Mashhad officials have closed down Qasr International Hotel, one of the top lodging facilities in the city, for failing to address problems with its parking.
Industry news website Hoteljar.ir reported on Saturday that law-enforcement forces of Mashhad Municipality shut down the hotel on Thursday after the management failed to address problems with the hotel’s parking lot following repeated warnings.
According to Alireza Esmatpour, mayor of Mashhad’s District 7, the hotel failed to carry out its obligations to the municipality for the past 15 years.
“The owner of the establishment was obliged to build a parking lot at most in a 100-meter radius of the hotel, but for the past 15 years they have failed to act,” he was quoted as saying by the website.
The official said an agreement was struck between the municipality and the hotel owner in 2010, which allowed the city officials to forgo formalities and shut the hotel down if the management failed to comply with regulations.
“They have committed other offences, such as illegally reopening their restaurant that had been shut down by the authorities,” Esmatpour said.
According to Mohammad Qanei, president of Khorasan Razavi’s Hotel Owners Association, the manner in which the city officials closed down the hotel was “unprofessional”.
“They did so in the presence of distraught guests, some of whom even resisted and were not willing to leave their rooms,” he said.
It was not immediately clear what became of the guests, especially since quality hotels in Mashhad are usually fully booked since the city is a top destination for both tourists and pilgrims.
Nearly half of Iran’s annual five million inbound tourists visits Mashhad, mostly as pilgrims to the mausoleum of Imam Reza (PBUH).
About 25 million people from Iran and overseas make the pilgrimage to the holy site every year.
