Lebanon’s iconic Phoenicia hotel reopens following Beirut port blast renovations

Lebanon’s iconic Phoenicia hotel reopens following Beirut port blast renovations

Landmark Beirut hotel The Phoenicia has re-opened to the public after two years of painstaking efforts to repair the damage inflicted during the August 4 port explosion in 2020.

Work is still ongoing for the hotel’s original Phoenician Tower and its Roman Tower expansion, with both expected to be fully restored before the end of the summer. In the meantime, the Phoenicia Residences were re-opened in July, ready to take advantage of a busy tourism season in Lebanon.

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“There are a lot of people – mainly from the diaspora – that are coming back,” General Manager Manrique Rodriguez told Al-Arabiya English. “It would be lovely to have the [whole] hotel ready for them. Even [for just] the Residences, we [had] 25 units reserved for a week between the first and the third weeks of July.

“[They] are going to operate like serviced apartments for three months,” he continued.

“That means housekeeping, laundry, security [and] parking. By the first week of October, we will open the rest of the property, with all the restaurants, the spa, our banquet facilities, and the remaining rooms.”

Around 1.2 million visitors have already registered hotel bookings