Originally Posted by baroqen

I've been asking this exact same question for the past 20 years. Europe, Asia... all of the CPs I've ever stayed at outside of North America have been amazing but in the US... they're often not too far from a high end motel. Dingy, run down, often with furniture that looks like it's from the 70's.

I'm talking about the hard product only, of course. Service has generally been just as good if not better to other countries, but the hard product really makes it difficult to appreciate. Most CPs in North America are simply really, really old and in dire need of massive renovation, not just the little refreshes that they sometimes do. I've seen many a CP that simply slapped a new coat of paint... literally slapped a new coat, right on top of the old coats of paint. The doors looked visibly thicker from all the layers of old paint.

In Asia, Crowne Plaza is a relatively new brand. Remember when HIX first started? All brand new properties... they were lovely little inns. CP in Asia is basically like that on steroids. Large spacious and well appointed rooms. They need to just start shutting down the CP's in the US for a few months for serious renovation work, but most owners would never accept the loss of revenue.