After frequenting the St. Georges Yacht Club’s pool and restaurant from more than a decade, I have grown to known it very well. However, despite its long struggle of gaining recognition for its name and place, the place has gone down the hill especially considering the options that have spurted up for beaches and pools around the shoreline of Lebanon.
First of all, the person responsible for the entry into the facility is probably one of the most rude human beings you will encounter in Beirut. His reputation precedes him with a recent racism scandal in which he was filmed refusing entrance to someone because of her race, while allowing others to come in. Look up the term “Saint Georges Discrimination” on YouTube. Although they have since apologized for this incident, the person responsible hasn’t been fired and we experienced this first-hand recently from him. Nothing has changed. People have been refused entry because of their gender and talked down to because of their ethnic origins until today (September 2014)
The St. Georges Yacht Club has the most amazing location in Lebanon and lively atmosphere, however this is hampered by the service and the bigotry that is bound to ruin any vacation. Until this behaviour is eradicated, young people and tourists (of all colors, nationalities, genders and preferences) are opting to visit other places. Too bad the attitude of this deterred us from entering, we could have return a better review otherwise.
