D.C. Marriott Beefs Up Security For IMF, World Bank Meetings

WASHINGTON, D.C.— On Sept. 26, the 36-member internal security team at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel here locked the doors, put up “no trespassing” signs and roped off entrances in preparation for the 600 guests arriving this past weekend for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings. Attendees were asked to enter the hotel through metal detectors and allow private blue-vested guards hand-search each of their bags. Four uniformed D.C. police officers and two private security guards led guests through the lobby to the hotels front desk. “Unless you have official business with the World Bank or are a cop, youre not getting in,” said Derrick Lockhart, head of Marriott Wardmans security team. The Marriott Wardmans preparations— the security drills, the hundreds of thousands spent on technology and manpower, the stress on employees and managers— showed what extensive precautions hotels take to do business with the World Bank and IMF, reported the Washington Post. Half of the hotels 1,400 rooms were empty, as the entire place was reserved for bankers, delegates and 100 of the hotels top managers from the housekeeping, security, food and front desk departments. The hotel staff stayed in case protesters were to block off the District and hourly workers couldnt get in. About 80 D.C. police officers were stationed in a hotel ballroom, dubbed the “bunker,” ready to stream out in the event unruly protesters or any other threat confronted the hotel and its guests. No real threat ended up emerging at the hotel over the weekend. But the planning and the drills— including one on how to get rid of a muskrat gas bomb— were part of the transformation of a normally bustling business and tourist hotel into a high-security, restricted zone. The last time the bankers came to the District for their full agenda of events, in 2000, Marriott Wardman was the headquarters for the World Bank and IMF meetings. The bankers, staff and delegates had most of their meetings at the hotels 100,000-square-foot meeting space and slept there. This past weekend, the D.C. tourism industry was expected to make about $7 million from the World Bank and IMF meetings in revenue from hotel rooms, taxicabs, restaurants and shopping, said William Hanbury, president and chief executive of the Washington Convention and Tourism Corp. Ed Rudzinski, general manager of the Marriott Wardman said security costs more than double for high-profile events like the World Bank and IMF meetings. Rudzinski installed additional cameras for the lobby, hallways, rooftops and parking garage, and bought pepper spray, gas masks, locks and special cleaners for stink bombs. He hired more than two dozen professional security guards and paid overtime to some of his own staff of guards. SOURCE: Washington Post