HOTELS sat down with Janis Cannon, global brand portfolio leader for Crowne Plaza, last week during the 2012 IHG Americas Investors & Leadership Conference to discuss lessons learned during the first phase of the refresh as well as what is next for the brand in both the short and long term.

　　After a year working on the first, “Freshen up” phase of its repositioning, IHG’s Crowne Plaza brand is embarking on the second leg of the journey. Dubbed “Move up,” the next stage of the process includes testing of new initiatives such as mobile check-in, more consistent breakfast offerings and free Wi-Fi in guestrooms.

　　HOTELS sat down with Janis Cannon, global brand portfolio leader for Crowne Plaza, last week during the 2012 IHG Americas Investors & Leadership Conference to discuss lessons learned during the first phase of the refresh as well as what is next for the brand in both the short and long term.

Janis Cannon

　　HOTELS: What would you highlight about the first year of the brand refresh — what has been accomplished and some of the lessons you have learned?

　　Janis Cannon: We’re super excited about the progress that’s been made because it’s only been one year since we actually launched the repositioning. The fact that we’ve been able to remove hotels — the 16 hotels that were non-performing or brand-dilutive hotels — the fact that we’ve been able to identify hotels that either need to move up or move out, we’ve gone through that process.

　　On enhancing the guest experience — so that we really begin to differentiate Crowne Plaza and our guests really understand what we stand for and what our brand proposition is — we’ve made great headway with that in launching the One Step Ahead service training program, which has been taken on by the hotels, and we’re seeing the positive impact of that with the overall satisfaction scores of our guests.

　　The new brand identity is sending visual cues to people that there’s a change that’s underway, that Crowne Plaza is redefining itself, that it’s becoming much more modern, much more relevant.

　　It is a journey. It’s a multi-year journey.

　　HOTELS: What about the first year of this process has been surprising?

　　Cannon: The importance of communications — clear communications, aligned communications and frequent communications — has been one of the big learnings. You can’t over-communicate.

　　The other thing we learned is that it’s very important for owners to hear from other owners in terms of the impact it’s had on their business. There’s something very special and very compelling when they can share a common understanding of the impact on their operations, how it impacts their financial returns, their top-line revenues, that kind of thing. We’ve got [one of our owners] who’s writing a Crowne Plaza blog so that owners can talk about things that are going on.

　　HOTELS: IHG has acknowledged the gap between the Crowne Plaza brand in the Americas and around the world. Has there been any thought of learning lessons from properties internationally as you go through the repositioning in the Americas?

　　Cannon: There are a lot of learnings in the sense that in China, which is a relatively new market, but we’ve already got 52 hotels in the market, most of those hotels were purpose-built as Crowne Plazas. In the U.S., we had a lot of hotels that were Holiday Inns that then converted. What we’ve learned is [conversion] absolutely can be successful, but the right capital has to go into it so it’s not just a little bit of window dressing. Conversions have to be done in the right way. It has to be the right hotels in the right markets. We have to have the right hotel programming around it — the right mix of facilities and amenities that support what the guest experience is all about within Crowne Plaza.

　　The other thing is that in both the EMEA region as well as China, those are primarily managed estates, whereas Europe and the Americas are primarily franchised estates. We’ve had some learnings about that as well. That’s why having the owner engagement and frequent, ongoing communication and partnership with the owners is really critical, especially in the franchised environment. In the managed estate, you can make a decision and it’s easier in terms of implementation. The opportunity is broader when it’s franchised. We have to have our owners be advocates and evangelists.

　　HOTELS: Of everything Crowne Plaza is doing in the next stage of its refresh, what excites you the most, or what do you believe presents the greatest opportunity?

　　Cannon: The lobby host or the executive go-to, we really envision that over the longer term almost becoming like the Apple Genius at the Apple store. It’s not just somebody who’s doing the greeting, directing people to the front desk or that kind of thing. It really is a whole new thing. When you think about how our lobbies function today, they’ve been functioning the same way for generations — with a front desk and a concierge and a doorman and a bellman and guest relations. What we envision is you almost have your own Crowne Plaza Cathy or Crowne Plaza Carl, so when you come in, you establish a relationship where you almost have a business assistant who is there for you whatever your needs are during that stay. So you’re not having to go to multiple places, and I think that’s going to be really revolutionary.

　　HOTELS: How important is Crowne Plaza to IHG in a broader sense? How critical is this brand repositioning to the entire company?

　　Cannon: Our top two priorities in the company right now are the Holiday Inn brand familyand Crowne Plaza. Crowne Plaza is the opportunity space. We have the striver customer, and we know the size of the market, the scaleability of the market, and we know that customer is out there today and they don’t have a hotel brand that is providing what they’re looking for. It’s a huge growth opportunity — that’s why IHG is investing in Crowne Plaza.

　　HOTELS: When you look longer term, what are your hopes for Crowne Plaza?

　　Cannon: Our goal, and we will achieve it, is we want to be the number one brand for strivers, and we want to have market-leading RGI.

　　HOTELS: Do you have a timeline for achieving that?

　　Cannon: It will happen differently in different parts of the world. We’re all on a road, and we’re all headed to the same destination, but people are getting on in different places. China is getting on closer to the destination, and Europe may be closer to where China is and the Americas’ journey is going to be a little bit longer.