Divan Hotel which sheltered Gezi Park protesters awarded

MUNICH – Hürriyet

Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had repeatedly criticized Divan Hotel, owned by Koç Holding, for opening its doors to protesters fleeing police tear gas during weeks of anti-government demonstrations. DHA photo

PKF hotelexperts, based in Germany’s Munich, has awarded Turkey’s Divan Hotel with its “Hospitality Innovation Award” for displaying “civil solidarity, courage and hospitality in crisis situations” during the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul.

The Divan chain’s Istanbul hotel, which is located directly opposite Gezi Park in Taksim, became a shelter for the protesters who were escaping from the fierce police intervention.

The award, which is one of the most prestigious of its field, will host the annual hotel development conference for hotel and real estate professionals. The event will take place at hotel Bayrischer Hof in Munich on Oct. 2013.

PKF chair Michael Widman said Koç Holding had established Turkey’s biggest company in a century. 

“Divan Hotels are not big but its prestige is, it has 11 hotels with a 1,447 bed capacity. Along with that Divan Hotels and Koç Family has showed solidarity and courage during Gezi Park protests and proved how important hospitality is during crisis situations,” Widman told daily Hürriyet in a recent interview.

Motel One hotel chains, SOS Kinderdorf and Studiosus have won the award in previous years.

Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had repeatedly criticized Divan Hotel, owned by Koç Holding, for opening its doors to protesters fleeing police tear gas during weeks of anti-government demonstrations.