The Astor Crowne Plaza Is Honored With ConventionSouth’s Prestigious Annual Readers’ Choice Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Cary Alden
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Don Zimmer
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dzimmer@astorhotels.com

The Astor Crowne Plaza Is Honored With ConventionSouth's Prestigious Annual Readers' Choice Award

New Orleans, LA (Nov. 9, 2012)-The publishers and editors of ConventionSouth, the national multimedia resource for planning events in the South, has presented The Astor Crowne Plaza with a 2012 Readers' Choice Award.

"ConventionSouth readers nominated and voted to decide the best meeting sites in the South, and it is no surprise to us that The Astor Crowne Plaza has been selected to receive our annual Readers' Choice Award," said ConventionSouth Publisher J. Talty O'Connor. "The value in receiving this prestigious recognition is that it comes from the United States' top meeting professionals who book events held in the South. These planners demand the highest level of customer service and quality facilities, and they have contributed in determining that The Astor Crowne Plaza indeed displays the commitment to professionalism, creativity and service that they require."

"The Astor Crowne Plaza team is very pleased to receive this award, especially because it is given by our clients who, with this honor, validate our exceptional hospitality and personal, caring service to ensure that their group experiences a flawless meeting from beginning to end," said Peter Ambros, General Manager of the hotel.

The Astor Crowne Plaza is among 100 convention and visitor bureaus (CVBs), meeting facilities and hotels located across the South to receive this year's Readers' Choice Award. Throughout the year, meeting professionals nominated the meeting sites they believe provide exemplary service for group events. The nominated properties were then compiled onto an online ballot where meeting professionals were asked to vote for the best of the best.

More than 1,500 voters participated this year in the selection process. This is the first year that The Astor Crowne Plaza has received this award, making it an even greater honor for the hotel to receive a 2012 Readers' Choice Award.

There are many reasons the Astor Crowne Plaza is "The Place To Meet" in New Orleans. In addition to many services geared specifically to the Meeting Planners needs such as the 2-Hour Response Guarantee, and the assignment of a Crowne Meetings Director, The Daily Debrief, a meetings hallmark of Crowne Plaza, allows the planner to review the current day with the hotel's meeting professionals and prepare for the next. This daily meeting is also a valuable budgeting tool for the planner. 

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Built in 2002, the Astor Crowne Plaza is a grand hotel with 693 rooms including 28 spacious suites, strategically located at the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets. Extraordinarily situated in the heart of downtown and at the gateway to the French Quarter, the address also serves as home to the award-winning Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House restaurant, one of the most popular dining establishments in New Orleans.  Part of the collection of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC and managed by Hospitality Management Corporation, the hotel has increased meeting space to 32,000 square feet with prime outdoor balconies overlooking the sights of Bourbon, Canal and Iberville streets.

About Hospitality Management Corporation
Hospitality Management Corporation (HMC), founded in 1971, is a privately-owned independent management company, and is one of the oldest independent hotel management firms in the lodging industry.  For over three decades, HMC has provided hotel management services for third party institutional and private owners.  The company's headquarters has been located in Dallas, Texas since its inception. For more information on HMC, please visit our website at www.hospitalitymgt.com

About InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG)

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) is one of the world's largest hotel groups by number of rooms.  IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 3,800 hotels and more than 571,000 guestrooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world.  IHG owns a portfolio of well recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Hotel Indigo®, and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club Rewards with over 37 million members worldwide.  IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at http://www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards program at http://www.priorityclub.com

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739 Canal at Bourbon Street

New Orleans, LA. 70130