The original Holiday Inn chain of hotels was created in 1952 inMemphis, Tennessee, by homebuilder Kemmons Wilson to provide inexpensive family accommodation for travelers within the USA. Wilson opened the first Holiday Inn in September 1952 at 4941 Summer Avenue in theBerclair district of Memphis on the main road to and from Nashville. Though the actual hotel does not exist anymore, a historical sign marks where it once stood. In 1954, Wilson incorporated the chain with Wallace E. Johnson.
Wilson initially came up with the idea after a family road trip toWashington, DC, during which he was disappointed by the quality and consistency provided by the roadside motels of that era. The name Holiday Inn was given to the original hotel by his architect Eddie Bluestein as a joke, in reference to the Bing Crosby movie.
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