The Holiday Inn was a landmark that towered over glittering Beirut in the 1970s. The Lebanese civil war ravaged the city and the hotel. The debate... Beirut's Holiday Inn: Once Chic, Then Battered, ...

07:01, Sun, Oct 26, 2025 Updated: 07:06, Sun, Oct 26, 2025 Once the pinnacle of luxury in Beirut, the Holiday Inn was a gleaming symbol of modernity and prosperity when it opened its doors in 1974.

To check into Beirut's Holiday Inn these days, you need a permit from the army and the stamina to climb 26 flights of decaying stairs to the concrete carcass of a restaurant at the top that used to ...