The Mövenpick Hotel and Resort Beirut, owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has won the Hermes award for the best hotel construction in 2002.
The Saudi billionaire had invested $140 million in the construction of the hotel in the Lebanese capital. "Mövenpick Beirut will be a huge success and will be one of the leading landmarks in Beirut," Alwaleed said when he signed the hotel project agreement in 2000. The property was opened by President Emile Lahoud on July 2 2002. The hotel/resort has been nominated based on the decision of a 22-member jury chaired by Jean Claude Baumgarten, president of the World Travel & Tourism Council. "The hotel fits perfectly into the reconstruction of the city and prefigures the desire for the tourist and economic integration of Beirut in this 21st century," Baumgarten said. The five-star deluxe hotel and resort consists of 293 rooms, eight restaurants, a health club, four indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a deluxe SPA complex, and a marina for 140 yachts. Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut is one of the projects owned by Alwaleed's Kingdom Hotel Investment Group (KHI). Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is set to open properties in Taba and El Alamein and Bahrain.