First five-star hotel offers luxury Strip and hope through the blockades

Al-Mashtal no tourists and sits next to a military training camp, but their very existence is a symbol of optimism

From hand-carved bed in the suite of al-Mashtal real to look directly at the sun casting pink and orange on the Mediterranean, darkening. Below the terrace, dotted with wicker loungers, a luxurious swimming pool surrounded by gardens and tastefully landscaped.

Six floors below, polishing glasses line the shelves of a piano bar. Cotton linens dress the beds, fluffy bath hanging in bathrooms shiny. Behind the reception of the huge oak lobby with marble floor of a lovely young woman with curly long and a welcoming smile greets visitors.

This looks and feels like a luxury hotel complex, perhaps, Sharm El-Sheikh. But this is the city of Gaza, and if you return the gaze of the sun, you see a door Hamas military training camp next door, which was bombed by the Israeli army recently.

Al-Mashtal is Gaza first and only five star hotel, an ambitious project in a place where there are no tourists and about 70% of the population lives below the poverty line. After a turbulent history of the hotel is in the process of gradual opening, early indications are that it faces a challenging future.

Construction began in mid 1990 in the days of optimism after the signing of the Oslo accords, when many believed that lasting peace and a Palestinian state was realistic assumptions. Funded by a consortium of Palestinian businessmen and supporters of the Gulf state, which was originally planned as an office building, but the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada brought work to a halt.

The building, renamed the hotel to be operated by Mövenpick luxury chain, was finally completed in 2006. A year after Hamas seized control of Gaza after bloody battles with their rivals from Fatah, and Mövenpick retired. The hotel was inactive.

Then ArcMed a year ago, a Spanish group, agreed to take over the management and open the hotel. "I came to the hotel and saw the possibilities," said company president, Anna Balletbò whose connections with Gaza will go back over 40 years. "We decided to try."

In his opinion, the chances were more information about employment and training opportunities for the people of Gaza a realistic business proposition, but adds: ". Our only condition is not losing money"

After being cleaned, furnished and equipped, the hotel, which was damaged during the war in Gaza, in 2008-9, opened 77 of its 220 rooms and two restaurants on May 1. They hired 70 local officials to work with three Spanish directors and began to train with international standards.

The management immediately ran into difficulties with supplies. "Whenever possible we are buying things in the local market," said Balletbò. "Only no matter what we find in Gaza."

Sometimes there have been delays in getting supplies imported through tightly controlled steps from Israel to Gaza. And when the hotel manager, Rafael Carpinello, wanted to put the duck on the menu found Gazans found incomprehensible concept of eating birds. Mussels and mushrooms also have been difficult to find.

Carpinello, who previously managed hotels in Majorca and the Dominican Republic, has become accustomed to the sound of Israeli air strikes in eight months in Gaza. "At first it was very difficult to see everything destroyed," he said. "Now I just spend the day working."

In the absence of tourists expected Balletbò journalists, visiting delegations and UN staff will stay at the hotel. There are indications that the inhabitants of Gaza rich are willing to enjoy the restaurants and cafes, and there have been a number of reservations for weddings and conferences.

But the pool, which could be a big draw is still off limits until the management can find a way to avoid transgressing social norms conservative Gaza. Men and women are forbidden to swim together, even if the hotel has separate days, which has yet to find a way ofscreening swimmers from public view.

There has been no interference with the hotel of Hamas said Balletbò. Like everywhere in Gaza is free of alcohol. Of the 70 officials that only five are women and management has been concerned with offering shift patterns that respect their needs.

Balletbò is realistic about the prospects of the hotel, while remaining optimistic about its symbolic potential locked, impoverished Gaza. "If we can not lose money – or very little – in the first year and next year make a little profit, it will be very good," he said. "But the important thing is that we can open the hotel, keep it open and show people that this land has potential."

More Source:

Gaza's first five-star hotel provides luxury and hope amid the ...
New 5-star hotel sits amid poverty in blockaded Gaza - Travel ...
New 5-star hotel in blockaded Gaza amid poverty | The Daily Caller
Gaza's first five-star hotel has everything – except ... - The Independent

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Submited at Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 at 7:00 am on Hotel by blum
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