WITH a brand new façade and its glitzy interiors, it might be tough to guess that the Phoenicia Hotel, Beirut just celebrated their 50th anniversary. The landmark hotel, managed by InterContinental Hotels Group, has seen much of the city change around it. Post the civil war, the hotel itself was reduced to its framework in 1996. After reopening in 2000, the hotel underwent more damage five years later when a massive car-bomb detonated right outside the property. However today, just like the city, the Phoenicia Beirut, after a multimillion dollar renovation has bounced back to its formative glory and stands tall besides the several new hotel brands that have mushroomed across the city. According to general manager Georg Weinlaender, the Phoenicia Hotel with its landmark positioning in Lebanon will always remain the number one choice among both local and international clientele.
Despite the recent spate of regional unrest, the property witnessed strong guest numbers from July to September with a promising outlook for the remainder of the year. “The InterContinental Hotels have outperformed its competition in several tough markets and so similarly the Phoenicia Hotel has outperformed competition in Beirut. The performance of the hotel which recently completed refurbishment of its public areas, conference space and restaurants during Q1, has been strong.
“However, with a poor start to the year, we expect to see numbers just slightly below 2010, in terms of RevPar.”
“Since the opening of the Phoenicia Hotel 50 years ago by the late Najib Salha up until today, the hotel has proved itself to be a landmark hotel in the Middle East. Its heritage, high level of luxury service together with its new refurbished rooms, restaurants & public areas ensures that it continues to hold its number one positioning in the region,” added Weinlaender.
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Old and New: The Phoenicia Hotel, 50 years ago and today |
Beirut has always been a great touristic destination due to its location on the Mediterranean Sea, its culinary offering as well as great culture, history, and people full of life and warmth. This is confirmed by the record breaking visitor numbers in 2009, and 2010 when the city welcomed about two million visitors from all over the world.
“These impressive numbers are indicative of the fact that Beirut will always be a favourite choice of destinations for visitors,” he added.
Phoenicia Hotel today offers 500 rooms, suites & luxury residences, newly refurbished restaurants including the Cascade Lobby lounge that welcome guests for daily breakfast and afternoon high tea, the famous “Salon Du Champagne” that serves a selection of imported champagne and variety of sushi. The newly refurbished Mosaic restaurant offers a variety of international and oriental buffets, daily live cooking stations, as well as special theme nights and the Amethyste Phoenicia’s chill out lounge is open from noon till midnight. Dinner is served at the chic French dining restaurant Eau de Vie and Whisky Mist is the popular London night club that opened doors at Phoenicia earlier this year.
Recreational facilities include an in-house spa, gym and an outdoor pool area. Downtown Beirut is within easy access.
Weinlaender added, “While 2011 was an exciting year for the hotel and guests especially with the opening of our different renowned dining outlets, this year to mark our 50th anniversary the hotel celebrated some of Beirut talented artists and their work and we promise 2012 will continue to bring new exciting experiences for our guests, including the opening of the “La Petite Maison” at Le Vendôme.”
“We are also grateful for the partnership with our friends from travel trade all over the world especially the Middle East and encourage our partners to visit Lebanon and experience this landmark property,” he concluded.