Mumbai Hotels Rethink Security After Attack

Dec 30, 2008 3:10 PM

Mumbai, India recently sustained a 60-hour rampage by Islamic militants claiming 171 lives.

The terror attacks Nov. 26-29 dealt a further blow to India's business-travel industry, which has been suffering from the global economic slowdown for months.

Occupancy rates in the south Mumbai five-star hotels frequented by business travelers are down by one-third since the siege, according to the Hotel Association of India.

The Associated Press reports that few predict terror alone will derail business travel to India for the long haul. But as corporate travelers limp back, they are asking tough questions about security, demanding that high-profile hotels prove they have measures in place to deflect violence.

Those demands, fueled by a still-palpable fear, are forcing the city's top hotels to rethink the delicate balance between security and hospitality.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives, a U.S. nonprofit group, surveyed 134 corporate-travel managers after the Mumbai attacks. They found that just 6 percent planned to curtail travel to the region, but 78 percent were reviewing their hotel contracts with a greater emphasis on security.

Companies are asking the hotels they deal with to coordinate better with police, fire and military authorities, train staff in evacuation techniques, install backup-communication systems in guest rooms and improve surveillance, said Susan Gurley, the group's executive director.

Luxury hotels across Mumbai have added metal detectors, more stringent bag searches, bomb-sniffing dogs and vehicle searches. Some are considering staff training on what to do in case of a terrorist attack, and the government has posted armed police and soldiers at top hotels in Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata.

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