The Savoy Hotel, Cairo

FANCY HOTELS

The Savoy Hotel on Qasr al-Nil Street had opened only two years earlier. The owner was the Greek Cypriot hotel magnate George Nungovich. The hotel was known for its luxury, its famous guests and its high prices. While a room at the well-known Shepheard's Hotel cost 80 piastres, one at the Savoy cost 120 piastres. But the hotel also offered modernities such as an electric lift and bathrooms and toilets in the suites. There were also restaurants, a smoking room, a reading room in classical Egyptian style and a large terrace. Royalty checked in here, as did a young Winston Churchill. It was definitely fashionable accommodation the von Hallwyl family had picked for their stay in Cairo.