Bill Gates to open a luxury hotel in Vatican

Negotiations between the Catholic Church’s Order of the Holy Sepulcher and the billionaire’s Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts venture have begun

The property is set to open close to the St. Peter’s Basilica. The hotel will be set up in the building of Palazzo di Domenico della Rovere in Borgo, or “Palazzo della Rovere”, on Via della Conciliazione.

The building is owned by the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. The construction dates back from the Renaissance and currently serves as the organisation’s administrative offices.

The negotiations with the Four Seasons chain focus on a 27-year and $52.4 million deal for the new Bill Gates hotel featuring 75 rooms, a high-end spa, gym, and restaurants, as well as an underground parking lot, targeting rich visitors of the city. Accommodation costs will stat at $514 a night.

According to Corriere della Sera, the contract mentions an $1 million annual rent and includes the building’s reconstruction and art restoration works. The new hotel is expected to be finished ahead of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope.

On the other hand, the critics’ voices argue that such an exclusive and opulent hotel set on a property owned by the church directly contrasts the Catholic “poor church for the poor” vision. Moreover, the St. Peter’s Square is an area well known for providing night refuge for the homeless people.

In addition, many companies that lost the initial bid aim to forward an action suit against the decision.

Meanwhile, the Order of the Holy Sepulcher stated:

“Like a faithful and prudent administrator, [the Order] has a duty to take care of everything that has been entrusted to it and that it manages with transparency.

“Until recently, part of the building was rented to a hotel company to cover, through remittances, the management costs of the Order, so that all the donations received can actually be directed to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.”

According to the Holy Sepulcher representatives, Four Seasons was the chosen winner of the bid by
an international commission of evaluators was established by Filoni.

“This Commission has indicated its preferences and has chosen – in accordance with the rules laid down by Pope Francis for the Holy See – the manifestations of interest, following market research, that best correspond to the needs and purposes of the Order,” the official statement adds, while highlighting that the Order has the ethical duty “to preserve and manage the property with care and transparency, in the light of its mission of evangelization and attention to the Holy Land.”

The Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Toronto, Canadian hotelier Isadore Sharp an is currently 71% owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates since 2007. The chain operates more than 100 properties around the globe.

 

Source: cruxnow.com