The 23,000-sq-m Crowne Plaza Hotel Doha Business Park will be completed in September 2011, it was announced by officials of the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Trans Orient Group after the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday. The Crowne Plaza Hotel Doha project, the first property under the Crowne Plaza brand here, is in line with IHG’s expansion plans for the Middle East and will include eight buildings. The building in front will be a showroom; two of the buildings will include rooms for business retail, insurance companies and banks, and open spaces; the building in the centre will include resto-bars and a conference centre. The main hotel building, which will be located in the back, will comprise 365 hotel rooms and 83 serviced apartments. Architect Ibrahim Jaidah, managing director of Arab Engineering Bureau and designer of the project, said the Crowne Plaza Hotel Doha Business Park indicated the strength of the Qatari economy. “The hotel has been designed with a focus on high-level individual service, comfort and business facilities. With easy access to the business park’s major conference centre and office towers, the hotel will provide the perfect base for business travellers,” said Jaidah. John Bamsey, Chief Operating Officer of the IHG Middle East and Africa, said Qatar’s economy had shown continuous growth since they first signed the Crowne Plaza Doha Business Park deal with the Trans Orient Group in 2008. Bamsey said the location of the hotel, which is close to the centre of the city and two kilometres from the Doha International Airport, is “the perfect site for us to place a Crowne Plaza as the brand’s positioning and product is aligned toward catering to the discerning business traveller. “Crowne Plaza Doha Business Park is well positioned to contribute toward the increased visitor demand, particularly to that driven by the business park that the hotel will sit within. It gives me great pleasure to attend the ground breaking ceremony and I look forward to building a long and lasting relationship with IHG,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, owner of the Trans Orient Group. “Business travel has certainly increased in the country, accounting for 65 percent of total visitors to Qatar annually. The country has made its mark as a business hub regionally and globally and is also recognised as a key destination for meetings and corporate events. We are honoured to be invited here… to share this pivotal moment of breaking ground, signifying commencement of our first Crowne Plaza development in Qatar…,” said Bamsey. The Commercial Bank of Qatar is financing the project. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=June2009&file=Local_News2009061621357.xml

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