The cost of living for the King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud and his retinue during a visit to Moscow from October 5 to 7 may be up to $ 3.3 million, according to a study conducted for RBC by travel service specialists OneTwoTrip.
Earlier, RIA Novosti reported that the Saudi king and a thousand of his entourage will occupy all the vacant rooms of 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 fully rented the Four Seasons Hotel. The cost of the presidential suite alone is 1 million rubles.
“Depending on the accommodation, 1,000 guests will need from 500 to 1,000 rooms. Includes accommodation in all Four Seasons rooms and Ritz Carlton Suites, St. Regis and National, it turns out 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, "the experts calculated.
If we take into account the cost of not only suites, but also standard and superior rooms, as well as the extra charge for group accommodation from 10 to 50%, the total cost of accommodation for the Saudi delegation can range from $ 2.2 million to $ 3.3 million, experts say.
According to Kommersant, especially for the arrival of the king, the furnishings in some rooms will be changed: they will add carpets, change furniture. “The cost of such a transformation is difficult to calculate. We can talk about tens of thousands of dollars, "OneTwoTrip experts say.
According to Kommersant, the Saudi Prince Al-Walid, the nephew of the King of Saudi Arabia, owns a stake in the Four Seasons hotel chain. "Without a doubt, this will make adjustments to the final price," - said in a study received by RBC.
A slight drop in the ratings of specific hotels due to the inability for regular guests to check in for this period "will be more than offset 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 moment".
Salman bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud's visit to Moscow after the incident at Vnukovo-2 airport. When the king got off the plane and began descending the ladder-escalator, it broke down and the monarch had to go down on his own. As RBC Adviser to the Administrative Officer of the President of Russia Elena Krylova, the delegation of Saudi Arabia brought the escalator ladder with them, she could not clarify the cause of the breakdown.
During his visit, the King of Saudi Arabia talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin press service reported that they will discuss building up bilateral cooperation in the trade, economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian spheres, as well as the signing of joint documents.
For the king of Saudi Arabia.
During the visit, the delegation of the King of Saudi Arabia will live next to Red Square. Already today rent a room at the National, Four Seasons or St. Regis will not work: in one of the hotels, journalists were told about the full load, which, according to employees, happens extremely rarely. Reservations will reopen after 8 October.
Some hotels had to cancel scheduled weddings and banquets; The main task now is to strengthen security: the building can only be entered after presenting a guest card.
Sergey Kolesnikov, vice president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers, told Kommersant FM that this is a 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. The representative of the special services selects not just a hotel, but specific rooms, this happens in a week or two. After the advance group, the day before arrival, special regime events are held: the number 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 whimsy: 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 either. Especially for the delegation, the hotels are changing the furnishings of the rooms: the usual European furniture is sent to the warehouse, and in return, the carpets brought from Riyadh are spread; in addition, pork dishes will be excluded from the hotel menu.
This is not all that hotels can do for the sake of their customers, said Kirill Ryabkov, Marketing Director of the Quintessentially Russia Concierge Club:
“I worked at the Hyatt where Madonna lived and we did a private room for her to do yoga. The room had to be connected to her presidential suite, this was a must. One Australian pop star demanded that a certain scent of lilies be present wherever she passes. "
The delegation of Salman Al Saud has a thousand people, and they were apparently lucky with the 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 only satisfied with the presidential number: it was sold to some of the Russian oligarchs, and representatives of the Arab sheikh approached the Russian with a request to give up this number. He categorically refused, trading began, and as a result, 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 this difference in France.”
Prices for the best 500 sqm Four Seasons rooms m. start at 1 million rubles. per day., but for the delegation this is not a problem: moreover, according to some sources, the Saudi prince Al-Walid, the king's nephew, owns a share of this hotel chain.
The interlocutors of Kommersant FM say that the special conditions in which the king of Saudi Arabia will live cannot be called a whim: this, according to experts in the hotel business, is a guarantee of their complete safety.
The trouble started on arrival. The King of Saudi Arabia, Salman Ben Abdel Aziz Al Saud, who arrived in Moscow on a state visit, when leaving the plane at the capital's Vnukovo airport, discovered a breakdown of his escalator.
The golden ladder escalator has recently accompanied the Saudi monarch during his official visits. Thus, on March 1, 2017, Indonesian observers paid special attention to this detail. They marked 1000 accompanying persons in the king's retinue, and the weight of his luggage was estimated at 500 tons. Two weeks later, reporting on the luxurious trip of the Saudi king to Japan, RT TV noted that the monarch's visit was served by two golden escalators, 10 aircraft, 500 limousines. To accommodate the royal suite in Japan, 1200 luxurious hotel rooms were prepared.
The Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh returned to normal business on Sunday. For 99 days, from the beginning of November, it served as a prison for 381 high-ranking officials; princes, businessmen and officials were detained during the largest anti-corruption investigation in Saudi Arabia.
The campaign led by Crown Prince Muhammad ibn Salman began unexpectedly. On November 4, a powerful citizen was summoned to see King Salman at the Ritz-Carlton. But instead of the king, armed men met him there, took his mobile phone and escorted him to one of the hotel rooms. “I was told that I would stay there for a while,” he recalls.
The investigators who interrogated him possessed a wealth of information, having produced large sheaves of documents on his financial assets. During the "long, tedious" interrogations, they methodically examined them, but did not present any significant claims to the suspect. He was told that he was detained as part of an anti-corruption investigation, but would be able to be released if he made an agreement and paid for his violations, which he eventually did. According to him, some of the detainees tried to challenge the charges, but made concessions when their business partners were brought to the hotel, who began to testify against them. “They didn't expect that,” he says.
The anti-corruption campaign was greeted with enthusiasm in Saudi society. According to the government, agreements with the detainees were concluded for $ 106 billion, and several dozen people may be brought to trial.
Interviews with detainees and their families shed light on the real conditions of detention. Some were prepared by the royal chefs, but were only allowed one phone call a day. Others had to endure hours of interrogation, but for a price, all corruption charges were proposed to be dropped.
Saudi Arabia's Treasury Department has hired consulting firms in Europe and the Middle East to track the assets of wealthy Saudis such as billionaire Mohammad al-Amoudi and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former ambassador to the United States, people familiar with the situation said. Al-Amoudi was held at the Ritz-Carlton in November, his current status is unknown, his spokesman said, adding that the businessman did not admit violations. A spokesman for bin Sultan, who was not detained, did not respond to a request for comment.
Among the prisoners were the richest businessman in Saudi Arabia - Prince Al-Walid bin Talal; Bakr bin Laden, head of the construction company Saudi Binladin; the owner of the largest media company in the country, Walid bin Ibrahim; several ministers.
$ 13 billion
- this is how much Saudi Arabia hopes to replenish the treasury by the end of the year thanks to payments to detainees as part of the anti-corruption campaign, the Financial Times reported, citing a senior Saudi official. It will be money, real estate and corporate assets. These funds will help the government limit the growth of the budget deficit, which is expected to reach $ 52 billion this year.
The Ritz-Carlton was built in 2011 and has more than 500 rooms, including 48 presidential suites, a 24-hour medical center, and olive trees that are about 600 years old. The hotel is close to the seat of the Saudi government.
Some inmates report that they were treated well. So, Alwaleed bin Talal, in a video interview with Reuters, which was shown on television, said that in the kitchen in his room there are several special coffee pots for traditional Arab coffee and the authorities allow him to adhere to his usual vegan diet. There is a vase with tulips near the entrance to the room, and a large-screen TV on the wall. “I go in for sports, swim, walk. I eat as always. I feel at home, ”said bin Talal (pictured below is the living room in his room).
/ Reuters Staff
High-ranking inmates were held in so-called royal rooms, a hotel employee explained. Each of them has two bedrooms, a dining room, two living rooms, an office and a kitchen.
Saudi Arabia's attorney general announced in late January that most of the prisoners had already been released: against some, no evidence could be found, most agreed to a deal with the authorities. Bin Talal was demanded $ 6 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. But even the billionaire prince found it difficult to pay that amount. According to people familiar with the situation, he was released in January after he entered into a financial agreement with the authorities; its size is not reported.
65 people refused to pay; they are in detention, the place of which was not disclosed.
The first guests who stayed at the hotel on Sunday after it resumed operations note that little has changed in the environment. However, "The Ritz will now always be associated with a luxury prison in Saudi Arabia," said Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Some Western analysts see what happened as Crown Prince Salman's campaign to consolidate his power. “If you’re a potential investor, it doesn’t bode well for you,” said Bruce Riedel of Brookings Institution.
Translated by Varvara Podrugina
Russian officials prepared an impressive reception for the 81-year-old monarch of Saudi Arabia, Salman Abdelaziz Al Saud, who arrived in Moscow on a state visit the day before. In the Russian capital these days in the New Manege, the widely advertised Week of Saudi Arabian Culture is taking place, an exhibition of national art of this country opens, the whole city was hung with posters in Arabic, and on the way from Vnukovo-2 airport the king was greeted with billboards with his own photographs.
Moscow welcomes the king on a scale that foreign leaders rarely receive. The Saudi delegation, with its grandiose travel style, has taken over the entire Moscow Ritz-Carlton, according to The Washington Post. And this is not surprising, because the monarch of the richest Arab country is used to traveling with appropriate ceremonies: for example, for a visit to Japan this spring, the king and his delegation needed 10 planes, 500 tons of luggage and 1200 rooms in the best hotels. And to Indonesia, the king brought 1,500 escorts, including 25 princes, and 450 tons of things, in particular, two Mercedes-Benz S600 cars and two escalators. Such a special personal ladder also came to Russia, but refused to work on Russian soil.
On the days of the visit of the King of Saudi Arabia, all the vacant rooms of the most fashionable hotels around the Kremlin and Red Square were occupied by his retinue. The five-star hotels Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, St. Regis, "National" in the area of \u200b\u200bManezhnaya Square, Lubyanka and Kuznetsky Most there are no empty seats - such a situation with a complete lack of rooms is rare. All issues are sold out until October 7th.
A representative of one of the hotels said that the hotel's management had to cancel several events that were planned for these days. Pork dishes were excluded from the hotel menu. And the furnishings in many rooms were changed to a more familiar to guests - in an oriental style. Moreover, for several high-ranking members of the delegation, their favorite carpets were specially brought from Saudi Arabia, RIA Novosti reports.
The cost of a double room in this hotel starts from 41 thousand rubles per night. A room with a view of Manezhnaya Square costs 59 thousand, with a view of the Kremlin and Alexander Garden - 137 thousand. The most expensive and spacious rooms (about 500 square meters) cost about a million rubles per day.
In total, the Saudi delegation numbers about a thousand people, and all of them had to be accommodated in hotels in the immediate vicinity of the Kremlin.
It was not just a delegation that flew to Moscow, but the entire flower of Saudi Arabia. Former Russian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Andrei Baklanov told BFM, "The Saudis are distinguished by a particularly painstaking approach to preparing and conducting high-level visits." "Everything must be scheduled and then, according to this carefully thought out scenario, be implemented. They first send a large advanced group to the country where the event will take place, which works in different directions of the program. It is accompanied by a fairly large number of family members of the ruling dynasty and officials - employees of ministries and departments, business representatives and just people who carry out technical service, "Baklanov says.
On October 4, Business FM received information that during the visit of the King of Saudi Arabia and his retinue to Moscow, they will occupy all free five-star rooms around Red Square and the Kremlin. One of the hotels is 100% booked.
The royal will be in the capital until October 7th. During this time, several very important meetings should take place. Already now we can say with confidence that in the area of \u200b\u200bLubyanka, Kuznetsky Most, as well as 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 Four Seasons, St. Regis and National. It was these objects that were considered the most worthy for receiving the delegation from Saudi Arabia. Work in hotels is in full swing, as everyone needs to please. 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 were booked by October 7th.
According to Yunis Teymurkhanli, general director and owner of one of the St. Petersburg hotels, such measures are mandatory, since they are part of the requirements of the protocols for accommodating persons of this level. Important guests should get everything they expect. If the king thinks that the hotel should be filled with his suite for the duration of his stay, so be it. Important guests - special rules. In practice, in most cases, guests of this level are accommodated in the official residences of the countries they visit. Thus, you can ensure the maximum level of security.
But, the decision on which accommodation facility to choose is determined only by the protocol of the two countries. The delegation of the monarch can perceive transport accessibility as well as safety in its own way, therefore the choice may well be different. As happened in the case of the visit to Moscow. If we talk about hotels that have become the choice of the delegation, their cuisine even exceeds the capacity of a state residence, which is usually 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 all those invited.
Already on October 4, it was possible to notice that there are unusually many traffic police officers on the roads of Moscow, which is most likely dictated by increased security measures. The king must understand that all necessary measures have been taken in connection with his visit. The vice-president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of the Russian Federation believes that the movement in the center during this period can be considered significantly complicated, but Moscow has long been accustomed to this. The capital city receives often respected guests, therefore it will work at its usual pace. The delegation is actually very large. There is also a nuance, all guests wished to stay exclusively in top-level hotels, the latter were happy about it.
The Ritz Carlton Hotel on Booking.com lists the room rate from 35 to 112 thousand rubles per night on October 8. In total, the hotel has 334 rooms.
It is worth recalling that at the beginning of 2017, the Saudi king has already undertaken a 31-day trip to Asia. To make the trip the way 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 is 81 years old.
