Taj Mahal Palace, Oberoi Trident Hotel To Partially Reopen For Business Dec. 21

Mumbai, India (AHN) - Within one week, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and the Oberoi Trident Hotel will partially reopen on Sunday. The two were among the 10 sites in Mumbai hit by terrorists in coordinated attacks which killed more than 170 people.

Both hotels are accepting bookings ahead of their reopening. The new wing of the Taj Mahal hotel will have 235 rooms initially available for guests out of a total 565 rooms for the entire hotel. But repair works for the older part of the 105-year old accommodation, which sustained heavy damage, is still ongoing.

Raymond Bickson, managing director and chief executive of the Indian Hotels Company, which owns Taj Mahal Palace, told BBC, "To reopen Taj with such speed but with no less of attention to details, shows our resolve to commemorate all the innocent and brave people who lost their lives during the terrorist attack."

The older part of the hotel, whose repair is expected to last for several months, had been hit by gunfire, grenade, fire and water. The hotel management has yet to release to media data on how much is the cost of the damage caused by the 60-hour siege.