Hilton's new Hanoi hotel no 'Hanoi Hilton'
February 26, 1999
Web posted at: 1:02 p.m. EST (1802 GMT)
HANOI, Vietnam (CNN) -- The Hilton International group on
Friday opened a new luxury hotel in the Vietnamese capital,
just a stone's throw from the site of the notorious prison
dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American prisoners of war.
The five-star, 269-room Hilton Hanoi Opera, built at a cost
of $62 million, signals the changing of the guard for the
city, as it attempts to move beyond a past of war and
deprivation toward a future of world-class facilities able
to cater to international executives and travelers.
The hotel is next to, and designed to complement, the Hanoi
Opera House.
One of Hanoi's main tourist attractions is the nearby squalid
Hoa Lo prison compound, called the "Hanoi Hilton" by U.S.
servicemen held there during the United States' war with
North Vietnam. The prison has been converted into a museum.
U.S. Air Force pilot Pete Peterson, now the U.S. ambassador
to Vietnam, was one of the "guests" at the original Hanoi
Hilton.
Asked about his most vivid memory of the facility, Peterson
replied, "Arrival!"
Then he grew somber and added, "It was a very, very awful
situation, one that I found very distasteful, obviously, and
that holds some very bad memories."
Meanwhile, as the first guest checked into the Hilton Hanoi
Opera, the hotel's executives played down attempts to link
the occasion to the prison.
"We have nothing but the deepest respect and sympathy for
this very sad page of American and Vietnamese history," said
Alain Mahillon, vice president of Hilton International.
Hilton International manages and has a 40 percent stake in
the new hotel, while Vivendi of France and Vietnamese state-owned partner Dong Loi Tourism Company own 30 percent each.
Its opening comes at a time when the Hanoi luxury hotel
market is suffering from chronic oversupply, exacerbated by
the Asian financial crisis.
During the past 15 months, the Japanese-built Hotel Nikko,
the Singaporean-backed Meritus Westlake, the Swiss-managed
Horizon Hotel and the Spanish-managed Melia hotel have
opened, more than doubling the number of international-standard rooms in the city.
In an effort to compete, established hotels like the Sofitel
Metropol, owned by Accor Pacific, and the Hanoi Daewoo hotel
have slashed rates by up to 50 percent.
Correspondent John Raedler contributed to this report.
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