This past
weekend, the Obama family made its much-anticipated move to Washington. Since the Blair House, the
traditional D.C. residence of the incoming first family, was already booked,
the Obamas have had to slum it at the nearby five-star Hay-Adams hotel, across
from Lafayette Park. Traffic's been jammed up all
around the hotel, and the security tents are imposing, all of which got us to
wondering: Did Obama have to rent out the entire hotel? What does something like that
cost? And what happened to the other hotel guests who were booked for these
days? Have they been shipped off to, gasp, a chain hotel? We found answers:
-
The
Obamas rented
out a whole wing of the hotel to accommodate the future first family, Secret
Service agents, and Obama aides.
-
The
Obama hotel tab will
be about $20,000 per night to accommodate the entire party.
-
With
this nightly bill, the president-elect's two-week stay at the Hay-Adams (the
Obamas move
into Blair House on January 15 after former Australian Prime Minister Howard
vacates) will total approximately $280,000.
-
The
transition and inaugural committees will
share the responsibility for paying the hotel bill. The two teams receive
their funding from both taxpayer dollars and private individual donations (a
maximum $5,000
and $50,000
for the transition and inauguration, respectively).
-
The
Hay-Adams website is still accepting reservations for most nights during the
Obamas's two-week stay; vacant rooms range from $565 ("superior queen bedroom")
to $3,200 ("one bedroom luxury suite with a view of Lafayette Park")
per night.
-
A
representative of the public relations department at the Hay-Adams refused to
comment to The New Republic on "guests who may or may not be staying at
the hotel" and stressed that the hotel's restaurant, bar, and guestrooms remain
open to the public. Just prepare to be frisked...
--Daniel Belkin