City hotels turn fortress for BRICS summit, Goldman Sachs executives

NEW DELHI: Delhi's poshest hotels turned into plush fortresses when heads of BRICS nations and top executives of US investment bank Goldman Sachs arrived simultaneously in the city, raising a toast to India's growing economic might.

At the Leela Palace hotel, the venue for Goldman Sachs' board meeting, after its first stop Mumbai a day earlier, the Royal Club Lounge on the ninth floor, meeting room 'Maya' and the chairman's board room were all taken by the investment bank.

The board members, including chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein, chief operating officer Gary Cohn and steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, spent the entire day holding crucial meetings in the hotel. On Friday evening, however, Mittal was scheduled to host all board members at his Aurangzeb Road home not far from the Chanakyapuri hotel.

Just a floor below, the 6 lakh-a-night Maharajah Suite was booked for two days, an executive told ET, without disclosing the identity of the guest but helpfully adding that the hotel was also hosting a head of the state. The 4,400 sq ft suite, which has a separate lift and entrance, has eight bulletproof bays with a personal gym, a library, two living rooms and the biggest bathroom in the city.

The Taj Palace Hotel, the venue of the BRICS summit on Thursday and Friday, also hosted the Brazilian delegation. While the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stayed in the neighbouring ITC Maurya, the Chinese premier Hu Jintao chose the presidential suite at the Oberoi.

The Grand Presidential Floor, occupied by the Russian president, has a separate entrance and a dedicated elevator for the floor, which is catered to by a dedicated team - all for about 4 lakh a night.

Though the Chinese premier stayed at the Oberoi, most Tibetans protesting his presence thronged the venue of the summit. The heightened security measures across the city further slowed down the traffic in most parts of central Delhi.

While outside guests at the popular restaurants in these hotels were still allowed inside, even as the rooms were all sold out, the Leela Palace hotel, for example, remained out of bounds for the media.