HotelChatter

For example, there’s the Kempinski Hotel Sulaiman Bacha Khan in Damascus, Syria. This will be a 30-room boutique hotel in a heritage building inside the walled old town, due to open mid-2009. So does this mean Damascus is heading for the tourist hot list? Maybe, because there’s also a plan for a 210-room Kempinski Hotel Damascus to open about a year later.

Spin the globe again and there’s the Kempinski Hotel Bayterek planned for Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty. It’s a combo of a regular hotel and serviced apartments and seems to be aimed at business travelers, with Kazakhstan opening up right now to the mining industry (and not just tourists summoned by Borat).

And finally, head south and the Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta should be ready by February next year, a big luxury project that will include a spa and even an onsite micro-brewery where you can drink Paulaner Brauhaus beer; this might strike you as an odd inclusion until you remember that Kempinski is a German-owned chain. And a diverse chain at that.

[Photo: _Gene_]