15 hotel chains from the ’60s and ’70s you’ve probably forgotten

America’s roadside travel boom peaked in the 1960s and 1970s, when the interstate system, family car trips, and franchised lodging changed where people slept on the road. That era produced a long list of hotel and motel brands that were once common from California to Florida. Many were absorbed, renamed, or shut down by the 1980s and 1990s, leaving behind familiar signs that a lot of travelers have not seen in years.

Holiday Inns

Holiday Inn is still active today, but its 1960s and 1970s identity was a specific roadside product that looked very different from the modern chain. By 1968, the company had opened its 1,000th hotel, according to company history, making those green signs one of the most recognizable parts of interstate travel.

In that period, a Holiday Inn usually meant a low-rise motor hotel with exterior corridors, a restaurant, and a lounge attached to the property. The original “Great Sign” became so famous that many older travelers still connect it with family road trips, even though Holiday Inn began phasing that sign style out in the 1980s.

Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodges

Howard Johnson’s was one of the most visible names in mid-century travel, and its motor lodges expanded alongside the company’s restaurants. By the early 1970s, Howard Johnson’s had more than 500 motor lodges and hotels, according to company figures widely cited in business histories.

The orange roofs and turquoise accents made the chain easy to spot near highway exits in states like New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Marriott later acquired the Howard Johnson hotel brand in 1985, and many properties were eventually converted, closed, or sold, which is why the once-ubiquitous roadside identity largely disappeared.

Ramada Inns

Ramada Inns grew quickly during the motel expansion years and became a familiar stop for motorists who wanted something a step above an independent roadside motel. Founded in 1954 in Flagstaff, Arizona, Ramada had hundreds of properties by the 1970s, according to company historical records.

In many markets, Ramada stood out because it targeted both leisure travelers and business guests with restaurants, meeting rooms, and larger footprints. The brand still exists in altered form through Wyndham, but the classic Ramada Inn presentation from the 1960s and 1970s has mostly vanished from the highway landscape.

Quality Courts

Quality Courts was one of the earliest big lodging referral groups in the United States, and for decades it helped independent motel owners market under a shared standard. Founded in 1939, it had grown into a national network well before the 1960s, according to Choice Hotels brand history.

Travelers in the 1960s and 1970s often saw Quality Courts signs in Southern and Midwestern states where standardized roadside lodging was still taking shape. The brand was later transformed into what became Quality Inn, and that change erased much of the original Quality Courts name from public view by the late 1970s.

Statler Hilton

Statler Hilton carried one of the biggest names in traditional American hotels, especially in downtown business districts rather than highway strips. Hilton bought Statler Hotels in 1954 for $111 million, which at the time was described as one of the largest real estate deals in hospitality history.

For travelers in the 1960s, the Statler Hilton name still signaled a major city property in places like New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles. Over time, Hilton dropped the Statler name from most properties, and the brand identity that had once been attached to grand urban hotels faded from mainstream recognition.

Sheraton Motor Inns

Sheraton is still around, but Sheraton Motor Inns were a specific expansion strategy tied to car travel and suburban growth in the 1960s and 1970s. ITT purchased Sheraton in 1968, and the chain continued building out a mix of downtown hotels and roadside-oriented motor inns during that period.

These properties often blended full-service hotel features with easy parking and highway access, a format that fit changing travel habits after the interstate system expanded. Because later Sheraton branding moved toward conventional hotels and upscale positioning, the old motor inn label became far less visible by the 1980s.

TraveLodge

TraveLodge, now usually written as Travelodge, had a distinctly mid-century identity when it expanded across the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. Founded in California in 1939, the chain became known for budget-friendly roadside lodging and eye-catching signage as family car travel surged after World War II.

In states like California, Arizona, and Texas, TraveLodge properties were built for motorists who wanted predictable rates and simple room layouts. The brand survives today in reduced and updated form, but many of its classic low-slung motor lodge buildings were either demolished or converted into other budget brands.

Rodeway Inns

Rodeway Inns was created to serve the value end of the market at a time when national chains were sorting themselves by price point. Choice Hotels traces the brand to 1968, when the company introduced it as an economy option for travelers who wanted basic accommodations at lower rates.

That positioning mattered in the inflation-heavy 1970s, when gas prices and travel costs pushed families to watch spending more carefully. Rodeway still exists, but many of its older locations lost the distinctive feel of late-1960s roadside inns, and the name no longer carries the same broad recognition it once did.

Vacation Inn

Vacation Inn was a short-lived but memorable lodging brand connected to the same era that produced dozens of copycat roadside names. The chain was founded in the 1960s and became known partly because Holiday Inn sued over the similarity of the name, a dispute covered in period legal and business reports.

That lawsuit helped make Vacation Inn more visible at the time, but it did not create lasting national staying power. Unlike Holiday Inn, Ramada, or Howard Johnson’s, Vacation Inn never achieved a durable coast-to-coast footprint, and the brand name slipped out of common travel memory within a few decades.

Imperial 400 Motels

Imperial 400 Motels operated one of the more unusual branded systems of the era, using a Roman chariot logo and a name tied to racing imagery. The chain began in California in 1963, according to archived company and trade records, and expanded through franchising in the following years.

The “400” referred to speed and movement, which fit neatly into the car-centered culture of the 1960s. Imperial 400 appeared in several Western states, but it never reached the national scale of Holiday Inn or Ramada, and many surviving properties were later renamed, repurposed, or torn down.

Downtowner Motor Inns

Downtowner Motor Inns took a different approach from highway-first motel brands by focusing on central-city locations where drivers still wanted easy parking. Founded in 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee, the chain grew quickly during the decade and at one point operated in dozens of cities, according to hospitality histories.

Its model worked in places where travelers wanted to stay near downtown offices, restaurants, and civic centers without paying top-tier hotel prices. As urban real estate costs rose and the lodging market changed in the 1970s and 1980s, many Downtowner locations were sold, closed, or absorbed into other brands.

Thunderbird Motor Inns

Thunderbird Motor Inns used one of the most recognizable Southwestern-themed names in roadside lodging during the 1960s. The “Thunderbird” label appeared on multiple hospitality businesses in that era, but as a chain identity it was most associated with motor inns designed to catch the eye of passing drivers.

Properties using the Thunderbird name were especially visible in Western states, where neon signs and car-centric architecture were common along major travel routes. The problem was scale and consistency: unlike larger franchisors, Thunderbird never maintained a dominant national network, and the name gradually faded from mainstream travel culture.

Cross Country Motor Hotel

Cross Country Motor Hotel was built around a straightforward promise in the age of long-distance highway driving. The brand appeared during the interstate travel boom, when names that stressed reliability and coast-to-coast mobility had clear marketing value for families covering hundreds of miles in a single day.

Unlike better-documented giants such as Holiday Inn or Howard Johnson’s, Cross Country left behind a lighter public record and fewer surviving locations. What is clear from vintage advertisements and motel directories is that it belonged to the same competitive field of standardized roadside lodging that peaked in the 1960s and 1970s.

Econo-Travel Motor Hotel

Econo-Travel Motor Hotel is another name that fit the era’s blunt, practical motel branding. The wording itself signaled two things travelers cared about in the 1970s: price and access by car. Brands with “motor hotel” in the name were common because they directly described the product being sold.

In many cases, chains like this were regional rather than fully national, which helps explain why they vanished faster than bigger franchised competitors. Without the scale, reservation systems, or marketing budgets of larger companies, many economy roadside brands were sold off, renamed, or folded into local independent motels.

Jack Tar Hotels

Jack Tar Hotels once had a real national profile, especially in urban and resort markets during the mid-20th century. The company’s properties operated in places such as San Francisco and Durham, and the brand was visible enough in the 1960s to be recognized by business travelers and vacationers alike.

Its decline followed a pattern seen across the industry: ownership changes, aging buildings, and stronger competition from newer national brands. By the late 20th century, most Jack Tar properties had either been redeveloped or renamed, leaving the chain as a footnote from an earlier phase of American hotel expansion.