IHG Is Spending $200 Million to Reinvent Crowne Plaza in the Americas
Skift Take
Meeting the needs of today's modern business traveler is something a lot of brands are attempting to do these days, some more successfully than others. While some of Crowne Plaza's ideas might not be overtly groundbreaking, this reinvestment in the brand is vital to its future success if it wants to compete against the other big brands vying for road warriors' loyalty.
Crowne Plaza wants to shed its image as just another business hotel, and transform that brand perception into something more meaningful and forward thinking.
In short, Crowne Plaza wants to be, as Eric Lent, VP of the Americas for Crowne Plaza said, "the brand that makes business travel work for the modern business traveler."
And to do that, parent company InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is investing $200 million into the brand over the next three years through marketing, owner incentives, and more support at the property level, specifically throughout the Americas, where Crowne Plaza has 171 properties spread out over 45,000 rooms.
There are echoes of Starwood's attempt to address Sheraton's status as a "tired brand" by investing $100 million in a marketing campaign that started last year and also looked to business travelers.
Last week, at a meeting for Crowne Plaza hotel property owners, IHG executives laid out their formal plans for the brand that wi
