Inside the Cairo Marriott Hotel & Casino
Chris · March 31, 2008
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.
Note: seems the Cairo Marriott Magazine blog has been cancelled, replaced with Mosaad’s personal blog—June 4th
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]
