Staybridge Suites hotel opening set for August

Upscale project benefited from IDAL incentives

The Staybridge Suites hotel will open by August as part of the Verdun Gardens compound facing Le Bristol hotel. The hotel targets upscale extended-stay guests.

Ihab Kanawati, General Manager, said this will be the only local branch of Staybridge Suites because the international chain opens one outlet per country. Staybridge has two other Middle East branches in Cairo and Abu Dhabi.

Staybridge Suites offers 121 guest units, which include 33 studio apartments, 77 one-bedroom apartments, and 11 two-bedroom apartments. Low season rates start at $190 per night for a studio, $270 for one-bedroom suites, and $390 for double-bedroom ones. “Bookings will be open as of this coming October,” said Kanawati.

The hotel was expected to open by last November, but preparations were delayed for several months. Kanawati said: “The country’s unstable situation, along with a delay in construction, were the main reasons behind the late opening.”

The hotel is owned by Soligran Hotel, a fully-owned subsidiary of Bahaa Hariri’s property investment and development group, Horizon Development. Soligran Hotel and the international chain InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) had signed an agreement in 2010, awarding the hotel’s management to IHG, which owns the Staybridge brand.

Investment in the project totaled around $45 million and benefited from incentives by the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL). It was granted exemptions on income tax and tax on dividend distribution for ten years. It also received discounts on its construction permit. The project is expected to create some 170 jobs.