20 September 2012

IHG Signs Deal to Open First Crowne Plaza Resort in the UAE


Dubai, UAE - IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms, today announced it has signed an agreement with Kuwaiti-owned Almadina Real Estate Development to open a 442-room Crowne Plaza Resort in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. The hotel is currently under development on the manmade Marjan Island, giving it the ideal seafront resort location for attracting leisure and business tourism.

Scheduled to open in 2015, Crowne Plaza Resort Ras Al Khaimah will span more than 18,000 square metres and feature nine food and beverage outlets. These include an all-day dining restaurant with show kitchen, an alfresco dining terrace, a cigar lounge, two coffee shops, a pool bar, and traditional bar and nightclub. Corporate guests from the region are well catered for with an expert Crowne Plaza events team and six state-of-the-art meeting rooms. The hotel’s state-of-the-art leisure and fitness facilities will include a spa, fitness centre and beauty salon, as well as nursery and indoor souk. 

The resort will be located on the Marjan Island development, which sprawls across 2.7 million square metres of reclaimed land.  Close to Ras Al Khaimah International Airport and only an hour’s drive from Dubai the resort is expected to attract both international tourists and local UAE residents.

Pascal Gauvin, IHG’s Chief Operating Officer, for India, Middle East and Africa, said: “The Marjan Island development is set to become an exciting destination, and it is the perfect setting for our first Crowne Plaza Resort in the UAE. Offering an idyllic beachfront setting, a fantastic selection of F&B options, and all the services and facilities you normally associate with Crowne Plaza, we expect the resort to set a new benchmark for the brand.”

Abdulmutaleb Khraibut, Member of the Board, Al Madina Real Estate Development, said: “Ras Al Khaimah is evolving as a unique tourist destination and we have secured one of the best locations in the Emirate for our development. Combining this with IHG’s management experience and the Crowne Plaza brand, we are confident that the resort will quickly gain popularity as a destination in itself.”  

“We are delighted to increase our portfolio of international hotel brands by introducing the prestigious brand of Crowne Plaza to Ras Al Khaimah, marking the entry of the first IHG property to the Emirate,” commented Victor Louis, Chief Operating Officer, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority.

The resort will become the second IHG managed hotel in Ras Al Khamiah when it opens, with an InterContinental due to open in 2014.  There are 64 Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts in more than 60 countries around the world, including 5 in the UAE.  An additional 18 Crowne Plaza hotels are in the global development pipeline.

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Click here for the Arabic version.


For further information please contact:

Emma Corcoran
Communications Director, India, Middle East and Africa
IHG
Office: + 971 (0) 4 213 6069  
Email: [email protected]   

 

Four Communications
Office: +971(0) 2 447 2774
Email: [email protected]

 

Notes to Editors:

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with nine hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites®, as well as our two newest brands, EVEN™ Hotels and HUALUXE™ Hotels & Resorts. IHG also manages Priority Club® Rewards, the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programme with over 67 million members worldwide.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,500 hotels and more than 666,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories. With more than 1,000 hotels in its development pipeline, IHG expects to recruit around 90,000 people into additional roles across its estate 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.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.priorityclub.com for more on Priority Club Rewards. For our latest news, visit www.ihg.com/media, www.twitter.com/ihgplc, www.facebook.com/ihg or www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

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