20 January 2010

ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe Celebrates New Name with New Guest Experience

Kobe's landmark hotel to provide enhanced services as the 10th ANA Crowne Plaza property in Japan

Tokyo, Japan, 20 January 2010 - ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe officially launches today following a successful rebranding exercise. Widely regarded as one of Kobe's key landmarks, the 593-room, 37-storey hotel is now the tenth ANA Crowne Plaza hotel in Japan, and the second in the Kansai area.

The rebranding marks the beginning of the hotel's rebirth as a dynamic hotel brand that combines the best of Japanese hospitality with global management expertise. With a prime location already in its favour, the introduction of a new guest experience will put ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe comfortably in the international upscale hotel category.

As part of the ANA-Crowne Plaza co-brand, the hotel's guest experience has been overhauled to match the international standards of all Crowne Plaza hotels worldwide - with local touches for its domestic guests. ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe now offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to help guests enjoy a ‘brighter day tomorrow'.

Deluxe Twin Room on Club Floor

Deluxe Twin Room on Club Floor

These services include:

  • ANA Crowne Plaza Weddings is a unique new wedding service offered exclusively at all ANA Crowne Plaza hotels nationwide. The service concept was updated across all ANA Crowne Plaza hotels in 2008. The design concept was revamped, and the marketing tools along with the new services have been updated and made more consistent.
  • Sleep Advantage was developed specifically to meet the unique needs and expectations of Japanese travellers, many of whom are sleep-deprived. This and other services have been introduced based on consumer insights gleaned from extensive research.
  • Crowne Event Director (CED) has been introduced at all ANA Crowne Plaza hotels as well as former Crowne Plaza Kobe. The CED is a single point of contact for all initial enquiries about events, such as banqueting, weddings and corporate meetings. ANA Crowne Plaza hotels also have a suite of meeting products and packages to make things easier for event organisers.
  • ANA Crowne Plaza Guest Experience Manager is a dedicated position introduced at all ANA Crowne Plaza hotels in Japan, to place a sharper emphasis on the continued improvement in guest services, and in this way enhance the experience of guests by focusing more closely on their particular needs during a visit or stay at the hotel.
Club Lounge

Club Lounge

ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe will integrate these services with the facilities unique to the hotel. This includes an ideal location, with the hotel's direct connection to the Shinkansen train station, Shin Kobe, and banqueting space that holds up to 2,500 guests in a cocktail-style setting. Additionally, wedding planners can make full use of the hotel's own wedding chapel and the Shinto shrine, as well as a roof garden on the 10th floor.

ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe will integrate these services with the facilities unique to the hotel. This includes an ideal location, with the hotel's direct connection to the Shinkansen train station, Shin Kobe, and banqueting space that holds up to 2,500 guests in a cocktail-style setting. Additionally, wedding planners can make full use of the hotel's own wedding chapel and the Shinto shrine, as well as a roof garden on the 10th floor.

The hotel is also among the select few in Kobe that offers executive floors - 76 Club Floor rooms over four floors together with a Club Lounge on the highest level. As the tallest hotel in the city, guests can enjoy spectacular views of Kobe overlooking Kobe port - famous for its stunning night view.

Remarks General Manager of ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe, George Koumendakos, "The awareness of the ANA-Crowne Plaza brand has been steadily growing. This unique co-brand brings together the best of ANA's local knowledge and Crowne Plaza's international distribution systems and resources. We have seen improvements in guest satisfaction scores across the board for all the rebranded ANA Crowne Plaza properties so far, and I'm confident that ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe will follow the same trend."

Angsana Spa in ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe – first to open in Japan

Angsana Spa in ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe - first to open in Japan

IHG currently has 360 Crowne Plaza hotels worldwide and with 128 more in the pipeline, Crowne Plaza is one of the fastest-growing upscale hotel brands in Australasia and China. ANA Crowne Plaza is the co-brand unique to the Japanese market, as part of the joint venture set up between IHG and ANA in 2006.

Media contacts:

IHG
Jean Tan
Tel: +65 6395 6109    
[email protected] 


IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan
Takako Ushio
Tel: +81 3 3505 9626
[email protected]

Notes to Editors:

About ANA Crowne Plaza

ANA Crowne Plaza is one of the co-brands under IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan and part of IHG's global network of Crowne Plaza hotels. Since ANA Crowne Plaza's debut in Japan in 2007, now there are in a total of 10 ANA Crowne Plaza hotels and over 3,500 rooms in major cities in Japan (Chitose, Niigata, Toyama, Kanazawa, Narita, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Naha) In January 2010, ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe has been added to the ANA Crowne Plaza portfolio. In preparation for the introduction of ANA Crowne Plaza, nearly 2,000 Japanese consumers were interviewed to better understand their business and leisure travel needs. IHG ANA Hotels Group incorporated insights into the co-branding efforts in order to ensure that all products and services are uniquely tailored to the needs of Japanese as well as international guests. This applies to all areas of the hotel experience, including the meetings, incentives conferences and event (MICE) offerings, a growing segment in Japan. ANA Crowne Plaza also offers extensive expertise in organizing important social events such as weddings and receptions. The hotels will also be the first in Asia Pacific to offer Sleep Advantage, a comprehensive program designed to help ensure a good night's sleep for guests.

Sleep Advantage was specially developed for Japan based on in-depth customer surveys and under the supervision of a prominent Japanese sleep consultant.

About IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan LLC

IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan is the largest international hotel operator in Japan, with a combined estate of 39 hotels and about 11,000 rooms across Japan.  The company was formed on 1 December 2006 as the hotel operating joint venture of IHG, the world's largest hotel groups by number of rooms, and ANA, Japan's leading airline. . IHG ANA has a strong and growing global network of international brand hotels in Japan to provide our guests a truly unforgettable lodging experience. Tapping into our international network of hotels, travellers from Japan are also assured of quality facilities and service for their international business and leisure travel. IHGANA offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at www.anaihghotels.co.jp

About IHG 

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, nearly 4,400 hotels and over 640,000 guest rooms in 100 countries and territories around the world.  The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites® and also manages the world’s largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club® Rewards with 47 million members worldwide.

IHG has 1,500 hotels in its development pipeline, which will create 140,000 jobs worldwide over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards programme at www.priorityclub.com. For the latest news from IHG, visit our online Press Office at www.ihg.com/media

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