5-star hotel provides an oasis in tattered nation

KABUL, Afghanistan — Some of them were not sure what a five-star hotel was. They crowded behind a fence, climbed trees and stared at the beige building across the street.

One man said he had been to a five-star, but he was talking about the Aria Five Star Wedding Hall, neither a hotel nor particularly luxurious. Another said simply, "It's Chinese."

"I don't know who the hotel is for, but it's a nice hotel, I know that much," said Ahmad Naser, 16, perched in a tree.

Hundreds of Afghans turned out this month for the opening of the country's first five-star hotel. Dignitaries walked inside; average Afghans stayed in the park across the street.

It was a momentous event.

The Serena Hotel, built for $36.5 million in three years, is almost surreal for dusty Afghanistan, with its turbans, burqas and occasional seventh-century feel. The Serena is supposed to attract business and money to the war-ravaged nation. Perhaps more than any other development, the opening of the hotel highlights the business boom in the Afghan capital, where more foreigners are coming to work and where rich Afghans are building mansions with mirrored windows.

Such opulence contrasts with the poverty of many Afghans. Most have no electricity, no clean water, no sewers, no roads. They live in tiny houses built of mud and straw. They carry water to their homes on their heads or on donkeys. Trash is dumped on the street. Sewage runs in open gutters.

Most Afghans never will stay at the Serena. Rooms cost at least $250 a night, five times the monthly wage of government workers. The presidential suite, still under construction, will cost $1,200 a night.

"Instead of building five-star palaces and castles in Afghanistan, it would be better to give us roads and electricity," said Mirza Nazar, 35. "It's better to build hospitals."

But the hotel, built at the request of the Afghan government, is likely to produce benefits for average Afghans. The Aga Khan Development Network, which runs the Serena hotel chain, also pours much of its money into philanthropic work and development.

And such a hotel is seen as crucial for post-Taliban Afghanistan, a place where business travelers and diplomats can feel comfortable, where conferences can be held.

Other hotels in Kabul fall between homey and bleak. For years, the only alternative to grubby rooming houses has been the Soviet-flavored Inter-Continental Hotel. The Inter-Con claims to have once been a five-star hotel, but it is difficult to imagine when.

A second fancy hotel also opened in Kabul this month, a so-called four-star deluxe that sits on top of a gleaming, white-and-metal shopping mall. Rooms run from $200 to $550 a night.

But the Serena is a different world. It's built in the shell of the Kabul Hotel, a landmark ravaged during the country's civil war. There's a swimming pool, a fitness center, a beauty parlor, delicate fruit tarts on two-tiered pastry trays, tinkling Indian music, air conditioners, heaters, shampoo from England, Q-tips, fluffy white robes, padded hangers and a hot tub.

The 177-room hotel also is its own world, generating its own power and treating its own water and sewage. The Serena will spend about $1.2 million a year on diesel fuel to run four generators.

A pastry shop sells croissants and cakes — and also Tabasco sauce, white asparagus spears and Oregon Fruit Products' pitted Bing cherries in heavy syrup.

"It's an oasis," said British contractor Richard Scarth, 37, after eating at one of the hotel's two restaurants and risking dairy products in Afghanistan. "It was like walking out of Kabul."

But Kabul never is far away. The rooms have blastproof windows, 48 armed security guards work at the hotel, and 48 security cameras scan the grounds. Guns are not allowed in the lobby. Everyone walking inside is searched. From even the nicest rooms, the view features traffic jams or the heavily fortified presidential palace.

"I've worked in a lot of places," said Christopher Newbery, the hotel's British general manager. "But this is the first time I've worked in a place where we've employed armed guards. It's interesting."