Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who is due to arrive in Turkey soon for the upcoming G-20 summit, has reportedly rented the entire Mardan Palace Hotel in the southern province of Antalya for his 18-day stay in the popular tourist destination.

The king, who is accompanied by a 1,000-member delegation, will pay $18 million for his stay at the luxury hotel, H�rriyet newspaper reported on Saturday.

The 560-room hotel and villa complex, branded as one of the most luxurious hotels of the world, will be closed to other guests for 18 days.
Red carpets will be laid down in hallways in the hotel and even in the helipad so that the Saudi monarch will not have to touch asphalt when arriving at or departing the hotel.

H�rriyet said the hotel personnel are being given special training and the rooms are redecorated to accommodate the king's taste.

Mardan Palace was acquired this week by Turkey's Halkbank. Built by Russian Azerbaijani businessman Telman Ismailov at a cost of $1.4 billion in 2009, the flashy complex has been put up for sale by an Antalya bankruptcy court for TL 207 million worth of debt that Ismailov owed to another lender, Garanti Bankas?.

In a one-bidder tender on Monday, Halkbank purchased the complex for TL 360 million. However, the bank will reportedly only pay TL 207 million to cover the hotel's old debts to Garanti, while it will write off its own receivables stemming from Ismailov's separate debts to Halkbank.

King Salman, head of one of the world's richest royal families, rented every room in the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown for himself and his entourage during a visit to Washington in September.

The king's luxurious taste has stirred protests in France this summer, when more than 100,000 people signed a petition against closure of a beach on the French Riviera to allow the monarch to holiday in private.

By Todays Zaman