CUZCO, Peru, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The 123-room Hotel Monasterio in Cuzco, Peru -- implementing several new enhancements to provide guests at the converted 16th century monastery with the ultimate in comfort and style -- will soon debut a fresh approach never before offered in any hotel in the world -- oxygen-enriched guestrooms. Five of the hotel's new suites are outfitted with the new service, while, as of early 2002, a total of 50 rooms will continually provide additional concentrations of oxygen 24-hours a day.
The company also announced an agreement to acquire a seven-room hotel on a 65-acre site in Peru's spectacular Colca Canyon, famed as the deepest canyon in the world (more than one mile deep) and where the condors fly. It aims to build small lodges, similar in design to its Gametrackers lodges in Botswana, which blend with their surroundings and are environmentally sound. Initial design and development schemes are being prepared; development is intended to start in 2002, with the new hotel opening for the 2003 season.
The special amenity at Hotel Monasterio is intended to contribute to both a soothing introduction to the higher altitudes of Peru, and even after acclimatization, provide extra pampering for nighttime sleep. The Orient-Express property sits spectacularly at 11,000-feet in sharp contrast to Lima, Peru's capital city that greets international visitors at sea level.
What we shall achieve with this innovative approach, is to provide a new level of comfort as guests experience a wide range of comforts at perhaps an altitude level never before enjoyed, observes Filip Boyen, general manager, Orient-Express Hotels, Peru.
In other changes at Hotel Monasterio, work is being completed on a new lobby bar with huge stone fireplace and a gourmet restaurant, which is scheduled to open by the end of the year. Also by year's end the property will have a total of 11 new large one-level suites, created around the cloistered patio area.
The Hotel Monasterio, ten minutes from Cuzco Airport and close to the town's main square, was the former 16th century Seminary of San Antonio Abad and built on the site of the Inca Amaru Qhala Palace. Its vaulted Tupay Restaurant features nouvelle Andean and international cuisine.
The city of Cuzco was once the capital of the ancient Inca civilization in the Andes mountain range and is located at a height of 11,000-ft. Most visitors reach the city by flying directly from Lima, which is at sea level. The rapid one-hour ascent from Lima to Cuzco by air means that there is no time for gradual acclimatization and approximately 30% of visitors suffer symptoms of altitude sickness. There is evidence that if oxygenation of the body can be improved at night during sleep, the results last throughout the following day, enabling guests to enjoy their visit to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley.
Oxygen concentrators are being used to filter nitrogen out of the air and thereby enrich the atmosphere in the rooms. Guestrooms do not need to be sealed in order for the system to work, however windows must be kept closed. The oxygen level will be taken to 24% which equates to a lower altitude rather than to sea level, so guests can go in and out of their rooms into public areas and the city, freely.
Symptoms of high altitude are generally dealt with by the use of oxygen masks, which are obtrusive and inconvenient. This system of oxygen enrichment has been used successfully in both miners' accommodation in the Chilean Andes and the White Mountain Research Station in California, but the Hotel Monasterio is the first hotel in the world to adapt such a system.
In Cuzco, the atmospheric pressure is approximately 680 millibars (sea level atmospheric pressure is 1,000 millibars) -- this translates to a 30% fall in available oxygen in the air. The effect of this decrease in inspired oxygen (hypoxia) leads to the symptoms of acute altitude sickness or soroche, as it is known locally. The onset of symptoms can occur anywhere from 1-24 hours after arrival at high altitude and include headache, nausea, insomnia, and loss of appetite, irritability and breathlessness.
Oxygen will be piped into rooms 24-hours a day, oxygenating the rooms down to an atmospheric pressure of approximately 2,400 meters, which is low enough to prevent ill effects from altitude sickness. It has been shown that each additional 1% oxygen concentration inspired equates to a 300-meter descent. Thus by raising the inspired oxygen level from 21% to 24%, there is an effective decrease in altitude of 900 meters, i.e. taking the room down to 2,400-meters where the affects of altitude sickness are less acute. By comparison, at sea level, the air is 26% oxygen.
Orient-Express Hotels has a number of interests in Peru. In March 1999, Orient-Express entered into a joint venture with Peru Hotel S.A., to acquire both the Hotel Monasterio in Cuzco and Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge. In January 2001 the company acquired the Miraflores Park Hotel, located in the fashionable district of Miraflores in Lima. Orient-Express manages the three properties under a long-term contract. In July 1999, PeruRail, the rail operator owned by Orient-Express Hotels and Peruval Corp., won the tender to acquire ENAFER, the Peruvian State Railway and now operates the southern section of the Peruvian rail network, including the Cuzco-Puno (Lake Titicaca) route; Arequipa -- Puno route, and the narrow gauge railway between Cuzco and Machu Picchu.
To find out more about Orient-Express Hotels' hotels in Peru or to make reservations, call Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide at 800-323-7500. Additional information is available at http://www.orient-express.com.
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