G20 summit: Who's staying where in Delhi?

As New Delhi gears up to host the G20 summit on 9 and 10 September, over 30 heads of state, as well as delegations from the European Union and European Commission and heads of international organisations are making their way to some of the city's premier hotels.

Biden at ITC Maurya, Sunak and Scholz at Shangri-la Eros. Albanese at Imperial. And so the line-up goes. If choice of hotel indicates the status of a guest in the eyes of the government — and nobody is saying it does — then the list makes for interesting reading!

US president Joe Biden will stay at the ITC Maurya in Chanakyapuri, where his service team and commandos will be present on every floor. So far, around 400 rooms have been booked in the hotel, and a special elevator has been installed to take Biden to his room on the 14th floor, according to reports. Given that the hotel has a total of 411 rooms and 26 suites, that leaves little room for other guests, if any.

Incidentally, as per a Newslaundry report, a 12-km stretch between Indira Gandhi International Airport and the ITC Maurya and Taj Palace hotels is peppered with at least 963 G20 promotional installations on either side of the road. These installations include billboards, flexi boards, banners, digital panels, and other promotional material, and 236 items have PM Modi’s face printed on them.

Meanwhile, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak is staying at the Shangri-La Eros Hotel in Connaught Place, along with German chancellor Olaf Scholz. While there's not much to choose between the Maurya and Shangri-La in terms of luxury, online hotel booking platforms do place the former slightly ahead in terms of tariff.

French president Emmanuel Macron and his entourage will stay at Claridges, while Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese will put up at the Imperial in Connaught Place. Definitely not in the Maurya-Shangri-la league, then.

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol will stay at Oberoi Gurgaon, while Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will stay at Oberoi New Delhi, inhabiting the same space as Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who will attend the conclave instead of president Vladimir Putin.

The Taj Palace in Delhi's Chanakyapuri was initially booked for Chinese president Xi Jinping, but has now been allocated to premier Li Qiang, who will attend the G20 summit in place of Jinping.

The Saudi Arabian delegation, led by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, will put up at the Leela.

(With inputs from IANS)