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The hotel was built overlooking Cecil Square, the city’s epi-centre and where the first British settlers raised the Union Jack. In 1980 as a new African nation was born the Zimbabwe flag replaced this and the beautiful park and gardens that the hotel overlooks became known as Africa Unity Square. This special location, along with the unwavering style of the establishment over almost a century, has resulted in it being the neutral territory of choice for some of the most important political meetings in the country’s history. The first parliament of the Colony of Southern Rhodesia met here in 1924. Since then leading African nationalists, Royalty, presidents and distinguished guests and celebrities from various nations around the world have met and stayed here. Today the hotel is somewhat different from its original design. Although the traditional high ceilings of the colonial era buildings are no longer a feature, the unwavering ethos of Meikles’ committed service excellence

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