Metropol Palace Hotel Belgrade

Metropol Palace Hotel
Metropol Palace Hotel in December 2012.
Former names	Hotel Metropol (1957-2007)
Hotel chain	The Luxury Collection
General information
Location	Tašmajdan, Belgrade, Serbia
Address	Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 69
Opening	1957
Technical details
Floor count	10
Design and construction
Architect	Dragiša Brašovan
Other information
Number of rooms	199
Number of suites	40
Website
www.metropolpalace.com [1]

Hotel Metropol Palace, formerly known as Hotel Metropol, is one of Belgrade's architectural monuments. It opened in 1957 on Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra, the longest street in the urban part of the city, designed by Serbian architect Dragiša Brašovan.

The hotel is located near the center of Belgrade (district of Palilula), overlooking the Tašmajdan park, close to the University of Law, the Church of St. Mark, the Vukov Spomenik area and the Slavija Square. The center of Belgrade including the pedestrian Knez Mihailova street, the Kalemegdan park-fortress and Skadarlija – the old-style bohemian area of Belgrade, are all easily reachable by public transportation or taxi/private car - 10 to 15 minutes in average traffic conditions.

In 2002 a major fire broke out at the hotel, completely destroying the two last floors. The remaining of the hotel remained opened nevertheless for the following years. The hotel closed down in 2007 for throughout renovations and opened its doors again in June 2012 as a premium 5 stars venue. In Autumn 2012 it officially joined the Starwood hotels chain, under the Luxury Collection brand-category.

The newly renovated hotel will significantly improve the hospitality infrastructure of the city of Belgrade, offering unique facilities that will enable Belgrade to attract important international events. The complete cost of the restoration, including the purchasing price was approx. 70 million EUR. The hotel has had many famous guests throughout its history such as Habib Bourguiba, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Che Guevara, Louis Armstrong, Kirk Douglas, Igor Stravinsky, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Jack Nicholson, Jawaharlal Nehru, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Vittorio De Sica, Gina Lollobrigida, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, and others.