By V. Sivaji
Butterworth or “Bagan” in the bygone days is fast attracting the giant international brands in the hospitality industry.
This is following the opening of the Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City recently (August 1, 2024) on mainland Penang.
The hotel is bought by IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s leading hotel management companies.
The Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City is the first Crowne Plaza Hotel brand to open on the mainland.
The hotel is led by hospitality industry veteran, general manager Rizwan Izham Zain who hails from Kuala Lumpur. His last posting was at the Holiday Inn Malacca.
“We hope to attract leisure holiday makers as well as corporate clients to our hotel. We also have a fine ballroom along with ample meeting rooms to cater for the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) sector too” he said.
General manager of Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City – Rizwan Izham Zain
The 23-storey hotel offers some 343-rooms in various categories to cater for the individual travellers, holiday makers and business travellers.
Among them are the Standard King Sea View, Standard King City View, Standard Twin Sea View, Standard Twin City View, Club Room King Sea View, Club Room King City View, Club Room Twin Sea View, Club Room Twin City View, One Bedroom Suite and the Two Bedroom Suite.
Other facilities at the premier hotel are their lounge, restaurant, bar, gym, swimming pool on the 23rd floor offering a panoramic view of the Penang Strait.
Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City adds to an already impressive list of IHG properties scheduled to open in Malaysia in the next few years, most notably, Crowne Plaza Kota Kinabalu, Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur City Centre (open), Hotel Indigo Kuala Lumpur on the Park and Kimpton Kuala Lumpur.
For bookings at Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City, visit website https://www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/us/en/penang/penbu/hoteldetail or for more details.
The project also involves a sustainable high-end mixed-use development located at the waterfront of Butterworth Penang.
Beyond the host of amenities and facilities that will cater to travellers of every disposition, the true strength of the property lies in its integration with Straits City.
Envisioned as the “Future City”, the expansive development incorporates green technologies to promote a more sustainable living and spaces designed to encourage interaction, communication and creation.
The development is strategically located a mere five-minute drive to Penang Sentral, the northern region transportation hub of Malaysia, affording plenty of options for travellers.
Straits City also boasts great connectivity to all major roads and highways in the area, including the Butterworth Outer Ring Road (BORR).
Guests embarking on a nostalgic culture experience to the island can expect a 35-minute drive to Georgetown.
Meanwhile, on a broader scale, the Crowne Plaza brand continues to expand rapidly across Asia Pacific where it has quickly become the ideal choice of the modern business traveller through a purposeful design that offers flexible spaces to work, meet and relax, while satisfying and inspiring the needs of its guests both personally and professionally.
These hotels will complement existing IHG brands: Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts.
IHG’s upcoming launch is part of a pipeline of ten hotels due to open in Malaysia in the next three to five years, adding to the existing six properties it operates.
IHG’s expansion is a testament to its unfaltering potential as an attractive business and travel destination.
Asia Pacific itself will be the future home of more than 75 Crowne Plaza hotels which will feature the newly opened Crowne Plaza Phu Quoc Starbay in Vietnam and future openings including Crowne Plaza Vinh Yen City Centre in Vietnam, Thailand’s Crowne Plaza Bangkok Grand Sukhumvit and Crowne Plaza Melbourne Carlton in Australia.
Other brands under the IHG group are the Six Senses, Regent, Vignette Collection, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, voco, HUALUXE, Even Hotels, avid, Atwell Suites, Staybridge Suites to name a few.
