History

• Built by a pioneer
  The construction  of the  Al Bustan Hotel was started in 1962,  by the well known pioneer Lebanese entrepreneur, business man  and statesman Emile Bustani. It replaced a 1930 hotel called the Grand Hotel, which  stood in the same location.
• A love affair
  Both Emile Bustani and his wife Laura had  special memories of the Grand, as they used to go dancing there in the thirties, during their courting days. However the old hotel had become derelict and sadly had to be pulled down.
• East and West meeting place
  Emile Bustani was a bridge builder between East and West and the new hotel he had started to build was to embody his dreams. It would be a constant meeting place between East and West, with full conference facilities,  good living (Bustani was a great host!), a comfortable and welcoming place,  surrounded by gardens and trees,  Bustani ’s ultimate Guest House.
• Laura  Bustani opens the hotel
  After Emile Bustani died tragically (1963) in his own plane,  crashing into the sea off Beirut harbour, his widow Laura continued the project and opened the new hotel in the autumn of 1967.
• "The Garden"
  Laura Bustani  named the hotel "Al  Bustan" which in Arabic means The  Garden. The Al Bustan hotel was the first hotel in Lebanon to be given an Arabic name! All the fashionable hotels in Beirut at the time only had European names !
• Renovations
  The hotel has undergone extensive renovation since 1992,  and was the very first five star hotel in Lebanon to be renovated after the Lebanese war.
• Family owned
  The hotel is still owned privately by the Bustani family group, and is cared for directly by individual members of the family.
• The Art Collection
  The hotel houses an ever growing Art Collection of antiquities, sculpture, paintings, watercolours and prints, in the lounges and bedrooms.
• The Al Bustan Festival
  The daughter of Emile Bustani, Myrna, has instituted the International Al Bustan Festival of Music and the Arts, which takes place annually, since 1994, mainly in the hotel premises, during the months of February and March. The Festival is a non profit organisation and a member of the European Festival Association
• A landmark
  The Al Bustan is a landmark, which can be seen from almost everywhere in Beirut, shining on top of the hill.

Byzantine archeological site near the hotel

6th century mosaic at the hotel