Hotel operator Holiday Inn has unveiled a new 400sq ft (37.2sq m) hotel built entirely out of plastic key cards in New York City, US, to help mark the relaunch of 1,200 properties worldwide.

The company, which is owned by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), has embarked on a major US$1bn (£612.2m, €680.5m) refurbishment scheme to overhaul and improve more than 3,300 hotels across the world. Bryan Berg, the world record holder for card-stacking, was responsible for the four-month construction of the Holiday Inn "Key Card Hotel". The hotel boasts a guest bedroom, a bathroom and a lobby which have been fully furnished using more than 200,000 key cards.

The Key Card Hotel is the only property of its kind in the world and will also help launch Holiday Inn's new Key to Change promotion, which will offer guests the opportunity to win an all-expenses paid trip to a relaunched hotel anywhere in the world. Kevin Kowalski, senior vice president of global brand management at Holiday Inn Brands, said: "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 more than 3,300 hotels around the world.

"The Key Card Hotel is a fun and interactive way to showcase the changes happening at our hotels and is the only structure of its kind to ever be created by a hotel brand." Berg added: "This is my largest cardstacking challenge to date and the only card creation I have ever made at full human scale, which is fitting since Holiday Inn is one of the largest and most successful brands in the hotel industry."

The company's refurbishment scheme at Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express is expected to be fully completed by the end of 2010.