Hotels turn fortresses

The way we visited five star hotels all those years completely changed a year ago when terrorists massacred over 200 people in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Hotel, Oberoi and Trident hotels in three days, reports Lalatendu Mishra.

The way we visited five star hotels all those years completely changed a year ago when terrorists massacred over 200 people in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Hotel, Oberoi and Trident hotels in three days.

Hotels in their bid to reassure a secured environment have invested heavily both in equipment and personnel. While the outward display of security has gone up in many fold, electronic surveillance has been enhanced substantially for providing full proof security.

Cars are not allowed in to the porticoes of Taj Mahal Hotel and Taj President. One needs to pass through multi layers of security while visiting JW Marriott, Grand Hyatt, Le Royal Meridian, ITC hotels and others. The Leela provides a pick up from the gate for guests coming in by public transport and private cars are kept at a bay.

“Our security staff have been given rigorous training,” said a Taj spokesperson.

“We have taken several steps but can not reveal the measures,” said an Oberoi spokesperson.

All hotels have also installed baggage scanners costing lakhs of rupees.

“Money is no concern. We always go for the highest level of security. Different cities have different levels of threat perception,” said Rajeev Menon, area vice president, Mariott International. He said more upgrades have been done after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.