Egypt's booze-free hotel hopes to attract new kind of tourists
By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
published on 2013-06-06
Hurghada, Egypt (dpa) - With segregated pools as well as an alcohol and smoking ban, a new hotel in Hurghada, Egypt offers, according to its two managers, a new kind of tourism in the easy-going Red Sea resort.
The intended customers: Muslims who want sun and relaxation while preserving Islamic virtue. Among the amenities is a segregated, women-only level in the building where even male staff are not allowed.
The renovations in Les Rois Hotel have almost finished and the three-star teetotal hotel is taking bookings.
The new look came after businessman Yasser Kamal set up his 4Win hotel managing company and decided to introduce a new kind of tourism in Egypt. The 4Win sign has gone up at the front door, as a guarantee to travellers that this is a very different brand of holiday.
"This is a new kind of tourism that post-revolution Egypt can offer to the world," Kamal told dpa in an interview.
The first 4Win hotel was inaugurated by smashing bottles of alcoholic beverages in celebration.
A video posted online in May showed Kamal standing in front of the hotel, promising that "Egypt will present to the world what no other country can," before he and others start emptying bottles of liquor on the floor and smashing some of them.
The video went viral on the web, and was received with either pronounced support or dismay among Egyptians.
That breaking glass also sparked debate in Egypt about how conservative Egypt is likely to become.
Islamists have gained the upper hand following the January 25 uprising in 2011, winning a solid majority at the polls.
"Banning alcohol in the hotel is not only for a religious reason. It is also for the sake of children. Why should kids associate having a vacation with drinking alcohol?" Kamal argued.
He emphasizes that smoking will also be banned inside the hotel.
"We want our customers to win four things from their holiday: pleasure, human development, training and spa tourism," he added.
Those "four wins" were the proposition he put to his friend, Les Rois manager Abdelbasset Omar.
The two agreed instantly and began setting up their business.
Hurghada, one of Egypt's Red Sea resort cities, lies 450 kilometres southeast of the capital Cairo.
Among the 4Win's amenities is a women's-only pool on the rooftop.
However the ground-floor pool will remain mixed for both men and women.
"Middle Eastern men have traditions. They do not like their wives to wear a swimsuit. This is why we set up the rooftop pool," says Kamal. "Plus, we are giving women a privilege, a great view of a mountainous area, as well as more privacy."
Rooms in the fourth floor, just below the pool, will also be allocated to women guests only.
Only female employees will work on the level.
"If there is a woman without a mehrem (male guardian), I want to make her feel safe," says Kamal.
The elevator stops at the women-only floor and does not continue to the pool.
That eradicates the risk that men will sneak up the poolside, since they would have to pass through a women's corridor first.
The concept of the male guardian is applied in Saudi Arabia, where strict interpretation of Sharia applies.
Many Egyptians have been increasingly worried that their hardline Salafists will try to apply Saudi-style rules in Egypt too.
When the more moderate Muslim Brotherhood won a majority of seats in the now-dissolved Egyptian parliament, it tried to assure tourists that the party would not impose laws restricting the existing tolerance of visitors' ideas of legitimate relaxation.
However, some of its members have given less welcoming signs, especially when one lawmaker said Egypt would be ultimately turned into a "sin-free" holiday destination.
As news about the 4Win project spread, Minister of Tourism Hesham Zazou tried to assure tourists that the country is not changing.
In May, he told a conference in Dubai, "Bikinis are welcome in Egypt and booze is still being served."
"People have only focused on the no-alcohol aspect, but we have other ideas," says Kamal, who says he plans to provide his customers with human development courses, to help "solve social problems, like family disintegration."
Over a week they will be able to attend two-hour training sessions on improving relations within the family, says Kamal.
Titles of other courses guests can sign up for during their stay include "make your husband happy," "how to deal with your sons in their teenage years" and "improving children's IQ."
All the courses are targeted at women guests.
"All channels are talking about women's rights, but no one speaks about men's rights anymore.
"This has turned into a matriarchal society, not a patriarchal one," says Kamal laughing.
The 4Win accommodation formula is not the first teetotal tourist hotel Egypt.
In 2008, the Saudi owner of a luxury hotel overlooking the River Nile in Cairo decided to ban the sale of alcohol.
But the ban was overturned three months later after Egyptian authorities threatened to strip the hotel of its five-star status.
Supporters of an alcohol-free atmosphere in Egypt hotels say this is a predominantly Muslim country where foreign visitors should observe local customs.
Hotel classification rules dictate that any hotel that does not serve alcohol must be lowered to a two-star ranking.
"If you come here, then you agree to the hotel's concept. If you want something different, go elsewhere," said Kamal. "I do not aim at eliminating other hotels, I'm catering for a new segment which exists in society. My hotel will be an addition to tourism."
Kamal stresses that the hotel is not strictly targeting Muslims.
"I did not open this business to preach about Islam. It is not my job," says Kamal.
But his associate, Abdelbasset Omar, is more conservative.
"I am more of a hardliner than Yasser," admits Omar, shortly after he joins the conversation.
"I wish to wake up one day soon to find Sharia implemented in the country."
"But now, I can only enforce this in my private life and on my own property," adds Omar.
In business, Omar has to abide by rules set up by the Tourism Ministry.
For example, the hotel will allow non-married foreigners to stay in one room, although extramarital relations are banned in Islam.
In Egypt, unmarried foreigner couples are allowed to share a room in hotels, but the rule does not apply to Egyptians.
They must show their marriage certificate. Otherwise they are forced to book separate rooms.
"I cannot go against the ministry regulations. If the ministry says we cannot have an alcohol-free hotel, then I will not. I will even make the logo of my hotel like a Chivas bottle," adds Omar.
"I do not know why they are describing 4Win as an Islamic hotel. It needs a lot more (rules) to become Islamic," he says.
In a calmer tone, Kamal interrupts him.
"To put it simply, in other countries, the laws allow unmarried couples to (live together). Mine does not," he said.
Kamal rejects a question about his political affiliation, saying that is a private matter.
He laughed off a question about whether the hotel was supported by the Muslim Brotherhood.
"People said it was supported by the Brotherhood, others said it was affiliated with (the Lebanese Shiite militia group) Hezbollah. The hotel is only affiliated with us," says Kamal, pointing to himself and Omar.
"The support - moral support - we got from some liberal friends was even greater than that from Islamists," he says.
His denial does not prevent taxi drivers in the resort city from referring to the hostelry as the Brotherhood's hotel.
The hotel's opening comes as the tourism industry, a pillar of Egypt's economy, continues to suffer for a third year. It generated some 12.5 billion dollars in 2010. This figure fell by 30 per cent to 8.8 billion dollars the following year.
But Kamal and Omar are optimistic.
"We are giving visitors distinctive Egyptian trends," promised Kamal, "ranging from the food all the way to the uniform of the employees."
"We will have a bar, for Egyptian herbal drinks," he adds, saying that tourists from Sweden, France and Germany have come in to look around even before the hotel officially opened.
"I am confident we will succeed," he says. When asked what he will do if the business fails, he smiles and says, "I'll find myself another job."
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