offerendum

They told me they weren´t informed themself.......

MikeFromTokyo

Making the President's exact schedule and movement known to the public poses a security risk. It's on a need to know basis, and even staff likely are not informed until shortly beforehand.

The hotel should inform guests that a high profile guest will be in house and that there will be heightened security measures in place. They cannot disclose who the guest even is, just like they would not confirm or deny anyone's presence at the hotel to an unverified third party.

GUWonder

If the POTUS is dependent on "security by obscurity" to stay out of harm's way, then the POTUS is in serious trouble unless and until living in absolute isolation from the public.

Hotels used for POTUS stays involve hotel staff figuring it out well beforehand. Restaurant visits are another story.

MikeFromTokyo

Of course he is not dependent on obscurity for security reasons, but it is a factor.

Of course management and individual staff members are well aware of the Preident's schedule and the security measures. Front line employees aren't given every detail unless they need to know.

Annalisa12

When we stay at The Intercontinental Sydney we say if its good enough for George Bush then it's good enough for us.

Annalisa12

Had our car towed in Sydney from our permit parking zone out from of our place in The Rocks. George Bush was just driving down our streetstreet so overnight they changed all the permit parking signs to no parking then towed our car away and left it on another street. End of the story was they couldn't remember where they parked it so we eventually walked for ages and found it where they had left it unlocked. Oh and we got a ticket which i refused to pay.

Yes I'd be happy not to stay with a President

offerendum

That's something that doesn't affect me. Often prominent people stay for special reasons (f.e. security) or hotel has the most exclusive suite in town while other rooms aren't on par. Also I guess Bush or Obama won't mention much differences in service quality over the world.

MikeFromTokyo

Of course. For sure, the POTUS is not going to get bad service anywhere, and there are logistical and security considerations. Often those needs are best met by taking a few floors of a big box hotel to accommodate entourage and for security purposes.

That has zero to do with how the average guest will be treated at that hotel. Normal guests will usually be better off at a smaller luxury property.

Cityflyer10

As someone who used to work in East Midtown NYC and got to see the U.N. general assembly security fun many a time, I will run as far as possible from where a head of state is staying while I am on vacation. It is half security theater, half real security issues but 100% a pain in the rear!

personally, I would be furious if a real luxury property let someone as vvip as POTUS ( or a former POTUS) stay without warning guests in advance about not being able to deliver their advertised product

Quinlanty

personally, I would be furious if a real luxury property let someone as vvip as POTUS ( or a former POTUS) stay without warning guests in advance about not being able to deliver their advertised product[/QUOTE]

That alone (the forewarning) is a major security issue and would render said luxury property highly innapropriate to host POTUS. Hotels like the prestige of hosting a sitting President, and often offer great discounts, especially international hotels who are more able to guess that POTUS is coming. Now, I do think they should offer major discounts to affected guests.

Quinlanty

Going to school in the DC area, I've encountered a few people with experience in Presidential travel. Most Presidential staffers do not know the destination before hand, just being told they will be gone x days starting x date. A few years ago when I was a freshman, I dated a Marine who worked in the White House Military Office attached to P. Obama. He said domestically, hotels don't get forewarned that a president is staying. Instead, the US gov books huge blocks of rooms for "conferences" or other events. As the US gov is one of the largest purchasers of hotel rooms, it isn't too unusual. Also able to negotiate rate this way,

GUWonder

"Security by obscurity" is a joke when it comes to POTUS hotel stays for visits to foreign countries announced prior to POTUS departure from the US and visit completion.

Of every foreign visit involving a hotel stay made by a US POTUS in the past 30 years, a visit scheduled and announced earlier makes it jokingly easy to figure out where the POTUS is staying if a competent person desires to invest the effort to do so.

If the POTUS is dependent upon obscurity for security during foreign visits previously announced, then the USSS and others in the security game have messed up. While I think that hotels really shouldn't be making prior announcements about who will be staying or who has stayed as a guest in a private capacity at a hotel, that's a privacy issue rather than a security issue -- but public figures are a different story, especially when operating in a public capacity.

GUWonder

As someone with some experience in this area, I know that most foreign visits by a POTUS have their destination known by just about anyone who cares to know. Even those unpaid interns.

Annalisa12

We say it in a goofing off manner btw.

uggboy

While not the POTUS...but...

We remember when Putin/Medvedev stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Warsaw, the huge Russian Embassy is located nearby.

Extra security measures incl. airport style security, plus visible security details, no photos allowed either, later at the airport we spotted their plane/planes, no photos either allowed as told by security guard.

As for our "troubles" due to extra security in the hotel we received a Vodka gift box/glass set. Memorable...today the hotel isn't with Hyatt anymore, but it still calls itself the Regent hotel Warsaw. [No affiliation with the Regent chain of luxury hotels].

This was a few years ago, but it's good to remember.

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^