The Corinthia Hotel Tripoli, one of the first international hotels to open in Libya, remains open with about 75 guests as the uprising in that country continues, said Corinthia CEO Tony Potter.
Potter said that about 300 people were in the luxury hotel when the uprising began, "so we had to stay open."
The nearby and brand-new JW Marriott decided to close, he said, so Corinthia worked with Marriott to take any guests that didn’t want to leave and help those who left for Malta.
Although occupancy has greatly decreased, Potter said the hotel plans to stay open, at least for now.
"Only recently has there been activity in Tripoli," he said during a visit to New York with company founder Alfred Pisani.
"On some occasions I called to talk to the GM, and she said she was going for a walk. So it has been pretty quiet in Tripoli. ... "As to what’s going to happen, who knows?"
Most of the guests are international business people, UN officials or journalists.
Pisani and Potter were in New York to promote the opening next month of the company’s London hotel, which will be its first property in a major Western gateway.
The luxury hotel company has been a pioneer of sorts in emerging markets in Eastern Europe and countries such as Libya.