Extending the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport: a modular hotel construction case study

ABSTRACT The hospitality and tourism industry is growing worldwide with more new hotel buildings and extension projects. The process of developing a new hotel seems to be rarely considered in most hospitality and tourism curricula. Moreover, hospitality management students are rarely exposed to the important and well-defined discipline of project management, but clearly, developing a new hotel is a reasonably large and complex project. This case study explains why modular construction was the best way to build the extension to the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport in Singapore, instead of more traditional in-situ construction methods. Additionally, the case study introduces key principles and practices within the discipline of project management, especially as they relate to developing new hotels and/or extending existing hotels. This case study has been prepared after reviewing published materials about the project and extensively interviewing four senior members of the project team.