Crowne Plaza has a new calling card in the Americas: Crowne Plaza Manhattan Times Square, a 22-storey, 685-room hotel that IHG hopes will define what the brand looks like going forward. The property was developed by Qatari investor Al Rayyan Tourism Investment Company (ARTIC) and is run by operator Highgate.

The building has history. It was originally constructed for the 1964 New York World's Fair, and the redesign leans into that spirit of reinvention — literally, with large-scale murals by Brazilian-born, Atlanta-based artist Tiago Magro celebrating the theme throughout the hotel.

The brand's pitch is aimed at what it calls the "blended traveller": someone mixing work, leisure and personal time in a single trip. In practice that means rooms with city views, flexible social spaces, and meeting areas for small team sessions — including The Studio, a more intimate collaboration space just off the lobby. There's a 24/7 Marketplace for grab-and-go food and travel essentials, ringed by big screens for late-night energy.

Food and drink centre on Fifty-First Street Social, an all-day bar and restaurant designed to shift mood with the city's rhythm — coffee-and-laptop territory in the morning, something livelier by evening.

Up top, the Manhattan Level occupies the upper floors with suites and rooms boasting sweeping skyline views, styled with residential touches. At the very peak sits the Broadway Suite, a penthouse on the 22nd floor with an expansive terrace that the hotel is positioning for milestone celebrations and special occasions.

Executives were keen to frame the opening as more than one hotel. Ginger Taggart, IHG's VP of brand management for global premium brands, called it a "defining moment" guided by the brand's New Modern design philosophy, while ARTIC's CEO Tarek M. El Sayed described the transformation as a vote of confidence in New York and the wider US hospitality market — a signal that the investor sees long-term growth potential stateside.

For travellers, the takeaway is simple: Times Square has gained a sizeable new mid-to-premium option with a genuine food-and-drink offering, round-the-clock services and some of the better skyline views in the neighbourhood if you can snag an upper-floor room. Suites aside, it's positioned as a practical base for people whose trips mix a few meetings with actual downtime — and with 685 rooms, availability shouldn't be a problem even in peak season. If you're planning a New York stay and want brand-consistent comfort within walking distance of the theatre district and Midtown offices, this one is now firmly on the map.