World leaders to stay at Hilton, Cinnamon Lakeside
Fifty-two Heads of State attending the November Commonwealth Summit (CHOGM 2013) would be staying at the Hilton and the Cinnamon Lakeside hotels with no public access to anyone else during this period, hotel industry officials said
City Hotels Association President K. Shanthikumar told the Business Times that all the city hotels in Colombo and even a few in Mt. Lavinia have been blocked for the November 8-17 summit.
About 4500 rooms are to be used by heads of states, international media, business forum and other delegates.
The Cinnamon Grand has been blocked for the Business Forum that would see business personalities participating at the summit. Other delegates attending the summit are booked to stay at the Taj Samudra, Kingsbury, Mt. Lavinia Hotel and the Galadari, Mr. Shanthikumar said.
Some of the hotels in Hambantota – Peacock, Nature Holiday Resorts and Rosen Renaissance – have been booked for the youth forum to be held alongside the summit.
International media covering the events would be housed at the Ramada, Colombo City Hotel, Sapphire, Grand Oriental Hotel, Hotel Renuka, Hilton Residencies, Global Towers-Wellawatte, Mt. Lavinia Hotel and Berjaya Mount Royal among other tourist hotels in Colombo.
He noted during that time they would not be accepting any bookings .
In the meantime, Colombo’s key hotels are currently carrying out renovation work on at least part or full extent of the hotels prior to the summit.
| Upgrading Colombo’s city hotels
Most of the Colombo hotels were currently spending money on upgrading, hotel industry officials said City Hotels Association President K. Shanthikumar noted that the guest rooms and the lobby areas of the Ramada Hotel are being upgraded at a total cost of Rs.900 million and would remain closed from April to October this year. In this respect, the 4-star rated hotel would be able to provide 5-star facilities for its guests in the future following this renovation work, he explained although the star rating would not be increased. Another hotel currently also under renovation is the Galle Face Hotel that had shut down its old wing since the last two months, Mr. Shanthikumar explained. The Galadari Hotel is due to close for renovations in second half 2014 while the Hilton is expected to close for a year from mid-December for a complete overhaul of its rooms and public areas. |
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