Crowne Plaza

Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts

Type	Upscale Hotels & Resorts
Industry	Hotel
Founded	1983
Founder	InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
Headquarters	Global
Number of locations	401[1]
Area served	Global
Parent	InterContinental Hotels Group
Website	Crown Plaza online

Crowne Plaza is a chain of full service, upscale hotels catering to business travelers and to the meetings and conventions market. It forms part of the InterContinental Hotels Group family of brands, which include InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, and operates in 52 countries with more than 400 hotels, usually located in city centers, resorts, coastal towns or near major airports.

History

Crowne Plaza in Kochi, India

A room at Crowne Plaza London Docklands

Originally branded as "Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza", the first United States Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Hotel was opened in Rockville, Maryland, in 1983. Within a couple of years the brand was spun off as an independent chain (still owned at the time by Holiday Inn). The first Crowne Plaza Resort opened in Madeira, Portugal in 1999.

Today, the brand represents 404 hotels globally in 52 countries with 112,317 rooms (as of March 2016) and an expanding 81 hotels in the pipeline.^[2] In 1990, the InterContinental Hotels Group purchased the Holiday Inn family; today its portfolio includes the luxury brand InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, the upscale boutique brand Hotel Indigo, the upscale extended stay brand Staybridge Suites, the midscale extended stay brand Candlewood Suites, the midscale, full service brand Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, EVEN Hotels, HUALUXE Hotels & Resorts, and the midscale limited service brand Holiday Inn Express.

Notable properties

• The Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport is the former terminal building of Liverpool Speke Airport, constructed in the 1930s and used until 1986. Its notable art deco features led to its listing as a heritage building, and subsequent conversion to a hotel.
• The Crowne Plaza Denver Airport Hotel has more meeting space on site than any other Crowne Plaza
• The Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers is the first hotel in Denmark to generate all of its power from renewable sources, including solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling pumps. Its stationary bicycles are connected to generators, which provide electricity to the hotel.
• Rapper Big Pun had a fatal heart attack on February 7, 2000 while staying at the Crowne Plaza in White Plains, New York.
• Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi Yas Island is opened in 2009 on Yas Island as part of the developer Aldar Properties's $40 billions master project to turn the man-made island into a multi-purpose leisure, shopping and entertainment destination.
• On 1 January 2011, the Crowne Plaza Bangkok Lumpini Park became the first Crowne Plaza in Thailand.
• Crowne Plaza Belgrade, renovated 2012–13, is the biggest Crowne Plaza hotel in Europe.
• Crowne Plaza Christchurch, New Zealand demolished after damage in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake
• Crowne Plaza Mutiara Kuala Lumpur was closed permanently on 2 January 2013.
• Crowne Plaza Adelaide was named Australia's Top Tourism Development in 2012.^[3]
• Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise has the only revolving restaurant in Queensland.^[4]
• Crowne Plaza Terrigal, on the NSW Central Coast, overlooking the beach on the esplanade^[5]
• Crowne Plaza Hong Kong Causeway Bay opened in 2009 and is the first Crowne Plaza in Hong Kong.^[6]

Sponsorship

Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts is the title sponsor of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial - a PGA Tour golf tournament held annually in Fort Worth, Texas. Starting in 2012, they are also officially sponsoring PGA Tour's 2010's Rookie of the Year, Rickie Fowler.^[7]

Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts have been the sponsor of the British FIA World Touring Car Championship driver Andy Priaulx, a multiple touring car champion, since 2006. They now continue to support him in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), a popular European touring car championship, as an official sponsor of BMW Motorsport along with the American LeMans Series (ALMS) where Californian Joey Hand represents the brand for both series.^[8]

Gallery

• 
  Crowne Plaza Bangkok Lumpini Park, Bangkok, Thailand.
• 
  Hamilton Crowne Plaza, Washington, D.C.
• 
  Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• 
  Shanghai, Jiading, People's Republic of China
• 
  Prague, Czech Republic
• 
  Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
• 
  Torreón, Mexico
• 
  İzmir, Turkey
• 
  Bratislava, Slovakia
• 
  Kansas City, Missouri, USA
• 
  New York City, New York, USA
• 
  Huizhou, PRC
• 
  Kochi, India
• 
  Crowne Plaza Belgrade, Serbia

References

1. Little Leaflet of IHG Half Year Results: 1 January to 30 June 2015
2. "InterContinental Hotels Group - About our brands - Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts". InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). 2013-03-29. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
3. "Crowne Plaza Adelaide Judged Australia's Top Tourism Development ·ETB Travel News Australia". australia.etbtravelnews.com. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
4. "Revolving Restaurant | Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise". Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
5. "CROWN PLAZA Terrigal".
6. http://www.businesstraveller.asia/asia-pacific/news/crowne-plaza-arrives-in-hongkong-via-causeway-bay
7. "Nomination of Rickie Fowler as Rookie of the Year 2010 on". Pgatour.com. 2010-12-05. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
8. "Official partnerships of Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts". Ichotelsgroup.com. Retrieved 2012-06-23.