Scaling Great Heights For A Good Night's Sleep

-- Hotels, 8/1/2008

The ANA Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts brand promoted its Sleep Advantage program one June day by attaching a bed to the side of the Sony Building in Ginza, Japan, and having a pajama-clad woman rappel into bed hourly. The spectacle delighted passersby and succeeded in raising the brand's profile, says Gary Rosen, senior vice president of sales and marketing for IHG Asia Pacific. The vertigo-inducing bed symbolized “that ANA Crowne Plaza offers a hotel experience never before seen in Japan,” Rosen says.

The stunt was in conjunction with the launch of a Japan-specific version of Crowne Plaza's Sleep Advantage initiative. ANA Crowne Plaza hired Japanese sleep consultant Arichika Iwata to customize the program for the Japan market. The kit includes a Megurism Steam Eye Mask, bath powder, low-caffeine roasted green tea mixed with brown rice, mint green tea, a pillow menu and three types of aromatherapy oils.

Japan will have 10 ANA Crowne Plaza properties by the end of the year.