Accor has announced the launch of the Handwritten Collection brand in Poland with the opening of the 4* The Crown Kraków Handwritten Collection hotel in Kraków this summer.

The hotel is housed in a five-story building at 6 Królewska Street and features 44 rooms. Designed in 1923 by Wacław Krzyżanowski, a Polish politician and author of architectural designs for important public buildings in Kraków, it is inspired by Art Deco, a style popular in 1920 and 1930. The rooms are tastefully decorated and guests can enjoy a restaurant, bar and cigar lounge as well as a conference room and fitness area.

The Crown Kraków Handwritten Collection will join the new boutique hotel collection as part of a franchise agreement between Accor and the property's owner, Alventa Invest, as well as PI Apartamenty&Hotele, which is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the hotel.

Launched in early 2023, Handwritten Collection is a boutique hotel brand with more than a dozen properties in its portfolio to date. Accor Group plans to open 250 hotels in the collection worldwide by 2030.

The five 2023 openings are: Hotel Morris in Sydney, Wonil Hotel in Perth, Hotel Les Capitouls Toulouse Centre in Toulouse, the Saint Gervais Hotel & Spa in Saint Gervais les Bains and the Hotel Shanghai Shesnan Oriental in Shanghai. Two are planned for 2024 in Madrid and Paris.

"Signing the contract for the first hotel of the new Handwritten Collection brand is a major step in expanding not only our offer in Kraków, a city immensely popular with tourists from all over the world but also the general Accor’s portfolio in Poland. I am pleased that the Polish chapter of the Handwritten Collection starts in the city with reach and beautiful history. Thanks to the timeless architectural elegance of a beautifully renovated 100-year-old tenement house and its grand interiors, the new hotel perfectly fits the character of the brand. I am convinced that together with our partners we will create a unique place and together make history," - Jacek Stasikowski, Development Director at Accor Poland