Dive Brief:

• Crowne Plaza by IHG opened its recently renovated Crowne Plaza Manhattan Times Square in New York City on Sept. 2, according to a Wednesday news release from IHG Hotels & Resorts.
• The 22-story, 685-key hotel was developed by Qatar-based Al Rayyan Tourism Investment Company and is managed by New York-based Highgate. It previously operated as The Manhattan at Times Square and is now positioned as Crowne Plaza’s Americas flagship property, per the release. 
• Half of the Crowne Plaza brand’s global properties are now either new or recently renovated, per the release. Last year, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts’ parent company, projected that 70% of its Americas properties would undergo a transformation by the end of 2025.

Dive Insight:

Built in 1962 in anticipation of the 1964 New York World's Fair, the landmark property sits just north of New York City’s Times Square and close to the city’s Theater District and Central Park.

“Our new flagship hotel for Crowne Plaza represents a defining moment for the brand,” Ginger Taggart, vice president of brand management for global premium brands at IHG Hotels & Resorts, said in a statement. “Guided by our New Modern design philosophy, every aspect of the traveler experience has been thoughtfully developed to meet the needs of today’s blended traveler.”

The hotel will offer branded experiences including food-and-beverage-centered Weekly Social events as well as wellness-focused Daily Rituals. In addition, there will be a variety of meeting spaces such as The Studio, designed “for a more intimate setting,” per the release.

A new bar and restaurant, named Fifty-First Street Social after one of the hotel’s nearby cross streets, offers all-day dining and evening cocktails, while the hotel’s 24/7 Marketplace sells grab-and-go options.

“This transformation represents much more than a renovation; it reflects our long-term vision for the asset and our confidence in New York and the strong US hospitality market,” Tarek El Sayed, managing director and CEO of ARTIC, said in a statement.

In the first half of 2025, the lodging market in Manhattan was buoyed by a strong RevPAR increase of more than 7% year over year and an ADR gain of 5.7%, according to a PwC index. Luxury hotels in particular drove market performance and saw a RevPAR increase of more than 10% year over year for the half, or nearly double the growth of upper midscale through upper upscale properties, per the index.

Crowne Plaza counts more than 400 open hotels globally with a pipeline of nearly 150. The brand is expected to add more than 36,000 rooms in the coming years, growing its global footprint by more than 35%, per IHG