Crowne Plaza

Crowne Plaza offered multiple dining options for guests, but none that were convenient for guests who wanted to snack during a business gathering or relax over a quick bite. We stepped in to create a system that made ordering food and drinks simple — and made the workspace even more workable.

Challenge

Make the hotel lobby a more viable workspace for individuals and group gatherings, both social and business — and keep guests onsite through on-trend and local fare, delivered in a non-intrusive manner.

Our Solution

As part of Crowne Plaza’s “Plaza Workspace” concept, we redesigned the menu to offer more shareable finger food and engineered an ordering system that makes food and drink more immediately accessible. It made the space more conducive to unwinding, preparing for meetings, or enjoying time with colleagues over great food and beverage, ordered through a simple tablet system and delivered straight to the workspace.

Here’s how we did it:

• Conducted hospitality/culinary/hotel and lifestyle trend research 
• Created culinary ideas, including tastings and presentations 
• Produced menu descriptions and photo shoots 
• Created merchandising and digital ordering system 
• Developed and implemented pilot operational and training standards

Results

The 2016 operational pilot test proved successful; the hotel commercialized it and introduced at the national convention. The Intercontinental Hotel Group has since rolled out the program to 25 Crowne Plaza hotels and is planning to continue nationally.

In 2018, Crowne Plaza won the MAX Grand Award of Excellence for Innovation, the top prize at an event designed to recognize the creative marketing genius in Georgia (IHG’s U.S. headquarters is located in Atlanta).