IHG Hotels & Resorts is returning the Crowne Plaza brand to Austria. The company has signed a deal with FEURING Asset Management to open Crowne Plaza Vienna, a new build designed by architect David Chipperfield. The hotel is expected to open toward the end of Q3 2026.
The building takes design cues from the Austrian National Library and sits in Margareten, a district IHG calls “undergoing an urban revival.” It’s a short trip from the Opera House and Schönbrunn Palace, and close to a metro stop, which matters more than it sounds. Location decides a lot in a city where tourists walk everywhere.
The hotel will have 195 rooms, including 22 suites. Top-floor suites get panoramic views of the city. There’s a restaurant focused on local Austrian food, a bar, a rooftop fitness terrace, and a wellness area. Five meeting rooms with natural daylight can host up to 140 people, and there’s underground parking with EV charging. The building also holds two environmental certifications, the EU Eco Label and the Austrian Environment Label.
Why This Deal Matters
Vienna just had its best tourism year on record. Over 20 million overnight stays were logged in 2025, the highest since the city started counting. That’s a strong signal for any hotel brand thinking about expansion here.
This also isn’t IHG’s first move in Vienna. The city will now have 11 IHG properties open or in the pipeline, and Austria overall will have 20. That’s a meaningful concentration for one company in one small country.
The bigger story is what IHG is doing with Crowne Plaza generally. The brand recently repositioned itself around what IHG calls “blended travel,” meaning guests who mix business trips with personal time. A hotel with daylight-filled meeting rooms and a rooftop terrace fits that pitch.
Crowne Plaza now has more than 400 properties globally, with 94 open in Europe and 22 more in the pipeline, including a new signing in Montenegro and one outside Paris. Vienna adds another data point to that European push.
