It's that the hotel is here at all, given the adversity it's faced in recent years, let alone enjoying a new lease of life.
A symbol of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian capital and a survivor of the 1990s Bosnian war, the historic hotel reopened last year after a tumultuous sell-off, license loss and bankruptcy.
Originally opened as a Holiday Inn for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, the hotel became the glitzy accommodation for the International Olympic Committee leadership, the US and British Ambassadors to Yugoslavia, and US actor Kirk Douglas.
Indoor city
Saravejo's Holiday Inn hotel was used as a base for reporters during the Balkans conflict.
Back then, Bosnian architect Ivan Štraus intended to create an "indoor city" in the hotel, complete with facilities including a hair salon, travel agency and tobacconist.
In Sarajevo, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Communist-era architectural styles sit alongside each other. The hotel formed the next chapter.
"The Holiday Inn was supposed to look like a modernist take on an old Ottoman-style Sarajevan house. And it was built, of course, in this very interesting yellow color," Morrison tells CNN, explaining how it was sometimes referred to as "jaundiced."
"The building was architecturally very interesting -- for Sarajevo, at the time, it was extremely modern, an international brand."
New era
In 2017, the hotel has returned to its '80s roots: The yellow façade has been fully restored, travel agents' signs fill the atrium, a hair salon offers the latest styles and the spa gives facials and OPI manicures.
Groups of women sit in the cavernous lobby, playing distractedly with their phones. One man barks at the receptionist, asking who will carry his luggage to his room as he looks around for an invisible servant.
Children of wealthy guests wander the corridors, which are adorned with 1980s décor -- think standard lamps and navy blue carpet.
Discoteka '84 doesn't appear to be open during CNN's stay -- making it impossible to attest to the quality of the international tunes.
But there's certainly character about the place, albeit in the form of an '80s pastiche. The restaurant is all wood paneling and shouty upholstery.
Guests graze upon bowls of peanuts in the 24-hour bar, while rooms have mahogany furnishings and the most fabulous yellow bathroom ceramics.
On the front line
Zmaja od Bosne Street was known as Sniper Alley during the Bosnian War.
It's a far cry from the days of the '90s Bosnian conflict, when the former Holiday Inn's fortunes turned.
In 1992,...
Read More: Sarajevo's Holiday Inn: War reporters' hotel gets new life