The hotel brand, which currently averages 40% in revenues from small and mid-sized business meetings, developed key meeting service offerings based on research and interviews with meeting planners across the country.  The new service offerings were tested this fall in five Crowne Plaza hotels, where they were received with overwhelming support by both hotel employees and outside meeting planners. 

"Meeting planners told us that no national hotel brand is effectively catering to the needs of the small to mid-sized meeting segment - these meetings get lost in big hotels." said Kevin Kowalski, vice president of marketing, Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, The Americas.  "Crowne Plaza, however, is the ideal option - we have the commitment and have put in the resources to ensure that our meeting services product is better than any other brand."

The meetings package, consisting of three key components, will be available at more than 100 Crowne Plaza hotels in North America by March 2003, and available at all Crowne Plaza hotels worldwide by early 2004.

The Crowne Plaza meeting experience includes:

• 2-Hour Response Guarantee - an industry-first 2-hour response by Crowne Plaza hotels to Request for Proposals (RFPs)
• Crowne Meetings Director - a single point of contact throughout the meeting experience, who is a senior-level hotel staff member and a Certified Meeting Professional designation, to ensure the success of an event
• Meetings Daily Debrief - a daily briefing document with updated totals on expenses including contracted billing, budget consumed to date and estimated final billings

"The combination of the new service offerings and meeting programs represent a completely unique and powerful positioning for Crowne Plaza in the meetings segment," said Kowalski.  "As we continue to identify new ideas and innovations, we look forward to introducing additional services and programs that contribute to Crowne Plaza's position as 'THE PLACE TO MEET.'" 

With more than 190 hotels and 55,000 guest rooms in 49 countries, Crowne
Plaza hotels are located in major urban centers, gateway cities and resort
destinations worldwide. 

Six Continents is a leading global hospitality group with over 3,300 hotels across nearly 100 countries and territories and over 2,000 restaurants and bars in the UK and Germany.