The hotel where the King of Saudi Arabia lived. The Saudi king made money for Moscow luxury hotels. Kings can do anything
https://www.site/2017-10-06/podschitano_razmechenie_saudovskogo_korolya_so_svitoy_v_otelyah_moskvy_oboshlos_v_3_3_mln
It is estimated that the accommodation of the Saudi king and his retinue in Moscow hotels cost $3.3 million
Kremlin press service
Travel service OneTwoTrip calculated that the accommodation of the delegation of the King of Saudi Arabia in five-star hotels in Moscow cost 2.5 - 3.3 million dollars.
The king's delegation of 1 thousand people stayed in hotels Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, National, the statement said. The cost of living in all rooms at the Four Seasons Hotel, as well as in suites, standard and superior rooms at the Ritz Carlton, St., was between $2.2 million and $3.3 million. Regis, National.
The cost of accommodation for three nights in just one Four Seasons, the rooms of which were purchased in full for the delegation, could be $738 thousand, excluding price adjustments for group bookings. The hotel has 180 rooms: 139 rooms, 39 suites, 1 presidential suite and 1 royal suite. The cost of living per day in the last two is at least 1 million rubles, a night in a “standard” room, depending on the view from the window, from 35 to 60 thousand rubles, in a suite from 80 to 200 thousand rubles.
In addition, the service suggested that the furnishings in the rooms were changed especially for the king’s arrival: carpets were added, the furniture was changed.
The 81-year-old King of Saudi Arabia, Salman Ben-Abdel Aziz Al Saud, arrived in Russia the day before. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Kommersant reports, following negotiations between the leaders of Russia and Saudi Arabia, agreements were reached on the purchase by Riyadh of S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems. In addition, a contract was concluded to organize the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles in Saudi Arabia and a memorandum was signed on the purchase and localization of TOS-1A heavy flamethrower systems, Kornet-EM anti-tank missile systems and AGS-30 grenade launchers.
The King of Saudi Arabia is famous for his love of luxury. During a recent visit to Indonesia, he was accompanied by 1 thousand people, and his luggage weighed about 500 tons. Salman Al Saud's visit to Japan was carried out on 10 planes. He brought with him 500 limousines and two golden escalators.
On October 4, Business FM received information that during the visit of the King of Saudi Arabia and his retinue to Moscow, all available five-star rooms around Red Square and the Kremlin will be occupied by them. One of the hotels is 100% booked.
The royal will remain in the capital until October 7. During this time, several very important meetings should take place. Now we can say with confidence that in the area of Lubyanka, Kuznetsky Most, and Manezhnaya Square it will not be possible to find a free place in a top-level hotel. The important guests decided to pay special attention to the Four Seasons, St. Regis and National. It was these objects that were considered most worthy to receive the delegation from Saudi Arabia. Work in hotels is in full swing, as everyone needs to be pleased. In general, the Saudis arrived in large numbers - about 1000 people. For the most important of them - the king - all rooms at the Ritz Carlton hotel were booked until October 7.
According to Yunis Teymurkhanly, general director and the owner of one of the St. Petersburg hotels, such measures are mandatory, as they are part of the protocol requirements for accommodating persons of this level. Important guests should get everything they expect. If the king believes that the hotel should be filled with his retinue for the entire duration of his stay, so be it. Important guests - special rules. In practice, in most cases, guests of this level are accommodated in official residences countries they visit. In this way, the maximum level of security can be ensured.
But, the decision on which accommodation facility to choose is determined only by the protocol of the two countries. The monarch’s delegation may have its own perception of transport accessibility and safety, and therefore the choice may well be different. As happened in the case of the visit to Moscow. If we talk about the hotels that were the choice of the delegation, their cuisine even exceeds the capabilities of a state residence, which, as a rule, is offered to important guests. Most likely, the king will invite various guests, including journalists. During the visit of politicians, his own chefs will treat not only the large delegation, but also all invitees.
Already on October 4, one could notice that there were an unusually large number of traffic police officers on the roads of Moscow, which was most likely dictated by increased security measures. The King must understand that in connection with his visit all necessary measures. The vice-president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of the Russian Federation believes that traffic in the center during this period can be considered significantly more complicated, but Moscow has long been accustomed to this. The capital city often receives distinguished guests, so we will work at the usual pace. The delegation is actually very large. There is also a nuance: all the guests wished to stay exclusively in top-level hotels, the latter were happy about this.
At the Ritz Carlton hotel on Booking.com, room rates range from 35 to 112 thousand rubles per night as of October 8. In total, the hotel has 334 rooms.
It is worth recalling that at the beginning of 2017, the Saudi king already undertook a 31-day trip to Asian countries. In order for the trip to be as the king had planned for himself, it was necessary to take 459 tons of luggage, which included 2 elevators, as well as 2 Mercedes-Benz S600 cars and a retinue of 1,500 people. The monarch's age is 81 years.
Salman Al Saud is the first Saudi monarch to visit Russia. They are preparing for his visit with all care. Special billboards with greetings even appeared at Vnukovo airport
King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdul Al Saud. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
The Saudi king flies to Russia. Salman Al Saud will be the first Saudi monarch to set foot on our soil. Can we say that the arrival was delayed and what to expect from Saudi delegation?
For several days now, billboards with Russian text and Arabic script have been hanging near the Vnukovo airport: “We welcome the custodian of two Islamic shrines in Russia,” and in the background is a smiling King Salman Al Saud. In Russia, people have been waiting for the monarch. Previously, Putin met only with Crown Prince Mohammed in 2004 in Moscow and two years ago in Sochi. And then, finally, the king himself. Why only now?
Professor of the Department of International Economic Relations, Institute of Asian and African Countries, Moscow State University. Lomonosov“This is connected to many things, because when the Crown Prince was here, we agreed, say, to create a joint fund in the field of oil. There are very large funds involved; both sides must invest over $1 billion. Among other things, the king of Saudi Arabia understands perfectly well that it is necessary to negotiate with Russia on Syrian issues. The king must test the waters to see how far our ties with the same Iran go, and whether Iran will lay claim to some special role in Syria after the completion of the military operation against the Islamic State.”
Salman is 81 and rarely travels outside the country. According to Arab media, after suffering a stroke, the monarch suffered greatly. It is believed that the king suffers from Alzheimer's disease. However, Salman's condition does not change the status of the meeting.
Associate Professor, Department of General History, Russian State University for the Humanities“The Queen of England visited us in 1994, but this is the first time the Saudi king is coming. This means everything will be widescreen. There will be a guard of honor, there will be a whole range of pompous protocol events. They can even give you a mini-tour. It all depends on the state of health of the king; it is not so much the guards who are important there as the doctors. Yes, he is of advanced age, plus he is a sick man. Ours, too, have probably prepared some kind of ward at the Central Clinical Hospital just in case, it’s just not advertised.”
All the rooms of the Ritz Hotel were purchased for the king.-Carlton until October 7th. It’s not just a delegation flying: the entire color of the country. For example, during a March visit to Japan, the king traveled to Tokyo on ten planes and transported 450 tons of luggage. He talks about the intricacies of the Saudi protocol former ambassador Russia in Saudi Arabia Andrey Baklanov:
Andrey Baklanov former Russian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia“The Saudis are distinguished by their particularly painstaking approach to preparing and conducting top-level visits. Everything must be planned out and then, according to this carefully thought-out scenario, implemented. They first send a large advance group to the country where the event will take place, which different directions the program is working. Accompanies pretty a large number of family members of the ruling dynasty and officials - employees of ministries and departments, and business representatives, and simply people who perform technical services.”
The king’s visit will be such that one can only sympathize with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who will also arrive in Moscow.
For the King of Saudi Arabia.
During the visit, the delegation of the King of Saudi Arabia will live next to Red Square. Today, rent a room at the National, Four Seasons or St. Regis will not work: in one of the hotels, journalists were told about full occupancy, which, according to employees, happens extremely rarely. Reservations will open again after October 8th.
Some hotels had to cancel planned weddings and banquets; The main task now is to strengthen security: you can enter the building only after presenting your guest card.
Sergei Kolesnikov, vice-president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers, told Kommersant FM that this is normal practice:
“These events do not take place spontaneously, regardless of who comes: Saudi Arabia, the United States, the President of the Russian Federation or high-ranking officials. A representative of the special services selects not just a hotel, but specific rooms, this happens within a week or two. After the advance group, the day before arrival, special security measures are carried out: the room is checked again so that there are no misunderstandings.”
The organizers of the visit paid special attention to the convenience of the guests. The king of Saudi Arabia is known for his whimsical nature: on his March trip to Indonesia, he took about 500 tons of luggage, two Mercedes-Benz S600 cars and even two electric elevators; Apparently, the Saudis did not come to Moscow lightly. Especially for the delegation, hotels change the furnishings of the rooms: the usual European furniture is sent to the warehouse, and in return they lay out carpets brought from Riyadh; In addition, pork dishes will be excluded from hotel menus.
This is not all that hotels can do for the sake of clients, noted Kirill Ryabkov, marketing director of the Quintessentially Russia concierge club:
“I worked at the Hyatt hotel where Madonna was staying and we did separate room, where she did yoga. The room had to be connected to her presidential suite, this was a requirement. One Australian pop star demanded that there be a certain scent of lilies where she walked."
There are a thousand people in Salman Al Saud's delegation, and they were apparently lucky with their accommodation. Although it happened that wealthy guests bought the best rooms from the guests - the owner of the Helvetia Hotel in St. Petersburg, Yunis Teymurkhanly, told Kommersant FM about this case:
“The delegation, it seems, from the Emirates, was satisfied only with the presidential number: it was sold to someone from Russian oligarchs, and representatives Arab sheikh contacted the Russian with a request to give up this number. He categorically refused, bidding began, and in the end, when it had already reached astronomical figures, the oligarch’s wife could not stand it, saying: “You don’t want it, but I want it, I’ll buy it in France for the difference.”
Prices for the best 500 square meter Four Seasons rooms. m. start from 1 million rubles. per day., but for the delegation this is not a problem: especially, according to some sources, Saudi Prince Al-Walid, the king’s nephew, owns a share of this hotel chain.
Kommersant FM’s interlocutors say that the special conditions in which the king of Saudi Arabia will live cannot be called a whim: this, according to hotel business experts, is a guarantee of their complete safety.
Trouble started upon arrival. The King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who arrived in Moscow on a state visit, discovered a breakdown of his escalator when getting off the plane at the capital's Vnukovo airport.
The golden escalator recently accompanies the Saudi monarch during his official visits. Thus, on March 1, 2017, Indonesian observers paid special attention to this detail. They noted 1,000 accompanying persons in the king's retinue, and estimated the weight of his luggage at 500 tons. Two weeks later, reporting on the Saudi king’s luxurious trip to Japan, the RT television channel noted that the monarch’s visit was served by two golden escalators, 10 airplanes, and 500 limousines. At that time, 1,200 luxury hotel rooms were prepared to accommodate the royal retinue in Japan.
The cost of accommodation for King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his retinue during his visit to Moscow from October 5 to 7 could be up to $3.3 million, according to a study conducted for RBC by specialists from the OneTwoTrip travel service.
Earlier, RIA Novosti reported that the Saudi king and a thousand people in his retinue will occupy all the available rooms in five-star hotels around the Kremlin and Red Square. They will stay at the Four Seasons (Moscow), Ritz Carlton, St. Regis Nikolskaya and National. In particular, the delegation completely rented the Four Seasons Hotel. The cost of the presidential suite alone is 1 million rubles.
“Depending on the accommodation, 1 thousand guests will need from 500 to 1 thousand rooms. Including accommodation in all Four Seasons rooms and suites at the Ritz Carlton, St. Regis and National provide about 326 rooms, that is, to accommodate the entire delegation, at least another 430 rooms of a different category are needed in these three hotels,” experts calculated.
If we take into account the cost of not only suites, but also standard and superior rooms, as well as a markup for group accommodation from 10 to 50%, then the total cost of accommodation for the Saudi delegation could range from $2.2 million to $3.3 million, experts say.
According to Kommersant, the furnishings in some rooms will be changed especially for the king’s arrival: carpets will be added, furniture will be changed. “The cost of such a transformation is difficult to calculate. We can talk about tens of thousands of dollars,” say OneTwoTrip experts.
According to Kommersant, Saudi Prince Al-Waleed, nephew of the King of Saudi Arabia, owns a share in the network Four hotels Seasons. “Without a doubt, this will make adjustments to the final price,” says the study received by RBC.
A slight drop in the ratings of specific hotels due to the inability of regular guests to check in for this period “will be more than compensated by income from the accommodation of delegations,” Vyacheslav Sapozhnikov, editor-in-chief of the industry portal Hotelier.PRO, told RBC. According to him, the reputation of hotels is a “long-lasting issue.”
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud's visit to Moscow following the incident at Vnukovo-2 airport. When the king got off the plane and began to go down the escalator, it broke and the monarch had to go down on his own. As RBC Advisor to the Administrative Director of the President of Russia Elena Krylova, the Saudi Arabian delegation brought an escalator ladder with them, but she could not clarify the cause of the breakdown.
During his visit, the King of Saudi Arabia held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin press service reported that increasing bilateral cooperation in the trade, economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian spheres will be discussed, and joint documents will also be signed.