Saudi hotel to reopen after being used as prison

RIYADH: The luxury Riyadh hotel used as a prison during Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on corruption will reopen for business next month, according to a company employee and its website, suggesting authorities are close to settling the cases of many suspects.

Dozens of princes, senior officials and top businessmen were detained and confined in the opulent Ritz-Carlton Riyadh as the government launched the purge in early November. The hotel was closed to normal business.

On Monday, an employee at the office taking bookings for the hotel, who declined to be named, told Reuters by telephone that bookings by the public would be accepted from Feb. 14.

The hotel’s website now accepts bookings from Feb. 14, quoting a nightly rate for its cheapest room of 2,439 riyals ($650). Official sources told Reuters earlier that Saudi authorities were close to winding up a major part of the crackdown, which would allow them to return the Ritz-Carlton to normal operations.