The Egyptian General Company for Tourism and Hotels (EGOTH) has appointed The Rocco Forte Collection (RFC) to manage the Shepheard Hotel in Cairo.

Shepheard's is owned by EGOTH, a subsidiary of The Holding Company for Tourism, Hotels and Cinema (HOTAC). HOTAC is one of the region's largest hotel-owning companies and already works with several other leading hotel brands. RFC will assume temporary management of Shepheard's later this month, running it outside of its main brand. The 279-room hotel, in the downtown area of the city, will then close for total refurbishment and renovation before re-opening in 2012 with 275 rooms as a fully-fledged Rocco Forte Collection Hotel.

George Freeman and Associates of London have been appointed as the interior designers for the project and British company 3D Reid for architecture. The hotel was founded by Samuel Shepheard in 1841 and became Cairo's leading hotel for much of the twentieth century. The original hotel was destroyed by fire twice, in 1891 and 1952, and then rebuilt on the banks of the River Nile in 1957.

The Shepheard Hotel contract is the fourth such win for the Rocco Forte Collection in the Middle East and North Africa, with Abu Dhabi and Jeddah due to open in 2010 and a resort in Marrakech in 2011.