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Bristol Hotels  Resorts Opens Two Crowne Plaza(R) Hotels in Dallas
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DALLAS, June 11, 1998 - Bristol Hotels Resorts (NYSE: BH) has rebranded two well-known Dallas hotels to Crowne Plaza, the upscale brand of Bass Hotels Resorts (formerly Holiday Hospitality). The conversions are part of Bristol's major redevelopment program to renovate and rebrand 25 of its key assets to Crowne Plaza by 1999 at a cost of approximately $200 million. As part of the rebranding process, the Crowne Plaza North Dallas/Addison (formerly The Harvey Hotel-Addison) and the Crowne Plaza Dallas Market Center (formerly The Harvey Hotel-Dallas Brook Hollow) underwent comprehensive renovation programs.

The Crowne Plaza brand, designed to meet the needs of the discriminating business and leisure traveler, has distinguished itself in the lodging industry with upscale facilities, substantially upgraded amenities and rigorous service standards. The brand was created by Bass Hotels Resorts to offer upscale amenities with relevance and value, but not at an extravagant price. The brand is a high-quality value alternative positioned to compete with comparable upscale brands.

The newly branded Crowne Plaza hotels offer a full line of meeting and event facilities, a wide range of business services, exercise and fitness options, and guest rooms with spacious work areas. Guest room amenities most highly valued by business travelers have been added, including data ports for computer hook-up, coffeemakers, hairdryers, and full-size ironing boards and irons. Each hotel also maintains professional conference and full-service catering staffs to assist in meeting and special occasion-planning for weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, anniversaries, family reunions, proms, holiday parties, sports banquets and corporate events.

The 354-room Crowne Plaza Dallas Market Center, serving the market center area and medical complexes, Stemmons corridor, Park Cities, Las Colinas, and downtown Dallas, is situated at 7050 Stemmons Freeway at the corner of I-35 and Mockingbird Lane. Its renovation included a new porte cochere and additional landscaping as well as upgrades to the pool area, guest rooms, guest baths, guest floor corridors and 15,000 square feet of flexible meeting space -- including the 7,000-square-foot Windsor Ballroom. Seven additional guest rooms meeting American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements were constructed, bringing the total number to 18.

An earlier comprehensive renovation, completed in January 1996, converted the hotel from a Holiday Inn to a Harvey Hotel. The Crowne Plaza Dallas Market Center, a contemporary high rise, boasts an indoor pool, a whirlpool, separate saunas for men and women, 15 breakout meeting rooms including a newly constructed boardroom, and 18 executive suites.

The Crowne Plaza North Dallas/Addison, at 14315 Midway Road between Beltline and Spring Valley, serves the prestigious North Dallas and Addison business areas as well as the Galleria complex with easy access to the North Dallas Tollway, LBJ Freeway and Beltline Road. Its extensive renovation touched virtually every area of the hotel, including the lobby, front desk, two airline counters and both hotel restaurants -- Scoops Diner and McArthur's Restaurant. The hotel's 28,000 square feet of meeting space, including the 7,700-square-foot Trinity Ballroom, was upgraded and a business center installed to offer guests Internet/PC access, printing, copying,
faxing and message services. All 429 guest rooms, now with mobile executive workstations and ergonomic chairs, were remodeled from floor to ceiling, along with guest baths and guest room corridors. Five additional guest rooms meeting ADA requirements were built, bringing the number to 13. The building's exterior and pool area were also refurbished, extra landscaping was added and the exercise facility was expanded. The hotel offers 25 breakout meeting rooms, a state-of-the-art amphitheater, and a lush, tropical courtyard pool and whirlpool.

The Crowne Plaza brand was introduced to Dallas in March, when Bristol Hotels Resorts opened the Crowne Plaza Suites Dallas (formerly Bristol Suites-Dallas), the first all-suites hotel to open in the United States under the Crowne Plaza flag. The hotel is located at 7800 Alpha Road at LBJ Freeway near Central Expressway, serving North Dallas and the Richardson telecommunications corridor along North Central Expressway. Renovations and improvements to the lobby and other public areas included new wall and floor coverings, refinished woodwork, and new furniture and accessories. An executive boardroom was added, and over 12,000 square feet of meeting space was upgraded. The 295 over-sized guest suites received all new furniture, bedspreads and draperies.

Dallas-based Bristol Hotels Resorts is one of the largest operators of full-service hotels in North America, with 124 hotels representing more than 32,000 rooms in 27 states and Canada. On March 24, Bristol announced the spin-off of its non-real estate holdings into a newly formed public company and the transfer of its real estate assets to FelCor Suite Hotels, Inc. (NYSE: FCH), a real estate investment trust (REIT). The transaction, expected to close in July, would create the largest independent hotel operating company in Bristol and the largest non-paired hotel REIT in FelCor. Bristol hotels operate in the mid-priced to upscale segments of the industry and are located in 20 of the top 25 lodging markets in the U.S. In 1997 Bristol acquired 60 company owned and managed Holiday Inn hotels from Bass PLC of the United Kingdom for $665 million and, with the recent acquisition of Omaha Hotel, Inc., owns and operates a total of 92 Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn properties. The company is a leading franchisee in Bass Hotels Resorts' billion-dollar modernization program. By the year 2000, Bristol will have overseen the investment of $400 million in the redevelopment of Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels.

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Contact:
Helen Leflar 
Bristol Hotels Resorts
972-391-3535
or Jennifer Ploszaj 
of Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, 
770-604-5912
Web site: http://www.crowneplaza.com
 
 

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