After a thorough frisking

The opening of JW Marriott is a ray of hope for hotels at Delhi's Aerocity as they wait with bated breath for security clearances to start operations

A plush new hotel looms amidst large cranes and piles of construction material. The first of its ilk to get clearance from security agencies, JW Marriott at the Aerocity in Delhi opened its doors to the public this October. Part of the Aerocity Hotels Project near Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, this hotel and eleven others, with a combined capacity of 3,750 rooms, were slated to be fully functional for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The construction for these hotels began in 2007, and most of them were ready to be launched two years ago, when it dawned on the security agencies that the rooms at these hotels faced the runway of the airport. And that the tarmac would be an easy target from the rooms.

With such grave security hazards on the horizon, clearances were held up for hotels and shining new properties gathered dust over time. Security clearances involved bullet-proofing all the windows of rooms that faced the runway, sealing of rooftops and blanketing the entire property with layers of security-checks.

A visit to the recently opened Marriott exhibits just that. Marriott's own troubled history with bombings in Jakarta and Islamabad perhaps make the hotel administration step with added caution. Marriott has so far only received a partial clearance, where the 200 runway-facing rooms out of its 523 are still sealed off till their window-panes are bullet-proofed. That explains the partially operational property as of now.

But the opening of the first hotel at Aerocity is a ray of hope for the other properties in this hub of hospitality. In fact, Marriott somewhat set a standard for security by being the first to get its clearances in place. The glass used for bullet-proofing has been checked by the Delhi Police and Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory at Chandigarh. Other hotels have also been asked to submit samples of the glass that they have used for bullet-proofing. Hotels also need to install CCTV cameras and create limited access points to make surveillance more manageable. Apart from this, the staff has to go through extensive background checks.

Other properties are still in queue for their no-objection certificates from the Delhi Police, but going by their websites it seems they are expecting the wait to be over soon. Holiday Inn, from the InterContinental Hotels Group, has already started taking bookings for February 2014 and onwards. The hotel has been staffed and the management has been told to add the finishing touches in time for a possible launch in December this year. When asked about the clearances, senior officials at the hotel said that such information was only available with the owning companies. The Accor chain's Ibis Hotel is also slated for a December 2013 or January 2014 launch. The Ibis is not taking reservations as of now. Lemon Tree Hotel too has an 'opening shortly' kicker in place on its website.