Citing examples of what happened on November 26, Wednesday has truly terrified innocent travelers and businessmen holding conferences, presentations and trainings in luxury hotels. It happened in the business hub of South Mumbai, Trident Hotel, Oberoi Hotel, Taj Hotel, Nariman Point, Hospital and Railway Station in Mumbai. Television images showed some terrorists, dressed in dark colored T-shirts and holding automatic rifles, near some of the attacked buildings. Mumbai witnessed explosions at the Taj Hotel, the Oberoi Hotel, the Trident Hotel and gunshots at a hospital where the gunmen were surrounded.
One of the terrorist called the media guys and revealed the agenda behind the terrorist attack who claimed that the attack was to avenge the “persecution” of Muslims in India. And he also called for the release of the Inidan Mujahideen activists who were jailed in India. Security experts say that the standard security measures implemented in most luxury hotels in international business centers could not have completely prevented what happened on November 26, the invasion of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower and the Oberoi hotel. But the attacks in Mumbai are sparking new discussions about the appropriate level of security to be in place at hotels frequented by business travelers, which often draw large crowds with few limits on access. Hotels in India have made a significant investment to improve their emergency and crisis procedures in light of the events in Mumbai. Experts often say that other moderate security practices can be adopted, such as separate staff entrances, vetted personnel, anti-shatter film on lobby windows, and adequate lighting.
More and more hotels are stepping up to take the appropriate measures necessary, including establishing emergency and security procedures. Vehicles must keep a certain distance from the building, check the identification of people entering the building, and use bomb-sniffing dogs to detect bombs or alert systems to check for weapons. There have been similar cases before, where luxury hotels have been attacked. In September, a truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, while a car bomb exploded outside a JW Marriott in South Jakarta in 2003. In 2005, al-Qaeda carried out a series of attacks with Coordinated bombing against three hotels, Grand Hyatt, Radisson and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan. Therefore, it is better to practice good security measures in hotels. Anything suspicious when noticed should be immediately reported to the police.