Over the past few years, nearly every major U.S. brand has, with much fanfare, embarked on major updates and renovations of its properties.
Among the biggest and most ambitious overhauls were those of Starwood’s Sheraton and InterContinental Hotel Group’s Holiday Inn. Flying a bit under the radar, however, has been the renovation of Holiday Inn’s upscale sister brand, Crowne Plaza.
The brand’s flagship property in New York’s Times Square recently completed an $85 million overhaul. By the end of the year, 50% of the brand’s nearly 200 hotels in the Americas will be renovated at a cost of about $250 million.
Gina LaBarre, vice president of brand management for Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts in the Americas, said the updates were helping the brand benefit from the downturn in luxury travel.
"We are seeing a lot of trade-down," she said. "Here you get an upscale, luxury feel without the unnecessary amenities."
Since completing its renovation, the Times Square hotel has achieved double-digit index gains in revenue per available room every month in 2009, said Nan Molofsky, senior vice president of City Investment Fund, the ownership group for the hotel.
The Crowne Plaza brand was started in 1983 as an upscale version of Holiday Inn. In 1994 it dropped Holiday Inn from its name.
Until recently, all but a handful of the brand’s properties have been conversions. But over the past year, half of the properties entering the pipeline have been new-builds, including a new-build that Crowne Plaza considers to be its new prototype. That property, in Wauwatosa, Wis., opened in March.
The Wisconsin hotel features a two-story lobby, more than 7,000 square feet of meetings and function space, a restaurant and lounge, two executive floors, a swimming pool, a fitness center, a 24-hour business center, a sundries shop and laundry and valet service.
LaBarre called the suburban Milwaukee hotel a "brand-defining product."
"While conversions will always play a role in our development strategy, this prototype provides a design plan concept for owners to leverage when building new hotels in emerging markets or established urban markets," she said.