Journals of a Hotel Manager

As the state visit approached, we began to prepare for the room according to the requirement provided by the protocol office. The room would be occupied for only about 6 hours as a 4am departure was scheduled. The presidential suite was declined and a regular room was chosen. Fresh flowers were nixed probably to avoid biological germ attacks. A day prior to the arrival, secret service brought in an unusual amenity to be placed in the suite. It was a piece of glass, 8 ft long by 6ft tall, mounted on wheels. We watched as the secret service pushed it directly in front of the windows. Bullet-proof, it would be the ultimate protection from snipers stationed on other tall buildings in the area. Hence the reason a regular room instead of a suite - there were fewer windows to be worried about.

On the day of the arrival, the entire city was shut down from 8pm onwards. Staff were forbidden to enter or to leave the hotel until after the VIP arrival. Roads were blocked off to allow the motorcade an uninterrupted and swift drive from the airport directly into the loading dock. Our beautiful marble entrance was deemed too difficult to control. There was no welcome committee, no flower girl, only the hastily scrubbed loading ramp with just a hint of the garbage odor. The VIP was led quickly into the staff elevator by a group of hunky secret service agents who had scouted out the route days in advance.

Once in the safety of the room, we were allowed to roam freely in the back of the house or to go home. At 3:30am I left home to come to the hotel for the preparation of the departure. A select few of us were nominated to represent the hotel to say goodbye to the VIP. I lived 8 miles away from the hotel and it was an easy 20 minute drive on local streets. I was stopped by police squad cars stationed 3 miles away from the hotel. The police asked for my license and questioned me in a several different ways why I was driving to the hotel at this hour. After I had produced my business card and told them my service was required at the hotel, they were able to cross-check my name from a ‘safe list’ and allowed me to proceed.

Upon my arrival, I was not allowed to get into my own hotel. SWAT and secret service agents swarmed the loading dock in anticipation for the departure. We were told to standby in the pre-dawn cold so we could get a glimpse of the VIP. At 4:30am sharp, the VIP emerged from the staff elevator. Despite a few hours’ of rest he looked surprisingly fresh and alert. He was shadowed by 2 agents and quickly shook our hands while mumbling “thank you”. Without a moment’s lingering, he disappeared into a shiny limo and the darkness of the early morning. Another identical limo, with an identical license plate, immediately followed the first car. After the first roundabout, it was already difficult to deduce which limo was the diversion.

By the time other guests woke up, the SWAT had already left and all the last traces of a state visit were wiped clean including the massive bullet-proof glass panel. The hotel made a pretty good chunk of revenue for the 6-hour visit but the preparation took a lot of efforts and strain. I also felt sorry for the VIP. It must be constant anxiety for the head of a state to live with such pressure to think every single minute someone wanted his life.