A woman by the name of Metzger won a court case in 2007 that decreed her to be the rightful heir and owner of Alexandria’s famed Cecil Hotel. The hotel was seized from the French-Jewish woman’s family in 1956 and was subsequently owned and operated by the Egyptian government for over 50 years.
Built in 1929, the hotel is an architectural gem on Alexandria’s sea front. Metzger then sold the hotel back to the Egyptian government for the (undervalued) low price of $8 million, essentially gifting Egypt with a landmark property that faced the possibility of being torn down by other buyers.
Private construction groups have been changing the face of cities across Egypt, including Alexandria, with the erection of high-rise buildings on sites where once stood regal palaces and villas.
Keeping a careful eye on the remaining heritage properties is Aly Abdel Aziz, chairman of the Holding Company for Tourism, Hotels and Cinema (HOTAC), which includes its subsidiary Egyptian General Company for Tourism and Hotels (EGOTH).
Abdel Aziz has been responsible for reviving multiple properties across Egypt considered heritage hotels, iconic in both their architecture and history.
“Luck,” says Abdel Aziz, has spared the Mena House Oberoi, the Gezira Royal Palace (now the Cairo Marriott & Omar Khayyam Casino) and the Cosmopolitan Hotel in downtown Cairo. These properties, in addition to the Old Cataract in Aswan, the Winter Palace in Luxor and the Luxor Hotel, have remained in their original form and are now part of EGOTH’s portfolio.
The Shepheard Hotel in Cairo, rebuilt after being burned down in the 1950s, is categorized as a heritage hotel for its historic significance, as are the Palestine Hotel in Alexandria and the soon to be Nile Ritz-Carlton (formerly the Nile Hilton). All are part of the portfolio managed by EGOTH under the brand “Historic Hotels of Egypt.”
Abdel Aziz is a charmingly intense character; with piercing blue eyes and a booming voice, he speaks passionately about managing and overseeing the renovation and restoration of these hotels.
Battered with age and neglect, or else having endured the disastrous decisions of bad management, the hotels are being slowly but surely restored to their former glory. Good aesthetic, taste and wise decision-making are vital when confronting the restorative challenges of these properties.
Working closely with the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Abdel Aziz has relied on the expertise of others when needed to achieve the best results. “When I need them to restore a 200-year-old fountain, I ask for help. What do I know about such matters as chairman of HOTAC? Nothing,” he said.
It’s quite a statement that what is essentially a government-owned company, EGOTH is doing a good job of restoring these properties. “That’s proof to you that when the government wants to do something good they can, but they just need the brains and the courage for someone to say: ‘Go ahead’ or ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I need an expert.’”
The Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan recently reopened after a three-year revamp.
“We had to give attention to this product and to do it right from the beginning. We could have had the restoration happening while operating the hotel, but I didn’t want to do this. My philosophy was to close completely for three years.
“All the pipes had to change, all the electro-mechanics of the building had to change. We couldn’t just paint the walls. I think the job was done in a proper way — by the book — and it was a team effort. Whether I was behind it or not…well one of these days somebody will [decide] that but not necessarily me. I will always say what I did was my duty: to preserve these hotels and bring glory back to these properties,” he said.
A restoration entails a complete overhaul of a building’s structure rather then a superficial or cosmetic facelift that occurs with a renovation. Abdel Aziz has taken both routes for EGOTH’s various properties.
With the Winter Palace in Luxor, slight renovations and refurbishments were made to the rooms for a temporary facelift until the hotel undergoes major restorations to bring it up to the caliber and quality of luxury hotels today.
The Mena House Oberoi has had annexes pulled down or restructured to make it more pleasant for guests; while the downtown Cosmopolitan Hotel will one day undergo restorations to recreate the beauty of this unique boutique hotel.
The decisions to pull down ghastly annexes that were more recently built, such as one in the Winter Palace Luxor, or to completely shut down a hotel’s operations, are made by Abdel Aziz personally. Such decisions carry possible risks that could be incurred in addition to the financial challenge. Great sums of money are needed for such large-scale projects, sums that were until recently self-financed by HOTAC and EGOTH.
A total of LE 470 million was spent on renovating phases one, two and three of the Marriott Hotel, and in four years time, the property saw a 94 percent return on investment (LE 410 million).
Meanwhile, LE 650 million will be spent on restoring and opening the future Nile Ritz-Carlton with a guaranteed return of $21 million made by the Ritz-Carlton company.
Before renovations were made to the Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino, the annual returns were LE 130 million per year, increasing to LE 245 million per year after renovations.
“Renovation is important,” said Abdel Aziz. “The returns do come when it’s done right and I have a philosophy: when you do it, do it right or else don’t do it at all.”
Though the Jan. 25 uprising stalled the progress and tourism to Egypt has dropped, Abdel Aziz is not too bothered. “Though we budgeted returns of LE 270 million for one property, we’re now expecting to reach only LE 130 million. [But] we didn’t renovate these hotels for one or three years, we renovated [and restored] these hotels for the long term.
“Tourism will come back to Egypt. The Nile is here as are the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the Valley of the Kings. We are suffering now, but Egypt will remain.”
He adds, “My objective is that we restore all the properties in our portfolio. We now have to face receiving bank loans rather than self-financing our projects. The challenges are there but I think we’ve laid the foundation for the fight that should continue by other passionate individuals.
“If I remain for another year, I wish to accomplish about 30 percent more of the restoration needed. Whoever comes after me should be clever enough to take, not me, but the Old Cataract as an example of what to do in the future.”
