- Alex Palmer

Holiday Inn recently debuted a new hotel in New York City. Only this one is made entirely of plastic key cards. The 400 square-foot “Key Card Hotel," created from more than 200,000 room key cards, was built to promote the brand's relaunch of 1,200 hotels throughout the month of September.

The refurbishments are part of a $1 billion brand makeover that will update more than 3,300 of the company’s hotels across the globe by the end of 2010. The facelifts include redesigning the brand signage, updating bathrooms with new showerheads and curtains, and replacing the look of the rooms. It also involves replacing the arrival signage by adding new lighting and landscaping in an effort to give guests a warmer welcome.

To promote the changes, Holiday Inn has launched a national “Key to Change” online promotion, inviting guests to visit www.holidayinn.com/key to claim a virtual game card piece. Winners receive free nights at one of the newly relaunched Holiday Inns or Holiday Inn Express hotels. The grand prizewinner will receive an all-expense paid trip to any Holiday Inn in the world.

The Key Card Hotel will be open between Sept. 17-20 at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport. The builder, Bryan Berg, is a professional card stacker who currently holds records for the world's largest and tallest house of cards.

“The Key Card Hotel is a fun and interactive way to showcase the changes happening at our hotels,” said Kevin Kowalski, svp of global brand management for Holiday Inn Brands, in a statement. “Our success with this initiative reinforces our leadership position in the branded hotel category and further demonstrates our ongoing commitment to improving quality and consistency at our over 3,300 hotels around the world.”