Crowne Plaza® Huzhou
Say ‘hello’ to even more hotels.
Last year, we opened some impressive hotels around the world.
Click on the images to find out more about these amazing hotels.
In the Americas
Crowne Plaza® North Augusta
Crowne Plaza® North Augusta, South Carolina, US, was our first new-build hotel to open in the Americas last year. The hotel is inspired by our design philosophy to re-define the upscale hotel. As a result, the hotel is able to meet the needs of how modern travelers want to work, meet and socialize in hotels.
The hotel is also doing its bit for the planet, using natural materials such as stone and wood in its design where possible. There is also an unheated saltwater pool, a 3,000-square-foot courtyard and fitness center.
In EMEAA
Crowne Plaza® Ufa – Congress Hotel
Crowne Plaza® Ufa – Congress Hotel is our latest opening in Russia. The property is already an established business hotel in the heart of one of the biggest cities in Russia. With 161 guest rooms, 3 restaurants, 12 meeting rooms, a fitness center and indoor swimming pool, the hotel is set to become a true success story for our brand in this important market.
Crowne Plaza® Residences Port Moresby
Crowne Plaza made its return to Port Moresby, the largest city in Papua New Guinea, with the opening of Crowne Plaza® Residences Port Moresby in summer 2019. Designed to provide a home away from home for business and leisure travelers to Papua New Guinea, the hotel features 54 elegantly-styled 2- and 3-bedroom units, as well as an all-day dining restaurant, bar, a gym and meeting facilities.
In Greater China
We also welcomed many new Crowne Plaza hotels in China in 2019, including:
Crowne Plaza® Beihai Silver Beach
Crowne Plaza® Deqing
Crowne Plaza® Huzhou
Crowne Plaza® Nanning City Centre
Crowne Plaza® Taizhou
Crowne Plaza® Wuxi Lake View
Crowne Plaza® Wuhan Development Zone
2019 was an exciting year for the Crowne Plaza brand with the openings of four of our six new flagship properties around the world. These beacons of the Crowne Plaza brand illustrate the global rollout of new hallmark design innovations and the brand’s latest standards across public spaces, guest rooms, F&B, service and more. They demonstrate the reinvention of our brand and prove our commitment to being the industry’s leading choice for business-class stays.
Our first flagship to open in 2019 was the Crowne Plaza® Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia in the Americas. Milestone openings and renovations in Paris and Hamburg followed, ushering in a new era for Crowne Plaza in Europe. By the end of the year, another additional flagship property opened in Greater China: Crowne Plaza® Wuzhen. In early 2020, we will open Crowne Plaza® Shenzhen WECC and later in the year we will re-open Crowne Plaza® London – Heathrow following a significant renovation.
These flagships bring our new modern design and holistic new guest experience to life, showcasing the brand’s fabulous, contemporary, upscale feel and enabling our guests to seamlessly transition from productivity to downtime and vice versa.
Crowne Plaza® Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia
Crowne Plaza® Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia re-opened in April 2019 following a complete transformation. Guests now enjoy its new modern design from the updated lobby and public spaces, to the new Plaza Workspace with two innovative Studios, and the largest ballroom in the area. Every guest room is a WorkLife Room with zones for rest, relaxation and productivity. Guests can dine at one of three dining options developed in collaboration with Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants including an outdoor beer garden that overlooks the lush foliage at Ravinia.
Crowne Plaza® Paris République
Crowne Plaza® Paris République marked the first unveiling of the new fresh and bold vision for the brand in Europe. The hotel is a showcase for our new public spaces offering modern flexible areas within the lobby while maintaining its unique nineteenth-century architectural features. In this space, guests and local residents can switch effortlessly between work time and downtime while also enjoying a variety of food and beverage options available all day. Hotel curatorial experts have also assembled art for the public spaces within the hotel with a variety of pieces inspired by key elements of Paris’ identity: fashion, romanticism and architecture.
Crowne Plaza® Hamburg – City Alster
Crowne Plaza® Hamburg – City Alster debuted a new, flexible lobby experience in October and is the first Crowne Plaza flagship in Europe to offer signature guestrooms with distinct spaces for work, relaxation and sleep. The rooms offer an improved sense of space and ergonomics with thoughtful design, as well as a better night’s sleep with improved acoustics and enhanced bedding.
Crowne Plaza® London – Heathrow
Crowne Plaza® London – Heathrow will be undergoing significant renovation and will re-open as a new flagship in 2020. The hotel will feature a beautiful new design with an upscale restaurant and ample flexible meeting spaces.
Crowne Plaza® Shenzhen WECC
Crowne Plaza® Shenzhen WECC is a design-forward hotel located near the Shenzhen Boa’an International Airport and next to Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Centre, the largest convention center in the world. This hotel is also the first Crowne Plaza in Greater China to apply the new modern design style to guest rooms and public spaces. The property features 1,400 square meters of meeting space with five meetings rooms, including a grand ballroom that seats up to 500 guests.
Crowne Plaza® Wuzhen
Crowne Plaza® Wuzhen offers 216 square meters of flexible event space in three meeting rooms and another 500 square meter banquet room that seats up to 260 guests. The new flagship hotel is conveniently located near Hangzhou International Airport and close to the famous water village of Wuzhen West Scenic Zone. It features a full-service restaurant, Cai Feng Lou, and Tong Café for all-day dining.
Just like our guests, we like to feel successful, which is why we love winning awards. 2019 was another award-winning year for the Crowne Plaza brand – and for many of our hotels, too. It’s no surprise with all the progress we’ve made with the brand and with so many fantastic hotels around the world!
Crowne Plaza’s position in the industry as a best-loved upscale hotel brand has been attested yet again. The brand won distinguished accolades such as Best Upscale Hotel Brand in the UK at the British Travel Awards and Brand of the Year Award at the World Branding Awards organized by the World Branding Forum.
World Branding Awards
Winner – Brand of the Year (Nov 2019)
British Travel Awards
Winner – Best Upscale Hotel Brand (Nov 2019)
Skytrax World’s Best Airport Hotel
Crowne Plaza® Changi Airport in Singapore has been voted World’s Best Airport Hotel for the fifth consecutive year in the prestigious World Airport Awards.
Our guests rely on our service to get the job done in their work time but also to make the most of their downtime. That’s why, at Crowne Plaza, we ‘Dare to Connect’. Our new service experience means we think and act differently; breaking down barriers between guests and colleagues. We offer a seamless transition from work to play through power-up moments that boost energy and productivity, and our power-down moments that allow guests to unwind, play and relax.
Launched!
In 2019, our new service program went live in all our hotels in the Americas. The success of the program in the region can be seen in the improved scores for Overall Guest Love, Service Guest Love, F&B Guest Love (in addition to the IGNITE F&B program) and Problem Handling.
We also completed the launch in the UK&I and Continental Europe with hotels in this region going through the learning journey and taking Leadership Readiness workshops to get their teams ready for the service culture change. Instructor-led, train-the-trainer sessions took place throughout Europe, designed to train leaders and service champions on everything that brings Dare to Connect to life. Guest Love Scores and overall service scores have seen a marked improvement since the launch, showing that our guests are seeing the impact.
We’ve developed a suite of tools for hotel leadership and frontline staff to help them launch and embed the new service program. Work is underway to translate these materials into our hotel-ready languages and to launch the new service in Continental Europe, the rest of EMEAA and Greater China in 2020!
At the Crowne Plaza Accelerate Ahead Conference in the Americas, the brand announced its next big innovation in meetings and events, called Gather & Thrive. This is a global groups and meetings program designed to elevate the meetings experience for planners and attendees in three key areas: Selling, Planning and Hosting Meetings.
Watch the video below to learn more about Gather & Thrive.
Beginning in 2016, the multi-year Crowne Plaza Accelerate program was launched to transform the brand in the Americas region (US, Canada, Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean). By partnering closely with owners and hotels, we made significant progress in elevating the Crowne Plaza brand and experience for guests.
We launched the next phase of the Crowne Plaza brand transformation – Accelerate Ahead – in the summer of 2019. Our goal to be the most loved business-class hotel globally is aligned with three areas of focus: Accelerating Revenue, Accelerating Guest Experience, and Accelerating Brand Value.
Learn more about the Accelerate Ahead program here.
Crowne Plaza® Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia
In November 2019, Crowne Plaza announced the launch of a global partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN). As the first exclusive hospitality partner for GEN, select properties around the world will be the new hubs of Startup Huddle monthly meetups, providing easier access to spaces for entrepreneurs to collaborate, problem-solve and inspire one another.
The Crowne Plaza brand’s Plaza Workspace lobby design provides the perfect environment for entrepreneurs to meet face to face. With this partnership, more than 15,000 GEN members across 170 countries will have discounted or complimentary access to the flexible workspaces, the breakout areas and The Studio at select Crowne Plaza hotels.
Click here to view the global press release.
Our global sponsorship of Startup Huddle kicked off on Nov.19, 2019, during Global Entrepreneurship Week with an event at Crowne Plaza® Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia. Jonathan Ortmans, founder and president of GEN, and Meredith Latham, VP of Crowne Plaza, Americas, hosted the event, which took a close look at the startup scene in Atlanta, Georgia, and how great design fuels creativity and collaboration.
Crowne Plaza in the news
In 2019, our PR efforts really paid off. In particular, the work we have been doing with The School of Life captured the media’s attention.
In addition, the news of Crowne Plaza’s six global flagship properties across AMER, EMEAA and Greater China received significant press coverage, including the New York Times, Forbes and many other outlets around the world. The PR team secured 230+ media placements for a total of more than 716M impressions in the US, UK, Australia, France, China, Dubai, Germany and Singapore.
Click below to read the full articles:
Crowne Plaza® Changi Airport Award press Coverage:
- Read the full coverage report
Dare to Connect and Partnership with the School of Life:
- Stylist and school of life partnerships 1 - Read full article
- Stylist and school of life partnerships 2 - Read full article
- Stylist and school of life partnerships 3 - Read full article
Crowne Plaza Flagship announcement press coverage:
US- New York Times story - Showing Off With The Hotel Flagship
- Forbes - The Best Amenities At This New Hotel Are Invisible
- Hotel Management – Crowne Plaza rolls out flagship hotels around the world
- Business Traveller - Crowne Plaza to add lobby work spaces to new flagship hotels
- CEO Magazine - Crowne Plaza heralding a new era of luxury
- Hospitality-on - Crowne Plaza to open several new properties by the end of 2022
- Sohu.com - Crowne Plaza Accelerates the Globalization Process of “Modern Business Travel”
- Toutiao - Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts unveils new global flagship properties
- Tendance Hotellerie - Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts Reveals Bold New Design
- Business Press - Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts Introduces New Global Flagships
- E-Global Travel Media - Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts Unveils New Global Flagship Properties
Commercial Performance
- Sign up for IHG’s Revenue Management for Hire (RMH) to elevate your hotel’s commercial performance.
- Focus on your hotel-specific targets and contact your FPS or Operations lead for support.
Design
- Continue to embed New Modern design into your hotel. Contact your Crowne Plaza brand lead (EMEAA and Greater China) or FPS (AMER) lead for more information on latest designs.
- Plaza Workspace/Flexible Workspace & WorkLife Guest Room – let us know if you’re interested in learning more.
Great Experience
- Continue to embed Dare to Connect service in your hotel.
Jane Mackie
SVP, Global Luxury & Upscale Brands
Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia
Jane Mackie, currently SVP, Global Marketing - Luxury Brands, will take on an expanded role as SVP, Global Marketing - Luxury & Upscale Brands, and lead the Crowne Plaza brand globally.
Jane joined IHG last year with more than 30 years of industry experience, including time spent at Starwood working on-property at Sheraton and subsequently focused on operations and marketing for their upscale and luxury brands. Since coming on board, Jane and her team have relaunched the Regent brand; lead the rapid international growth of Kimpton; served as an important partner in the integration of Six Senses and supported the opening of new flagship hotels for our iconic InterContinental brand.
Please join us in congratulating Jane on her expanded role!
Jane Mackie
SVP, Global Luxury & Upscale Brands
Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia