IHG said: “When we launched the Journey to Extraordinary campaign in 2014, guests told us that they had their own stories of incredible journeys and experiences at Holiday Inn hotels that they wanted to tell. We heard them and through this relationship with Roadtrippers, we want to celebrate each and every one of those journeys. This program is the perfect opportunity to connect with our guests who are passionate storytellers through an exciting platform like Roadtrippers, which appeals to travelers eager to share their stories.”
Driven by a shared desire to enable amazing journeys and the special moments that travelers experience during their trips, the brands came together to introduce a new page on the Roadtrippers site called “Extraordinary Journeys,” featuring user-generated content curated to inspire readers and fuel them to experience their own journeys. Currently, eight one-of-a-kind adventures – from one traveler’s exploration of the Apostle Islands Ice Caves to another’s motorcycle trip across the longest railroad trestle in the U.S. – are highlighted, and over the course of the summer, the brands will collaborate with the Roadtripper community to put fans in the driver’s seat and feature more of their powerful stories on the “Extraordinary Journeys” page and across both brands’ social media channels.
Joshua Smibert, Chief Operating Officer, Roadtrippers said: “At Roadtrippers we believe you’re always five minutes away from something interesting. Of course, the adventure is not just in discovering these places, but also in sharing the experience with others. Our travelers, like guests of Holiday Inn hotels, have asked to share their adventures with the larger Roadtrippers community. So we are excited to collaborate with the Holiday Inn brand and extend our platform to tell some of these interesting stories and encourage all people to connect around the joy of travel.”
There is no better way to get out and explore than by hitting the open road, and according to a recent study by AAA[1], current low gas prices mean that this summer and through the rest of the year, people will be doing just that. Six in 10 Americans say that they are more likely to take a road trip of 50 or more miles if gas prices remain near recent levels. Additionally, American Express Spending & Saving Tracker[2] research shows that last year, four percent more travelers planned to take trips by car than the year before. While the historic tradition of the great American road trip remains unchanged, the way people share their experiences has evolved. An early 2015 report from Deloitte[3] indicates that 83 percent of consumers use the Internet while on vacation. Of these, 33 percent post photos via Facebook with their friends during vacation and 48 percent post vacation photos when they return home.
