Tag Archives | hotel

War Hotels – The Holiday Inn and Le Commodore Beirut Episodes

“War Hotels” is a documentary series showing on Al Jazeera that tells stories of iconic hotels that were associated with recent warfare, and two episodes that were aired earlier this month explored the stories of the Holiday Inn and Le Commodore hotels in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War that starte in 1975.

The Holiday Inn opened in 1974 but unfortunately turned into a war only a year later as it became part of the Battle of the Hotels. During that time the fighting militias got into fierce battles to control a group of hotels in the area of Saint-George and Ain El Mrayyseh including the Phoenicia and Holiday Inn.

On the other hand, Le Commodore became famous for being a safe haven for world journalists covering the civil war. Aside from its relatively safe location in Hamra at that time, what also helped was the available of communications lines to allow journalists to report their stories.

The two episodes are quite informative and have very interesting testimonies. You can either watch them on Al Jazeera website here and here or through the below two YouTube videos.

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Giveaway Day 1: Dinner For 2 At Pier 78 Kempinski Summerland

For the first day of the giveaway series, Kempinski Summerland Hotel & Resort was kind enough to provide a voucher for 2 persons for a dinner at their Mediterranean restaurant Pier 78 ($150 value).

I personally have experienced Kempinski Summmerland’s service on several occasions and they impressed everytime. Aside from the programs they present on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays evenings at Pier 78, I specifically love the family brunch they also offer on Sundays. The open buffet has a lot of variety and is nothing less than what you would expect from a 5-star venue, but what really makes them stand out from other hotels offering similar formulas is that they also provide free kids entertainment so that parents can enjoy their meal at ease.

So, to qualify for the draw, go to +961’s page on Facebook, like the giveaway post and tag your friends in a comment. A winner will be randomly chosen and announced tomorrow morning, and I will message him/her for instructions on how to claim the voucher.

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Touch Teams Up With Booking.com For Cashback Rewards

I’m a bit surprised this isn’t advertised much by “touch” so I thought it’s worth sharing with you.

Touch recently announced a partnership with accommodation booking website booking.com in order to let their subscribers benefit from 4% cashback of the reservation value on their touch lines whether prepaid or postpaid.

To benefit from the offer, all you have to do is to make your next reservations via booking.touch.com.lb or through touch’s mobile app.

Note that booking.com offers you a “Genius” status after booking 5 trips with them, which makes you eligible for a 10% off on selected hotels. That along with the 4% in cashback would save you some good money especially for long trips!

I personally make all my booking online and would definitely consider using this service when planning my next trip since I have a touch line.

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PureGray at Le Gray Beirut among the top 10 spas in the middle east

gal.pure.gray.jpg_-1_-1

According to this article in CNN Arabic today, PureGray Health Club at Le Gray Beirut is among the top 10 spas in the middle east along with the following places:

  1. Six Senses at Missoni Hotel in Kuwait
  2. Hello Kitty in Dubai
  3. Eternal Med Spa in Dubai
  4. Six Senses in Oman
  5. Biolite in Dubai
  6. Anantara in Dubai
  7. Banyan Tree Al Wadi in Ras El Khaimah
  8. Evason Ma’In Hot Springs in Jordan
  9. Asswan Spa at Burj El Arab in Dubai

I’ve never been to PureGray before but have always read positive feedback about it online. On the other hand, I’ve been to one of the Banyan Tree hotels when I was in Thailand back in 2011 and their service is truly impeccable.

Thank to Philippe Abou Zeid for the link

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Beirut through the lens of a Pan Am stewardess in the 60s

This video with highlights from Hong Kong, Beirut, Bangkok and Tehran was compiled by a stewardess called Mary Lou Bigelow throughout her service with Pan American Airways between 1962 and 1964.

You can start watching the part from Beirut at the 7m23s mark with scenes from Beirut Airport, Raouche, Manara, Phoenicia Hotel and water skiing in Saint Georges Hotel.

Everytime I watch an old video of Beirut, I wish I was born earlier to live the golden era of this city!

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Solidere pissed at St George’s banner

stop-solidere

This banner draped over St. George Hotel must be pissing Solidere off so much. They now threaten legal actions against media people who publish photos showing “Stop Solidere” in them when covering some event at Zaitunay Bay!

media waiver

Fadi Khoury, owner of St. George, is probably the only man who dared to stand against Solidere and their malpractices on the waterfront, who in their turn blocked the hotel’s access to the sea.

waiver form via Beirutiyat

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Escort agencies in Lebanon

Lebanese escort agencies that are operating on the web got the attention they have never dreamt of on Lebanese TVs during the past week!

Both of MTV’s Enta Horr and OTV’s Haida El We2e3 decided to tell the government and people about these websites as if no one knew they existed for several years now, and even showed how the whole thing works by setting up a hidden cam inside a hotel room and calling these agencies to get one of their girls. Joe Maalouf went a bit further towards the end of his report and listed all the agencies numbers! You know, just in case someone doesn’t have internet access to get them.

Free advertising much?

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