Article by "Just Another Airman" in "Duffelblog":
TEHRAN, Iran — An Air Force feasibility
study has revealed that Iran has no hotels that meet the high standards
for housing U.S. Air Force airmen should they be deployed in response to
the country’s recent turmoil. The study was reported to congress by Air
Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein earlier this week.
The study was conducted by an elite team of Air Force general officers pulled from their daily work compiling PowerPoint slides for more senior generals. Upon spending days browsing popular sites such as Booking.com and Expedia, they were concerned over the lack of suitable 5-star hotels and a surplus of 3- and 4-star hotels. Poor reviews on an existing 5-star Hilton property, the Parsian Esteghlal International Hotel, also were concerning. Many pilots prefer to stay with Hilton on long deployments to accumulate reward points.
“The Air Force has ongoing concerns
that—with so few luxury hotels in the region—our ability to deploy
airman and sustain airpower operations will be limited,” Gen. Goldfein
told Congress. “If the U.S. is considering Iranian intervention, this is
the first problem we need to address.”
Adding to the concern are the disrupted
shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, which will make it difficult to
deploy the air conditioning units necessary for Air Force facilities.
This issue was brought to the Air Force’s attention by a group of
Anthony’s Pizza franchise owners, who have ruled out the possibility of
expanding into Iran, even if escorted through the strait by the
military.
Although Goldfein has already set a travel
advisory on his Hilton rewards card for Iran, he assures airmen that
they won’t be deployed until suitable hotels are available.