…in 3400-square-foot, $8,350-per-night suite inconveniencing ‘pretty much everyone’ – and the first lady’s mother is ‘barking at the staff’
- Michelle Obama, her daughters and her mother Marian Robinson are staying in a sumptuous presidential suite at a Beijing Westin hotel
- Mrs. Robinson has been ‘barking at the staff since she arrived,’ a hotel staffer said, adding that ‘we can’t wait for this to be over’
- Secret Service agents are monopolizing elevators and booting high-paying guests from their rooms to occupy a block of space near the first lady
- Both front and back doors of the hotel are blocked off, with Chinese and U.S. security agents screening everyone who enters
- Ordinary Chinese describe Mrs. Obama and her family as kind and gracious, but hotel staff are ‘fed up’
David Martosko
The Daily Mail [UK]
21 March 2014
Michelle Obama and three of her family members are staying in a $8,350-per-night Beijing presidential suite, but despite a 24-hour butler and other perks that come with the lodging, her entourage has inconvenienced ‘pretty much everyone’ and made the hotel staff ‘fed up,’ a well-placed hotel staffer has told MailOnline.
The sumptuous pad at the Westin Beijing Chaoyang hotel – its website calls the room ‘an oasis of comfort – is a 3,400-square-foot masterpiece including a private steam room, ‘corner sofas with silk pillows,’ and in-room dining for six.
But the Obamas’ stay has already affected staff and guests at the hotel, with the Westin front-desk veteran alleging that Mrs. Obama’s mother Marian Robinson has been ‘barking at the staff since she arrived.’
Government security forces from both China and the U.S. started Thursday to screen everyone who entered the building, including paying guests, setting up checkpoints that resemble those at airline concourse entrances.
The Secret Service’s monopoly on the hotel’s highest floors has meant the Westin had to boot guests with previous reservations out of their executive-level rooms.
Secret Service agents are also monopolizing hotel elevators long before the Obamas need them, added the staffer, who identified himself as a member of the concierge staff and spoke English during a phone call on Friday.
‘Many of them are Asian, too, or Americans who are Asian, so you know our guests don’t understand.’
‘We can’t wait for this to be over, to tell you the truth,’ he said in a sudden hush. ‘We entertain many important people here, but this has been, I think, very different.’
A spokesperson for Mrs. Obama declined to comment…
The article continues at The Daily Mail.
‘Mrs. Diplomat’: Chinese President Xi Jinping joined in Friday for events that were supposed to include just Mrs. Obama and Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan. The White House has insisted that the trip is a cultural exchange and not a political mission, however.
Red dresses and shoes.
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