Mumbai's Posh Hotels Prepare to Reopen

By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 20, 2008 7:01 PM CST
Mumbai's Posh Hotels Prepare to Reopen
Security personnel frisk journalists as they enter the Oberoi's Trident Hotel on the eve of the hotels' re-opening in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008.    (Gautam Singh)

Three weeks after militants went on a murderous rampage in Mumbai, two of the city's high-profile targets are ready to welcome guests again. Both of Mumbai's five-star hotels—the sleek, sea-front Oberoi and the majestic 105-year-old Taj Mahal—will reopen at least some of their sections tomorrow. The main areas, however—left in tatters after shooting sprees and a 60-hour standoff with police—are expected to remain closed for months.

Inside the Oberoi, private security guards manned all lobby entrances, passing bags through metal detectors and X-ray scanners. Journalists' ID cards were checked against a press list, and reporters and photographers were patted down by hand—a far cry from the relaxed atmosphere before the attacks. Militants from the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba are accused of staging the assaults that killed 164 people. (More Mumbai attacks stories.)

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