Holiday Inn Melbourne to be rebranded as Crowne Plaza Melbourne

InterContinental Hotels Group is set to open its first Crowne Plaza hotel in Melbourne with the re-branding of Holiday Inn Melbourne, scheduled for March 2006.

The 384-room hotel is already managed by InterContinental Hotels Group, which has refurbished the property over the last 18 months in a programme that has included the establishment of three floors of executive rooms, new soft furnishings in most rooms, introduction of broadband to all guest rooms and wireless access in public areas, and upgrading of the lobby, bar and banquet rooms.

“We have invested heavily in upgrading this hotel to Crowne Plaza standards, and are excited at the prospect that its re-branding will fill a gap in our regional network of Crowne Plaza hotels. It has always been our intention to re-establish this hotel as a Crowne Plaza, capitalising on its location in the CBD, right on the banks of the Yarra and adjacent to the Melbourne Convention Centre, to introduce our upscale business brand to Victoria,” said InterContinental Hotels Group Chief Operating Officer Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, Phil Lee.

Upon re-branding, Crowne Plaza Melbourne will offer Meeting Success, a suite of services and products catering to meeting planners such as a Two Hour Response promise, a dedicated Crowne Meetings Director, and a range of options to make the meeting environments more conducive and meals more stimulating.

“We have experienced first-hand the appeal of the Crowne Plaza brand, having acquired several in the portfolio we recently purchased from InterContinental Hotels Group. We were keen to see Holiday Inn Melbourne take on the brand, which we see as the best vehicle for providing the level of return that befits the asset,” said Nigel Greenaway of Eureka Funds Management Ltd, which manages a fund which recently acquired the hotel as part of a portfolio of nine properties managed by InterContinental Hotels Group in Australia and New Zealand.

The hotel is situated on the banks of the Yarra, next door to the World Trade and Exhibition centre and opposite the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and the Casino, and is walking distance to the central business district and Southbank. It will become the 12th Crowne Plaza in Australia, the 37th in the Asia Pacific and 232nd in the world.

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