The Phoenicia Hotel was a dream for Najib Salha – a prominent Lebanese businessman – who in the year 1953, during Lebanon’s Golden Era, envisioned to build a world class hotel on the shores of Beirut. With a group of investors, Mr. Salha founded “La Société des Grands Hotels du Liban” and invited leading American architect Edward Durell Stone to fulfill this dream. Combining a unique elegant exterior with a fabulous majestic interior, the hotel became in the blink of an eye, a reference in the world of hospitality: 446 luxurious rooms and suites, a wide choice of restaurants, shops and two swimming pools, indoor and outdoor, made the Phoenicia everybody's elite destination. Its reputation for class and luxurious living echoed around the globe. Kings, queens, world leaders, celebrities, businessmen and the jet set alike, made Phoenicia Hotel their home away from home, contributing to the country’s golden age, an upswing period during which Lebanon was known as the “Switzerland of the Middle East”.