The much talked–about Le Gray Hotel in Downtown Beirut will soon be the first Campbell Gray Hotels brand in Lebanon rather than the only one:

Following on from the success of Le Gray, Beirut, Campbell Gray is looking at two more projects in Lebanon – “one will be by the seaside and one in the mountains”.

That’s according to Campbell Gray’s  interview earlier this month with Hotelier Middle East magazine. My favorite part of the interview though had to be this:

A destination that Campbell Gray has always wanted to have a flag, despite the multiple of warnings of analysts, was Beirut in Lebanon and his dream finally came to fruition last year with the opening of Le Gray, Beirut to much acclaim.

“I have never been strategic, I have always been opportunity driven. With Beirut we were asked if we would like to do it by people who loved One Aldwych and I went to look at the site and loved it – it totally won my heart.

“All the analysts who I spoke to said ‘you’re crazy, don’t go to Beirut, go to Dubai if you want to go to the Middle East’. That was four and a half years ago. I said ‘I don’t want to go to the Middle East, I want to go to Beirut, which just happens to be in the Middle East’. I think that’s the difference,” says Campbell Gray.

Very cheeky.

Campbell Gray plans two more Lebanon hotels; "one will be by the seaside and one in the mountains"