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Obama's Hotel Bill for One Night in Brisbane: $1.7M
Jeryl Bier
December 8, 2014 7:14 AM
President Obama stayed only one night in Australia for the G-20 summit, but the entire presidential delegation required over 4,000 rooms costing in excess of $1.7 million for the entire stay. Rooms at three different hotels were reserved for the U.S. delegation, and due to the large number of countries involved in the summit, the Australian government parceled out available hotels to each nation's delegation. The majority of the U.S. delegation stayed at the Brisbane Marriott, with the remainder staying at two other Brisbane hotels, the Urban and the Adina.
Presidential visits, such as for the G-20 summit, require advance teams for security and logistics, and may also include arrangements for officials conducting discussions and negotiations before and after the president himself is in the host country.
Often for such contracts, full and open competition is not possible because time constraints and related security concerns preclude a bidding process. However, in this case, the Australian government required countries to use designated hotels which placed additional limits on alternatives. In any case, the estimated total cost for the three hotels was about $1,732,000; based on an estimated 4,096 room nights, the per room cost comes to $423 per night. The Justification documents for the three contracts state that the cost is "fair and reasonable based on the pricing available across the city of Brisbane at the time of the visit."
Although the White House schedule indicates that the president both left Burma (the previous stop on the trip) and arrived in Australia on Friday, November 14, that schedule reflects Washington D.C. time. Other guidance provided by the White House indicates that the president spent Friday night on Air Force One and arrived in Australia on Saturday local time.
While the average room cost in the three contracts came to $423/night, the U.K. Daily Mail reported the president's suite for his one-night stay on Saturday lists at over $2,000 per night. The Mail also reported on the extensive preparations to the president's room and the entire floor of the hotel to secure the area for his stay, which included a complete strip-down of the president's suite.
President Obama began the week of the G-20 summit by traveling to China where he spent several days before proceeding to Burma. Details on lodging for those two legs of the trip have not yet been posted.
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