Week 9 - Hotels as Geopolitical places

Hotels function as soft targets

• They are open / international spaces = vulnerable

• example: Europa Hotel - bombed multiple times during the troubles

Critique of hotels considered soft targets

security reductionism = treating hotels mainly as security problems oversimplifies / ignores historical / political / colonial causes of violence

Hotels projecting national identity / modernity and global influence

example: Bosphorus hotel - Istanbul - symbolically positioned between the east and the West

Critiques of hotels projecting national identity

• Aesthetic masking - modern architecture / tourism branding can hide political inequalities

Hotels as conflict infrastructure

• hotels can be useful - due to location / height and communication access

• example: Beirut Holiday Inn - used by militas / snipers

  • example: Sarajevo Holiday Inn - multi level war use - snipers / politicians / journalists

Critique of hotels as conflict infrastructure

urban exceptionalism - risks portraying cities purely as war zones = ignoring everyday civilian life

Hotels as media / war reporting hubs

• hotels become bases for journalists = creating “keyhole perspectives” on conflict

  • example: Commodore Hotel - Beirut - acted as a press hub / fax reporting

Critique of using Hotels as war reporting hubs

knowledge is limited from actual warzones = narratives become distorted = narratives are distorted as its reported from one location

Hotels as emergency care / humanitarian spaces

• example: Hotel des Mille Collines / COVID Hotels

critiques of using hotels as humanitarian spaces

• ethical ambiguity - protection can blur into confinement

• bandaid solution - they manage immediate crises without addressing structural causes

hotels as peacebuilding infrastructure

• they become neutral spaces for diplomacy and negociation

  • example: Ledra Palace Hotel - Nicosia, Cyprus = UN Buffer zone, hosting cross community events

critiques of hotels as peacebuilding infrastructure

• symbolic peacebuilding - may create appearance of cooperation without real structural change