MAY 9, 2008. Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, the world’s most recognized hotel brand, announces today the launch of its “M.B.A.” (Masters in Business Accommodations) marketing campaign.

The campaign, which features professional athletes Cal Ripken Jr. and Jeff Burton as guest lecturers, teaches business travelers the value of their Priority Club® Rewards points, while reinforcing the strengths of today’s Holiday Inn.

“As a leader in the hotel industry, Holiday Inn is known for providing business travelers everything they need for an enjoyable and productive business trip, including free high speed Internet, comfortable guest rooms, full-service meeting facilities and a robust loyalty program,” said John Merkin, senior vice president of Holiday Inn Brands in the Americas. “The new ‘M.B.A.’ campaign demonstrates how Holiday Inn continues to deliver on business travelers’ most crucial needs while engaging them in the personality of the brand and our latest promotional offerings.”

Developed by Fallon Minneapolis, the humorous and quirky broadcast advertisements star a seemingly hard-nosed professor played by character actor Philip Baker Hall, widely known for his role as a library cop on the classic “Seinfeld” episode “The Library.” Hall brings his signature deadpan delivery to the spots as the professor who schools his graduate students on how to successfully choose a business hotel. The students test the professor’s patience with antics that include text messaging during class, asking Burton why he doesn’t have a mullet, and getting a little too comfortable in the Holiday Inn guest room simulator.

Each TV spot features key business amenities that are available at all Holiday Inn hotels – like free high speed Internet – coupled with news of two Priority Club Rewards promotions that will run concurrently from May 12 through August 31. With the first promotion, guests can earn 2,000 bonus points – up to 20,000 – for every two nights stayed at Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotels. The second promotion enables guests who stay eight nights to earn a $40 credit on MLB.com that can be used to purchase official merchandise or tickets to a Major League Baseball game. The eight nights can be accumulated consecutively or non-consecutively at any combination of Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotels in the Americas, and there is no limit on the amount that can be earned.

The broadcast advertisements are scheduled to drop May 5 and will run through the end of September on networks like ESPN, Fox, CNN, Comedy Central, Fox News, MSNBC and Turner. Business travelers who want to enroll in the M.B.A program and promotions or watch the new TV ad spots can visit www.holidayinn.com/mba.