Hoping to attract more road warriors to its hotels, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts has unveiled a new guest room design created with contemporary business travelers in mind, it announced this week.
The product of a two-year design process, the new guest room challenges hospitality norms with unique features, such as:
• An angled bed instead of the traditional bed placement. The bed has a padded, curved headboard that, along with insulated wall panels on each side of the room, reduces noise levels and helps with better sleep. In comparison to a typical hotel room, consumer testing revealed a 30 percent improvement in noise reduction, Crowne Plaza said.
• A "nook" area that offers a multi-purpose and comfortable space to hold informal meetings, doubling as an area to socialize and relax away from the traditional workspace.
• A dedicated, multi-purpose workspace with accessible outlets and adjustable lighting; with a hair dryer in the drawer and a mirror above the desk, it doubles as a vanity.
"At the heart of Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts brand is a commitment to helping the modern business traveler meet the challenges and hectic pace of today's 24/7, 'always on,' environment," said Keith Barr, chief commercial officer at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Crowne Plaza's parent company. "Our innovative, intuitive guest room design creates a fantastic new space that will encourage them to be productive but also to rest and, crucially, to get a great night's sleep. The response from guests has been outstanding. They tell us they can rest more easily and can focus more on what they need to do to be successful. We want to help all our guests to have a successful life -- not just a successful stay."
The new guest room will launch in the Americas region in 2015 at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Midtown. There is "a clear opportunity" for a global rollout in the "near future," IHG said.
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