Cairo Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino’s Historic Role in Egypt’s Contemporary History

“The palace was originally constructed to welcome dignitaries coming for the Suez Canal opening,” explains Richard S. Zeolla, general manager of Cairo Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino.

Cairo Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino was originally designed after some palaces in France, Versailles for the specific purpose of impressing Empress Eugénie, who was wife of Napoleon lll.

Today, Cairo Marriott Hotel plays “a very historic role in Egypt’s recent history. We see some parallels. Suez Canal is getting a lot of attention now,” says Zeolla.

“It’s not every day and not every GM gets the opportunity to operate a palace. It comes with its blessings and with some of its challenges. We have to have a museum curator onsite. Everything that we touch in historic parts of the palace needs the antiquities department’s authority to open, to fix to repair anything. It is a fine balancing act, but our team is up to the challenge and they have been doing it for 32 years,” he adds.