Third only to Brussels and Washington DC, Addis Ababa is home to 118 diplomatic missions accredited to both the government in Ethiopia, the AU and the UNECA. The best is yet to come, when the Sheraton Hotel Addis Ababa, a member of the Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., was opened in February 1998, it marked the first of such investment the city had to enjoy in nearly three decades - the only other global name to precede it, Hilton Addis Ababa, was opened in 1969. The years in between were, unfortunately, relegated to disproportional insignificance in the development of the hotel industry. Until recently there was little luxury accommodation available in Ethiopia, and to a degree that is still the case. The country’s main offering is a range of camps and safari lodges of various degrees of sophistication, some of which remain both basic and primarily functional. However, particularly in areas such as Lalibela, Axum, Bahir Dar, Gondar, Hawasa, and in Addis Ababa , there are now an increasing number of luxury International Hotels, Lodges, Guest houses, Villas and Spas that are of a good to excellent standard.