Hotel Olympik

Hotel Olympik is a large hotel in the Karlín area of the 8th district of Prague, Czech Republic. The hotel is near the housing facility Invalidovna and the stadium of Čechie Karlín. Hotel Olympik is located at 138 Sokolovská Street.

History
The Hotel Olympik was designed by a team of architects led by Josef Polak between 1967 and 1971. The hotel was opened to the public in 1973. The building is 73 m high, it has 21 floors and overlooks the city quarter Karlín.

The hotel was finished in 1974, and at the time had 715 beds. A fire in the hotel in 1995 took 8 lives and resulted in damages of 35 million CZK.

In 1995, the hotel was the scene for one of the biggest fires in Czech Republic history, resulting in 8 deaths and 34 injuries. The fire started on the 11th floor of the hotel, and is believed to be caused due to an overheating appliance.

On 5 October 2008 thieves broke into the hotel safe and stole about the equivalent to CZK 1.000.000,00 in different currencies ( about US$55,500.00 ) and a large number of shares from the Olympic Holding Company.

In 2015 the hotel was given a new brightly coloured facade.

1980 Summer Olympics
According to some experts, Hotel Olympik was built in preparation of Prague's bid to host the 1980 Summer Olympics. The housing area Invalidovna would have been the Olympic village. After Moscow placed a bid, Prague withdrew its application. The hotel is not in a tourist area; it hosts many conferences and business gatherings.