VacantReady

Middle East business magazine AME Info recently announced five G.M. appointments for Ritz-Carlton hotels in Dubai, Bahrain and Sharm el Sheikh—with two appointments in Doha. Click over to the article for an insider peek at the hoteliers taking the helm in these hotels.

Not yet named is the G.M. for Cairo’s upcoming Ritz-Carlton property. The current Hilton Nile will be completely renovated and re-developed to become the Nile Ritz-Carlton, Cairo, expected to open in 2011.

“We are honored to have been selected by Misr Hotels to assume management of this iconic property. Our plans for The Nile Ritz-Carlton, Cairo are extensive, and will include conversion to restore the hotel to its status as the leading property in the region,” commented Simon F. Cooper, president and chief operating officer of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.

The Hilton Nile website reveals that operations at the 413 room hotel will cease January 1, 2009—to the delight of the Hilton’s local competitors, I’m sure.

The Ritz-Carlton brand joins other strong luxury brands also moving into the area, with Fairmont’s Nile City hotel currently under construction, and the new St. Regis, Cairo also opening in 2011.

Hotel mavens and the local jet set will have plenty of swank opening parties to attend. BTW - here’s how you can contact me!

Hilton Nile -> Nile Ritz-Carlton, Cairo

Check out an original rendition of the property before Hilton took over:

And here is a photo taken last month, thanks to flickr member keatl:

Finally...the souped-up version of the hotel after Ritz-Carlton completes the transition:

Interesting that the colourful murals (or mosaic?) surrounding the property are shown in all three images. Classy enough for Ritz-Carlton?

0 comments | Permalink | Middle East & Africa • Cairo • Development • Renovations

A few days ago Sheikh Abdel Aziz Ibrahim bin Ibrahim of Saudi Arabia, owner of the Grand Hyatt in Cairo banned the sale of alcohol at the hotel. Apparently the owner arrived at the hotel and ordered a massive amount of booze from In Room Dining. Hotel staff obliged and delivered bottle after bottle, which he then poured down the sink (literally).

This gesture marked the beginning of a ban on the service of alcohol at the 716 room Grand Hyatt Cairo. The Muslim religion denounces the consumption of booze, and the owner has seemingly made a grand statement about the sort of guests he wants staying in his hotel. All guests are welcome of course, just as long as they follow certain aspects of Islam.

No doubt the Hyatt corporation will have a thing or two to say about this move—to say nothing of the opinions of many thousands of non-Muslim hotel guests. An official no-liquour policy, if it remains in place, would surely have a huge impact on guest room production from many non-Muslim nations. I can only imagine how much liquour revenue (and banquet business) will be lost in the future at this busy property. Can an international hotel maintain a five star, or even a four star rating without the availability of alcohol? I doubt it.

Within reason, the owner of a hotel can do whatever he wants at his property. However, having an operating agreement with a large multinational brand like Hyatt complicates things in a big way, and I seriously doubt that Hyatt will accept the situation as-is without a contractual fight. After all, their brand consistency is on the line.

The gossip in Cairo is that the owner has been trying to dissolve his relationship with Hyatt for some time, and clearly this move could be sabre-rattling on a big scale. Either way it’s an interesting piece of information for competitive luxury hotels in Cairo who are certainly watching events as they unfold.

APF covered the story in a short piece, and I was also delighted to find a comment from a London-based frequent business traveller and (former) Hyatt fan:

“The Hyatt hotel chain is pretty good, I have to admit, good rooms, good customer service, good frequent user programme and so on and so forth. But hey, no drinks, no stay. After a long day at work, you need a drink.”

Linkage
APF Story [Saudi sheikh bans alcohol at Grand Hyatt Cairo]
Blog Comment [Daily Salty]

2 comments | Permalink | Middle East & Africa • Cairo • Gossip

A search for hotels in Cairo, Egypt on Tripadvisor reveals an interesting blend of results between upper-upscale luxury properties, and extremely modest budget hotels.

The top spot for ”hotels in Cairo” on Tripadvisor?

...the Four Seasons Nile Plaza.

Of course the Four Seasons Nile Plaza is number one. It’s an incredible hotel in an awesome location. And with rates averaging $519 USD for the year (per TA), it had better exceed expectations. According to Tripadvisor, it does exactly that.

Since I can’t really recommend five hundred dollar room rates to my friends and family, let’s take a look at Tripadvisor’s number two hotel in popularity:

The Hotel Longchamps in Zamalek, Cairo

The Longchamps has been a fixture in the Zamalek neighbourhood since the 1950’s, and is run by owner/operator Hebba Bakri. The hotel was established by the current owner’s mother who was a well-known theater personality in Egypt. I can’t remember her name, but you can see a cool portrait of her next to the hotel’s front desk if you ever stay there. 

Since the Hotel Longchamps is a six minute walk from my apartment, I paid a visit to the property a few weeks ago. The hotel is actually located in a ‘typical’ Zamalek apartment building, so it’s quite easy to miss the sign if a guest were to drive by in a taxi. Once I made it inside the building, the apartment’s booabs (doormen) directed me to the building’s elevators to get to the Longchamps on the top floors.

At least one comment on Tripadvisor warned that the elevator floor sinks a few inches when entering the elevator car. This is absolutely true! If rickety elevators with floors that drop are not your cup of tea, take the elevator on the right (when facing the cabs from the lower lobby). If you feel like experiencing the thrill of ‘real’ Cairo...take the elevator on the left.

The hotel staff were quite willing to offer me a tour of the public areas, dining room and the terrific outdoor verandas at both the front and back of the hotel. The views were really nice, and the hotel was well maintained from what I could see. I didn’t get a chance to see any guestrooms, but I certainly felt a sense of hospitality and caring from the staff.

At only $30 average rate per night for a standard room, I’m sure that the accommodations are simple—but they look more than adequate from the pics on TA. The entire place has a friendly, safe and clean ambiance, and I feel quite comfortable recommending the Longchamps. This is definitely not a luxury hotel, and the facilities are obviously geared for a budget traveller. Still, for the price paid, I can’t imagine the Longchamps being anything but good value.

Tripadvisor features a variety of guestroom photos taken by guests so take a peek there if you are inclined.

The hotel’s location is outstanding, and I would personally choose Zamalek over any hotel downtown any day of the week. Less insane traffic and people congestion, and a perfect location to walk around and experience the surrounding upscale neighbourhood.

Below are some pics from my recent tour, or head over to my flickr photoset to read the captions:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

1 comments | Permalink | TripAdvisor • Cairo

The global hotel industry continues to drive innovation in environmentally responsible operating practices, and there are countless examples of green efforts at the corporate level and throughout individual hotel properties worldwide that show a real effort from the industry to mitigate their potential negative environmental impact.

Cairo, Egypt probably isn’t top-of-mind for most hotel professionals considering who might be world leaders in terms of sustainable green practices—after all Cairo is literally an oasis sprung from the desert. With no recycling programs prevalent in the city, and an (apparent) general lack of concern for responsible waste management, it might seem easy to write-off Cairo as a world contender.

Stereotypes (perpetuated by me) put aside, the truth is that a number of hotels in Cairo are actually doing an incredible amount of good work with environmental stewardship, and there are plenty of accolades to prove it.

Industry website 4Hoteliers.com recently featured a story outlining the expansive efforts of the Conrad Cairo hotel in maintaining operations at a high level of environmental awareness and sensitivity.

The Conrad was recently awarded Gold status from the prestigious Green Globe organization; a worldwide benchmarking certification and improvement system that assists the international travel and tourism industry move toward true sustainability.

The Conrad was successfully certified by Green Globe for more than seven continuous years, which resulted in their achievement of Gold status—the highest honour awarded by the the Green Globe program.

“The actions taken by the Conrad Cairo in order to achieve the award included appointing members of staff to monitor waste, energy and water consumption; training staff in environmental awareness; switching paper memos for electronic communication; installing dimmer switches and power-saving lights; replacing the electric swimming pool heating system with a steam system; painting the facades of neighbouring buildings; and introducing recycling measures for everything from cardboard to cooking oil.”

The Cairo Conrad has also received a number of environmental accolades from the Ministry of Tourism in Egypt, outlined on their website.

This is great stuff on the environmental side of things, but I admit that I am curious about community or social initiatives the Conrad may have implemented. The hotel’s location is adjacent to a number of other luxury hotels, with the Nile Hilton and the upcoming Fairmont Nile City located close by on either side. However, the vast areas behind these luxury hotels are lively but underprivileged neighbourhoods, and I have to wonder what, if any, opportunities exist to reach out to the huge residential areas that live in the shadow of these luxury hotels. No doubt it would be very difficult to initiate or manage a community outreach program, no matter how well intentioned. It’s a reality in Cairo that takes some adjustment for Western folks like me to comprehend.

Check out two recent photos snapped from a back-side of the Conrad hotel, taken by my friend Catherine:

Marriott Cairo gets in on the action

The Conrad is clearly a leader in Cairo on the sustainability front, but other hotels in the city have also launched formal environmental initiatives in recent years. The Cairo Marriott Hotel & Casino was recognized by the Minister of State for Environmental Affairs with its “Environmental Concern Award” in both 2003 & 2004.

The Marriott Cairo has embarked on a series of community outreach efforts such as their recent blood drive (200+ employees participated) and a community clean-up initiative “outside the fence” in the neighboring (upscale) Zamalek neighbourhood.

No doubt there are many more environmental and social initiatives occurring in the Cairo hotel scene that I have yet to discover, and I look forward to reporting back when I discover them.

0 comments | Permalink | Celebration • Cairo

Today I stumbled upon an insider hotel blog by the Marriott Hotel and Omar Khayyam Casino in Cairo. The site is called Cairo Marriott Magazine and is written by Mosaad Hussein, e-commerce coordinator at the property.

The blog mentions some recent promotions and appointments at the Marriott hotel, and offers some interesting information about the hotel’s efforts to reach out to the local community through clean-up efforts and even a blood drive. It’s a slice of life inside this 1,250 room hotel, and it’s a great effort—no matter how small.

The Cairo Marriott is a short walk from my apartment in Cairo, and I have already enjoyed food and drink with friends on the hotel’s expansive Garden Promenade. And when I was recently hit with a bout of ‘Pharaoh’s Revenge’, off to the Marriott I went for a visit with Dr. Moustafa, who’s clinic also resides at the property.

I haven’t seen a guestroom at the hotel, but the public areas are beautiful. The hotel lobby and some of the restaurant outlets occupy a palace built in 1869 by Khedive Ismail, ruler of Egypt at the time. Apparently Ismail wanted the structure to resemble “Versailles” in France, and the palace was built, in part, to host the French Empress Eugenie who was invited along with her husband Emperor Napoleon III of France for the opening of the Suez Canal.

Original palace artifacts can still be found in the hotel lobby amongst the Marriott accoutrements and the standard picture of the Marriott founding family. I was told the vases and mirror facing the front desk are original, for example, and many of the palm trees in the courtyard are well over a hundred years old.

A search on YouTube revealed two terrific videos with more insider perspective from the Cairo Marriott. Thomas Guss, Director of F&B and Executive Chef Badawy Abdel Hamid, along with Head Dishwasher El Sayed Ahmed are featured in the following videos that introduce Hamdy Salah—the hotel’s employee of the year:

Award Ceremony

Hamdy was flown to a Marriott awards ceremony in the U.S., where he delivered a few heart-felt words. After he was finished, a Marriott exec. addressed the large crowd to say that Hamdy had worked tirelessly on his speech over the previous two days so that he could deliver it in english. Very cool.

Linkage
Cairo Marriott [flickr] [website]

0 comments | Permalink | Cairo