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Mumbai's targeted hotels reopen partly
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-22 08:22
A month ago, nearly anyone could breeze through the Oberoi and Trident lobbies uninterrupted. Yesterday, the stepped-up security contrasted with the hotel's trademark hospitality. Guards at the entrance asked visitors for ID, meticulously searched their bags and put luggage through X-ray scanners. Inside, candles flickered on the tables and flowers filled the sparkling, spotless lobby. With smiles, employees in ivory saris handed guests a yellow flower or a small bundle of roses as they arrived. The opening was marked with a simple ceremony in the lobby with Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Jain religious leaders. "There is no fear. We see the courage of the people and the staff," said Kritika Srinivasan, 28, a regular guest at the hotel who went inside to congratulate the staff. "We have to show them (the attackers) that they can't break our courage and solidarity." At the Taj, 1,000 invited people, from business leaders to guests, attended a private reception yesterday marking the reopening of the hotel's modern 268-room tower section. Two-thirds of the rooms are booked and two popular hotel restaurants, the Zodiac Grill and Souk, have waiting lists for yesterday, said a hopeful R.K. Krishna Kumar, vice-chairman of Indian Hotels Company Ltd, the Tata group subsidiary that owns the Taj. The Taj had stepped up security even before the attacks following the deadly car bombing at the Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan, in September. The Mumbai gunmen, however, slipped in through a back entrance that did not have metal detectors, hotel officials said. Kumar said new security measures include armed, undercover security guards, airport-quality luggage screening machines and more metal detectors. He said staff would go through bags more conscientiously and question all those who enter the lobby. |
