The multi-million-dollar renovation of The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain Hotel & Spa is halfway toward its completion date of November 1, 2005.
With less than 100 days until the re-opening, the hotel’s Guidance Team and employees recently celebrated the halfway completion with the raising of the one-tonne Ritz-Carlton Club spiral staircase from the lobby level to the sixth floor.
The project’s crowning glory is literally the Ritz-Carlton Club that will be expanded to two floors and connected by the spiral staircase. Located at the top - both sixth and seventh floors of the resort - the Club will boast a panoramic view of the pristine, turquoise waters of the Arabian Gulf. The handsomely furnished Club will be adorned with Oriental art pieces and comfortable, elegant armchairs balanced by the warm hues of the furniture and fabrics. Offering a gourmet palette of five culinary and beverage presentations daily – breakfast, mid-day snacks, afternoon tea, hors d’oeuvre cocktails and chocolates with cordials in the evening - it will showcase the impressive culinary talents of the resort’s master chefs.
The award-winning beachfront resort is also reducing its number of rooms to 245 from 264 by combining existing ones although new suites will be introduced. The new room configuration will feature 156 deluxe rooms, 22 studios, 36 Premier Club rooms, 21 Senior Club suites and 10 specialty suites, one of which is the 152-square meter (1646 sq ft) Royal Suite, a favorite among celebrities and royal heads of state.
To facilitate this major project, all the rooms and suites as well as the Ritz-Carlton Club in the seven-storey resort were closed at the beginning of May 2005. There were no disruptions to any of the resort restaurants and swimming pool, sports club, spa and the 23 villas remained open throughout the renovation period.
According to general manager Pascal Duchauffour, the historic renovation project has had some special challenges along the way. “Obviously, the most crucial aspect to this renovation was the decision to close all the guestroom floors and The Ritz-Carlton Club for six months,” he says. “The management team felt that it was ultimately the best thing to do, especially since it is traditionally our slow season. By executing all our design plans over a compact period of time, we limit the inconvenience to our guests who might normally have had to endure 18 months of round-the-clock construction noise for a project of this magnitude.” Parisian interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon was selected to design the interiors that best exemplifies what the best of The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain represents – refined, elegant luxury.