Eugene Human

Ahead of the May opening of Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour, parent company IHG has named Eugene Human as the property’s opening General Manager.

The 152-room hotel will see Sydney bestowed with the ‘Future of Crowne Plaza’ room concept which will also feature in new openings for the brand in Hobart and Adelaide later this year. Aimed at being highly business-friendly, the hotel lobby will offer a variety of flexible spaces able to be used for meetings, social gatherings, co-working and other impromptu purposes.

Rooms will be designed in the same way, with embedded tech areas aimed at providing guests with separate spaces to work, relax and sleep.

Human moves to the role after three years as GM at Holiday Inn Sydney Airport. Prior to this, he was at Holiday Inn Potts Point. Speaking of his new role, Human was excited at being able to bring the Crowne Plaza brand back to Sydney after 10 years away.

“This is a tremendously exciting time for Crowne Plaza; globally we are seeing a complete transformation of the brand as we roll-out our vision to build hotels of the future with flexible design and innovation that modern travellers crave.

“As we put the finishing touches on the rooms and public areas, we can’t wait for guests and locals to come in and interact with the spaces we’ve created and embrace the new, future-focused Crowne Plaza”.

Guest and public facilities available at the hotel include a rooftop heated pool, fitness centre and event spaces capable of catering to 170 people in banquet style. Three dining venues, ranging from grab-and-go style breakfast venue, Café 58; modern Italian restaurant, La Bella and the 288 on Sussex bar, will also be open. The hotel will begin operations in May as a fully single-use plastic-free hotel.