Pakistan bombing shows hotels are still vulnerable

Today’s fatal bomb attack in Peshawar, Pakistan, shows that hotels popular with foreigners and local elites remain terrorist targets, despite stepped-up security.

After hotels fitting that profile were bombed last fall in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Mumbai, India,  killing scores of people, the American Hotel & Lodging Assn.  told its members that the attacks “may be the beginning of a resurging and alarming trend of luxury hotels becoming magnets for terrorist activities.” It urged hoteliers to review security procedures.

In recent years and months, hotels have done just that. Like many high-profile lodgings, the Pearl Continental Hotel Peshawar, set far back from a main road near the airport, had installed concrete barriers, restricted parking in front and required arriving vehicles to undergo security checks, according to early reports on today’s attack.

These precautions were not enough to deter the suicide bombers, who reportedly rode up to the main gate in a truck, fired on security guards and then drove through the gate, exploding their cargo in a parking lot.

Still, your chance of dying in a terrorist attack at a hotel, or anywhere else, is remote. If you want to cut the risk, avoid booking a front room, one expert advises. And check out the State Department’s travel warnings, which have long urged Americans to avoid Pakistan because of the threat of terrorist activity.

—Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

[Photo: Pearl Continental Hotel after bomb attack in Peshawar, Pakistan. Credit: Mohammad Sajjad/Associated Press]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 2:50 pm by Jane Engle and is filed under Asia, Business Travel, Frequent Flier, Global, Hotels, Luxury Travel, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.