http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2012-02-14T14:23:28Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Dangerous%20Hotels http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/11/11/12931/615 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3873/Erbil_Northern_Iraq.jpg" class="top"><p> <p>Apparently even war zones need new five-star hotels because northern Iraq&#146;s getting one in 2009: the <b>Erbil Rotana Hotel</b> is due to open as part of <a href=&#148;http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/3/28/63943/3509/hotels/Rotana_Rewards_System_Tries_To_Get_More_Attractive&#148;>Rotana&#146;s</a> push to expand across the Middle East.<p>The Erbil Rotana sounds like a pretty run-of-the-mill luxury hotel with 205 rooms and a Bodylines health club. Erbil is a Kurdish city in the north and is actually fairly well served by international airlines--even Austrian Airlines lands there four times a week.<p>But nobody&#146;s going so far as to say that this place is safe; <a href=&#148;http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/rotana-to-open-first-iraq-hotel&#148;>Business Traveller</a> says:<blockquote><p>Terrorist activity is statistically lower than in the rest of Iraq ... the region&#146;s security situation is &#147;relatively benign&#148;</blockquote><p>Statistically lower risk? Well, sign us up amandak 2008-11-11T09:15:11-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/