For the King of Saudi Arabia.

During the visit, the delegation of the King of Saudi Arabia will live near the Red Square. Already today to rent a room in the "National", Four Seasons or St. Regis will not work: in one of the hotels, journalists were told about the full load, which, according to employees, happens extremely rarely. Reservations will reopen after October 8th.
Some hotels had to cancel planned weddings and banquets; the main task now is to strengthen security: you can get into the building only after presenting a guest card.

Sergei Kolesnikov, vice president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers, told Kommersant FM that this is a normal practice:
“These events do not take place spontaneously, regardless of who comes: Saudi Arabia, the United States, the President of the Russian Federation or high-ranking officials. The representative of the special services selects not just a hotel, but specific rooms, this happens in a week or two. After the advance group, special regime events are held the day before arrival: the room is checked again so that there are no misunderstandings.

The organizers of the visit paid special attention to the convenience of the guests. The king of Saudi Arabia is known for his whimsicality: on his March trip to Indonesia, he took about 500 tons of luggage, two Mercedes-Benz S600 cars and even two electric elevators; apparently, the Saudis did not come to Moscow lightly either. Especially for the delegation, the hotels change the furnishings of the rooms: the usual European furniture is sent to the warehouse, and in return they spread carpets brought from Riyadh; in addition, pork dishes will be excluded from the menu of hotels.

This is far from all that hotels can do for the sake of customers, said Kirill Ryabkov, Marketing Director of Quintessentially Russia concierge club:
“I worked at the Hyatt hotel where Madonna lived, and we made a separate room where she did yoga. The room had to be connected to her presidential suite, it was a must. One Australian pop star demanded that there must be a certain scent of lilies where she passes.

The delegation of Salman Al Saud has a thousand people, and apparently they were lucky with the accommodation. Although it happened that wealthy guests bought the best rooms from the guests - Yunis Teymurkhanly, the owner of the Helvetia Hotel in St. Petersburg, told Kommersant FM about this case:
“The delegation, it seems, from the Emirates, was satisfied only with the presidential number: it was sold to someone from Russian oligarchs, and representatives of the Arab sheikh approached the Russian with a request to give up this number. He categorically refused, bidding began, and in the end, when it had already reached astronomical figures, the oligarch’s wife could not stand it, saying: “You don’t want it, but I want it, I’ll buy goods in France for this difference.”

Prices in best rooms Four Seasons with an area of ​​500 sq. m. start from 1 million rubles. per day., but for the delegation this is not a problem: moreover, according to some reports, the Saudi prince Al-Walid, the king's nephew, owns a share of this hotel chain.

Interlocutors of Kommersant FM say that special conditions, in which the king of Saudi Arabia will live, cannot be called a whim: it is, according to experts hotel business, a guarantee of their complete safety.

Trouble began on arrival. King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who arrived in Moscow on a state visit, when getting off the plane at the capital's Vnukovo airport, discovered a breakdown of his escalator ladder.

The golden ladder escalator has recently accompanied the Saudi monarch during his official visits. So, on March 1, 2017, Indonesian observers paid special attention to this detail. They noted 1000 escorts in the retinue of the king, and the weight of his luggage was estimated at 500 tons. Two weeks later, reporting on the luxurious trip of the Saudi king to Japan, the RT television channel noted that the visit of the monarch was served by two golden escalators, 10 planes, 500 limousines. 1,200 luxurious hotel rooms were then prepared to accommodate the royal retinue in Japan.

On October 4, Business FM received information that during the visit of the King of Saudi Arabia and his retinue to Moscow, they would fill all available five-star rooms around Red Square and the Kremlin. One of the hotels is 100% booked.

The royal will stay in the capital until 7 October. During this time, several very important meetings should take place. Already now we can say with confidence that in the area of ​​Lubyanka, Kuznetsky Most, and Manezhnaya Square, you will not be able to find a free place in a top-level hotel. Important guests decided to pay special attention to Four Seasons, St. Regis and National. It was these objects that were considered the most worthy of receiving a delegation from Saudi Arabia. The work in hotels is in full swing, as you need to please everyone. In general, the Saudis arrived in large numbers - about 1,000 people. For the most important of them - the king - all rooms at the Ritz Carlton hotel were booked until October 7th.

According to Yunis Teymurkhanly, CEO and the owner of one of the St. Petersburg hotels, such measures are mandatory, as they are part of the protocol requirements for the accommodation of persons of this level. Important guests should get everything they expect. If the king felt that the hotel should be filled with his retinue for the duration of his stay, then so be it. Important guests - special rules. In practice, in most cases, guests of this level are accommodated in the official residences of the countries they visit. In this way, the maximum level of security can be ensured.

But, the decision on which accommodation facility to choose is determined only by the protocol of the two countries. The monarch's delegation may perceive transport accessibility and security in its own way, and therefore the choice may well be different. As happened in the case of a visit to Moscow. Speaking of hotels, which have become the choice of the delegation, their kitchens even exceed the capabilities of the state residence, which, as a rule, is offered to important guests. Most likely, the king will invite various guests, including journalists. During the visit of politicians, his own chefs will treat not only a large delegation, but also all those invited.

Already on October 4, one could notice that there were an unusually large number of traffic police officers on the roads of Moscow, which, most likely, was dictated by increased security measures. The king must understand that in connection with his visit all necessary measures. The vice-president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of the Russian Federation believes that traffic in the center for this period can be considered significantly complicated, but Moscow has long been accustomed to this. The capital city often receives distinguished guests, so it will work at the usual pace. The delegation is actually very large. There is another nuance, all the guests wished to stay exclusively in top-level hotels, the latter were happy about this.

The Ritz Carlton hotel on Booking.com indicates the cost of a room from 35 to 112 thousand rubles per night on October 8. In total, the hotel has 334 rooms.

It is worth recalling that in early 2017, the Saudi king had already taken a 31-day trip to Asia. In order for the trip to be as the king had planned for himself, he had to take 459 tons of luggage, which included 2 elevators, as well as 2 Mercedes-Benz S600 cars and a retinue of 1,500 people. The age of the monarch is 81 years.

https://www.site/2017-10-06/podschitano_razmechenie_saudovskogo_korolya_so_svitoy_v_otelyah_moskvy_oboshlos_v_3_3_mln

Calculated: accommodation of the Saudi king with his entourage in Moscow hotels cost $3.3 million

Kremlin press service

Travel service OneTwoTrip calculated that the accommodation of the delegation of the king of Saudi Arabia in five-star hotels in Moscow cost 2.5-3.3 million dollars.

The king's delegation of 1,000 people stayed at the Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, National, the report says. From 2.2 million to 3.3 million dollars was the cost of living in all rooms Hotel Four Seasons, as well as in suites, standard and superior rooms at the Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, "National".

The cost of accommodation for three nights only in one Four Seasons, in which the rooms were bought out for the delegation in full, can be 738 thousand dollars, excluding price adjustments for group bookings. The hotel has 180 rooms: 139 rooms, 39 suites, 1 presidential suite and 1 royal suite. The cost of living per day in the last two is at least 1 million rubles, a night in a standard room, depending on the view from the window, from 35 to 60 thousand rubles, in a suite from 80 to 200 thousand rubles.

In addition, they suggested in the service, especially for the arrival of the king, the situation in the rooms was changed: they added carpets, changed the furniture.

81-year-old King of Saudi Arabia Salman Ben-Abdulaziz Al Saud arrived in Russia the day before. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Kommersant, as a result of negotiations between the leaders of Russia and Saudi Arabia, agreements were reached on the purchase by Riyadh of S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems. In addition, a contract was signed to organize the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles in Saudi Arabia and a memorandum was signed on the purchase and localization of TOS-1A heavy flamethrower systems, Kornet-EM anti-tank missile systems and AGS-30 grenade launchers.

The king of Saudi Arabia is famous for his love of luxury. During a recent visit to Indonesia, he was accompanied by 1,000 people, and his luggage weighed about 500 tons. Salman Al Saud's visit to Japan was carried out on 10 planes. He brought with him 500 limousines and two golden escalators.

Meeting the Guardian of the two Islamic shrines, as the kings of Saudi Arabia are often called, on the one hand, is easy, and on the other, difficult. Easy, because they always bring everything they need with them, including servants, but difficult, since the Saudi monarchs are not only one of the richest people on the planet, but also the most demanding. Moreover, not so much because of his exclusivity and wealth, but because of his advanced age (Salman is 81 years old) and poor health.

The first visit of the Saudi monarch to Russia was no exception to this, which has already become a rule. According to tradition, it can be said that Salman ibn Abdul-Aziz al Saud brought with him a 1,500 retinue and everything necessary for a four-day visit, from carpets with furniture to servants who know the habits and tastes of their master and replace individual hotel employees. Salman settled a couple of hundred meters from the Kremlin, in the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, better known to Muscovites as the Moscow Hotel (demolished and rebuilt in the past decade).

The hotel was closed for four days to other visitors, including even those who live there permanently. The Saudis also rented all 334 rooms at the nearby Ritz-Carlton for 14 million rubles a day, booked rooms at the nearby National and Marriott.

Fans of statistics have calculated that just living in Moscow will cost Riyadh at least 250 million rubles. For a Saudi monarch, this is quite a bit. If only because it summer rest in Moroccan Tangier this year cost his subjects $100 million.

In addition to furniture and carpets, King Salman brought to Moscow a special gilded escalator, with which he travels the world. The same one, in whose work on Wednesday at the airport "Vnukovo 2" there was some kind of failure. The escalator stopped halfway, so the monarch had to go down, as they say, on their own. Naturally, Salman moves around Moscow in his cars. According to the fleet that arrived in the capital of Russia from Saudi Arabia, you can recognize all the brands of the most expensive and luxurious limousines.

The king and his retinue eat exclusively Saudi products. Every day, a special plane brings 800 kilograms of food and drinks from Riyadh.

It is difficult to name the exact number of Saudi aircraft that arrived in Moscow on October 4. Obviously there are many. It is known, for example, that in March, King Salman flew on an official visit to Japan on 10 airliners, which brought almost half a thousand tons of luggage.

When it comes to foreign travel, Salman is no different from his predecessors. King Fahd (1982-2005), for example, liked to relax in the Spanish Marbella. The number of his retinue sometimes reached two or three thousand people. In 2002, he flew to seaside resort on 7 planes: in five the royal retinue of four hundred people traveled, and the other two transported exclusively food, armored limousines and luggage. On average, King Fahd left about $100 million in Marbella during the summer season. However, in 2002 he set a record and left the Spaniards almost a third of a billion.

This time, the Saudis will not have time to fork out such a sum in Moscow, but it is already clear that the Russian side has made decent money on the visit of the king, even regardless of the business contracts that are discussed during the visit.

On Thursday, October 5, the King of Saudi Arabia was received in the Kremlin. The arrival of Salman Ben Abdulaziz Al Saud is significant not only because this is the first visit of the monarch, but also because the negotiations with the Guardian of the two shrines (al-Haram mosques in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina) were supposed to dot the i in questions related to the oil market and military-technical cooperation. Amid the Kremlin's gilding, the Saudis, accustomed to luxury, decided the fate of a package of arms contracts worth more than three billion dollars. And the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who celebrated his birthday, photographed with interest the place for the throne in the Andreevsky Hall.

All can kings

Muscovites could learn about the forthcoming visit of the king not only from the news. In early October, the Russian-Suad Investment Fund placed posters on the highway from Vnukovo Airport with a greeting to "His Majesty the King of Saudi Arabia, the Custodian of the two Islamic shrines." The delegation, numbering almost a thousand people, rented all the luxury rooms in the most expensive hotels in the Russian capital. In an effort to please guests accustomed to oriental luxury, the rooms were refurbished, carpets were laid and low trestle beds were placed. The king himself stayed at the Four Seasons. This hotel chain is partly owned by his nephew, Prince Al-Walid.

There are legends about how the king and his retinue travel. The amount of luggage carried is especially impressive - the bill goes to hundreds of tons. Aircraft transport equipment, cars, elevators and even an escalator ladder, the length of which when folded is 15 meters. That's where he got in trouble. The technical specialists who arrived as part of the delegation collected this royal know-how on their own. But on Russian soil, something went wrong. The 81-year-old monarch stepped onto the escalator, drove a third of the way, and the gangway jammed. The elderly king, leaning on a wand, with difficulty climbed several steps on his own.

The Kremlin went off without a hitch. Since a state visit - the highest level of all possible - implies a magnificent welcoming ceremony, taking into account the age of the monarch, it was nevertheless reduced. By tradition, the delegations of the two countries lined up along the Andreevsky Hall. In this front room of the Grand Kremlin Palace, restored in the 90s, a place for the throne was also designated. More precisely, a throne with replicas of royal chairs. It was in this direction that Vladimir Putin led his guest, circling the vaults of the hall with his hands and telling something with the help of translators.

When the king and the president left the hall, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, approached the throne. He stood out against the general background with his paramilitary outfit - a dark green jacket. Left alone for a few moments, Kadyrov took out his phone and photographed the place for the throne. And then he posed for his Instagram with the leaders of Ingushetia and Tatarstan. All three represented the Muslim part of the Russian Federation.

Arab journalists, meanwhile, warned Russian colleagues against a mistake: the name of their king should be pronounced in full and only in full. “No way! Only Salman bin Abdulaziz!” - one of the guests spoke in perfect Russian, raising his voice with respect.

Waited ten years

Relations between Moscow and Riyadh have not always been smooth sailing. The first official visit of representatives of Saudi Arabia to Moscow after the collapse of the USSR took place in 2003. For the current king, who took the throne in 2015, the current visit is the first in a new capacity, but he already visited Moscow in 2006, being the ruler of Riyadh.

But Vladimir Putin visited this Arab country only once - ten years ago, but he remembers that trip with warmth. He was received royally, with a cannon salute and a cavalry escort. The monarch put the entire palace at the disposal of the guest and generously invited him to change the schedule of the visit at his own discretion. The road in front of Putin was strewn with rose petals, and the dancers spectacularly presented a dagger (one can imagine what the president's bodyguard went through at that moment). The colors were added by the outfits of Russian journalists - they had to wear hijabs.

Just a few years before that visit, Russia accused Saudi Arabia of financially supporting Chechen terrorists. Riyadh expressed dissatisfaction with Moscow's attitude towards the Muslims of his country. But in the name of a joint fight against terrorism, the parties entered into a dialogue. Then Putin left the kingdom with the highest award of the kingdom - the Order of Abdel Aziz. Finally, he invited the then King Abdullah, the half-brother of the current ruler, to pay a return visit to Moscow. The visit had to wait ten years - Riyadh preferred to look towards Washington.

Kalashnikov and wheat

Before the visit of Salman bin Abdulaziz, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that the meeting of the leaders would be "a turning point in relations and bring cooperation to a new level, providing a fruitful contribution to stability in the Middle East and North Africa." The fact that Moscow really has high expectations, especially in terms of military-technical cooperation, was told to the Kommersant newspaper by sources working in this area.

According to the interlocutors of the publication, the Russian side has prepared a package of arms contracts worth over three billion dollars, including the supply of several divisions of S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems. For ten years, Moscow tried to enter the Riyadh arms market, but it never came to contracts.

As a result, through Rosoboronexport, only an agreement was signed to organize licensed production of AK-103 assault rifles and cartridges for various purposes in the kingdom. Of the 14 papers certified by the delegations, one can single out an agreement on research and cooperation in outer space and a program in the field of the use of atomic energy. Moreover, the Ministry of Agriculture has agreed on the supply of Russian wheat to Saudi Arabia, although the export of Russian barley already accounts for almost half of bilateral trade worth more than $200 million.

Salman bin Abdel Al Saud positively assessed Russia's efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria. And he did not fail to prick Iran. “We emphasize that the security and stability of the Gulf region and the Middle East will require Iran to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of states, refraining from activities to destabilize the situation in this region,” the king said slowly, checking papers covered in large print. Adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses, he noted that relations between Moscow and Riyadh, according to his estimates, "are characterized by the coincidence of views on many regional and international problems."

“It was a friendly, thorough conversation, based on the mutual desire of Moscow and Riyadh to consistently build up mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas,” Lavrov said after the talks. His colleague Adel ibn Ahmed al-Jubeir used stronger language. In his opinion, "relations between the two countries are reaching new horizons, which we could not even imagine before."

Finally, King Salman bin Abdulaziz invited Vladimir Putin to visit. Russian President accepted the invitation and promised to visit Saudi Arabia again. But he didn't set a deadline.