IHG and Adyar Gate Hotels have signsed agreement to bring in the first Crowne Plaza hotel into Chennai.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed an agreement with Adyar Gate Hotels to bring in the first Crowne Plaza hotel into Chennai. The 286-room Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park will be the second IHG brand in Chennai, the first being the Holiday Inn Express Chennai Mahindra World City. There are currently eight Crowne Plaza hotels and resorts across India, and five additional hotels are due to open in the next three to five years. IHG has 21 hotels (4,100 rooms) in 13 cities in India across four brands. The company has 47 hotels in its development pipeline, including Holiday Inn Express Chennai OMR and Holiday Inn Chennai OMR Tidel Park which will open in Chennai within the next three to five years.

Speaking on the new development, Shantha de Silva, head, South West Asia, IHG said, “Chennai is already one of the largest industrial and commercial centres in South India, and as it grows in prominence as one of the country’s key cultural, economic and educational hubs, there is great potential for growth in tourism and hospitality. It is with great pleasure that we are working together with Adyar Gate Hotels to launch our Crowne Plaza brand here to cater to the increasing number of business and leisure travellers.”

Manish Goyal, joint managing director, Adyar Gate Hotels said, “IHG has a strong reputation as a hotel operator and we are pleased to be working with them to open Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park in Chennai. The hotel has great potential to increase its share of business through a new and improved corporate and leisure focus and we’re confident we found the right partner to deliver these great guest experiences.”

Located in the city’s central business district and taking the site of the existing Sheraton Park Chennai, the hotel bears additional significance for IHG as it was originally the site of the company’s first Holiday Inn to open in India in the 1970s.