Dubai: Hotels around Tahrir Square are cashing in on the current political turmoil as guests check in for a safe but front-seat view of the protests.
They are one of the few businesses benefiting from the current unrest that is hurting the Egyptian economy.
The Ramses Hilton Hotel, a five-minute drive and 200 metres south of Tahrir Square where violent protests erupted on Wednesday, was fully booked, an employee told Gulf News by telephone.
"There are people leaving but because of our location other people are coming here, they want to look at the protests," reservation personnel said.
Others are banking on bookings from international media flooding the square for 24-hour news coverage.
"We are fully booked because of reporters and satellite channels coming in," said one employee at the City View Hotel, at the heart of the action on Al Bostan Street just outside Tahrir Square.
With maximum occupancy and good business, the hotel has not discounted its room rates, he added.
The journalists shoot footage from the rooftops and conduct their interviews in the safe haven of the hotel, said an employee at the Cairo Down Town Hotel, located just 260 metres from the Square.
"There are no tourists, most of them are foreigners who want to watch from the hotel, journalists from France and Russia," he said, adding that the protests have not affected business. Hotels have become a "rally point" for Arab employees and those who own apartments in the upper-scale neighbourhoods before they are evacuated by their embassies, said Ahmad Al Gibaly, Chairman and CEO of Online Media Egypt, a publishing, marketing and business development firm with half of its clients from the hospitality industry.
Other hotels, just further from the Square towards the Nile Corniche, are not so lucky.
They are refusing new bookings as it grows harder to transport food supplies and employees in the chaotic streets around the square. "There is no possibility to book a room today. On Saturday we will reconsider new reservations," said an employee at the Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel, adding that the hotel's capacity to absorb guests has to match the supply of food, service and manpower.
"We cannot increase occupancy, there are enough supplies for now but transport for food makes it really hard to get supplies," he said.
Hushed tones
Speaking about the situation on the ground in hushed tones, he gets emotional. "There are no police in the streets. If people decide to come in here nothing will stop them," he said. "It's not safe at all… So far nothing bad happened, I hope that continues," he said.
In the smaller-scale Cairo Down Town Hotel, the male staff goes out to buy hotel supplies in private cars, its employee said.
"We help the place and we help ourselves," he said, noting that staff slept in the hotel for a week and took turns to go home once to assure their families of their safety.
As the tourists check out of the hotels, following instructions for evacuation by their embassies, hotels are forced to reduce their rates to attract guests.
The Sheraton Hotel, only a 15-minute drive from Tahrir Square, offered a 17.5 per cent discount on its room rate per night, an employee said.
