Holiday Inn Club Vacations Expands into Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Gatlinburg, Tenn.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations announced that the South Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C., officially joined the timeshare brand’s portfolio today, with the Smoky Mountain resort in Gatlinburg, Tenn., scheduled to go live tomorrow. These newest additions join the brand’s flagship location, Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort in Orlando, Fla., and three other Holiday Inn Club Vacations resorts in Lake Geneva, Wis., Panama City, Fla., and Brownsville, Vt. Travelers can now rent vacation villas at all six resorts at http://www.hiclubvacations.com/.

In February of this year, the 256-unit South Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach and the 109-unit Smoky Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg were purchased by the developer Orange Lake Resorts under an exclusive agreement with IHG to license the Holiday Inn Club Vacations name.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations will add a 6, 500 square-foot sales center at the Myrtle Beach resort, and starting April 2, 2009, timeshare intervals at all Holiday Inn Club Vacations properties will be sold out of both Orlando and Myrtle Beach. Orange Lake Resorts has also budgeted nearly $3 million for improvements to the resort, including the renovation of the private beachfront owner clubhouse. As part of the improvements, Orange Lake has committed to the ongoing Holiday Inn brand relaunch, which will bring a new service platform and a more up-to-date look to the property. Additional plans include the extension of the recently-introduced Signature Collection, a premium product offering with enhanced amenity features, to the Myrtle Beach resort.

First announced in 2007, the Holiday Inn brand relaunch program was established to create a more contemporary brand image and increase quality and drive consistency. Holiday Inn Club Vacations is the result of the relaunch strategy to create the right brand extensions in the right markets. The global estate of more than 3,200 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express properties is expected to be relaunched by the end of 2010.

“We know that what matters most to our guests is creating memorable vacation experiences with their families and friends,” said Christian Hempell, vice president, Holiday Inn Club Vacations. “As our guests look for better vacation value in these tough economic times, we’re pleased that in just three months we’ve offered them six new resorts all conveniently located in high demand drive-to destinations.”

Orange Lake President and CEO, Don Harrill, said, “It’s an exciting time for our company, as we grow our timeshare brand to the destinations our Club members have asked for. The only way for us to continue to be among the best in the timeshare industry is to deliver on our promise to enhance the way our members vacation-and we’re pleased to say we’re still doing just that.”

With these two resort locations, Holiday Inn Club Vacations will welcome nearly 200 more employees to deliver the brand promise to guests and owners in Myrtle Beach and Gatlinburg.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations was announced in September 2008 as a strategic alliance between IHG, the world’s largest hotel company, and Orange Lake Resorts, a leader within the timeshare industry with more than 25 years of proven success. This alliance is unique in that it allows IHG to enter the timeshare industry, purely through an exclusive licensing and marketing agreement with no capital investment. Orange Lake will continue to own and operate these resorts as a privately held company.

Through IHG’s guest loyalty program, Priority Club® Rewards, guests renting villas will earn Priority Club points during their stays at Holiday Inn Club Vacations, which they can redeem for free nights at IHG properties or exchange for merchandise and special experiences. This resort will also welcome members of the newly formed Holiday Inn ClubTM exchange program, which allows members to exchange their weeks at any Holiday Inn Club Vacations resort for hotel nights at IHG’s more than 4,150 hotels worldwide. Holiday Inn Club members will also have access to Resort Condominium International’s (RCI) network of more than 4,100 resorts.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations will continue to seek opportunities to expand in top North American destination locations, adding more vacation experiences, features and benefits. Orange Lake also plans to build a flagship Holiday Inn Resort hotel adjacent to the Orlando resort and has the potential to develop up to 2,500 more timeshare villas at this location.