Riyadh Ritz, Converted to Posh Prison by Saudis, Is Reopening to Guests<br />According to its website, the hotel offers a gentlemen-only spa, a cigar lounge<br />and an indoor pool with floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as "52 acres of lavishly landscaped gardens, spacious and sumptuous accommodations, fine-dining restaurants and 62,000 square feet of elegant event space."<br />The Ritz has been used to house many of the more than 200 people — including at least 11 princes, current<br />and former ministers, military officers and some of the Saudi kingdom’s best-known investors — who have been detained.<br />Marriott said that The hotel is operating under the directive of local authorities and not as a traditional hotel for the time being,<br />The resumption appeared to signal that the mass arrests of Saudi princes, officials<br />and business executives begun in November are winding down — at least to the level where the hotel can be restored to its original purpose.<br />Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old leader who has effectively taken over the running of<br />the government from his father, King Salman, 81, is considered the driving force behind the campaign.<br />15, 2018<br />The Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, the 492-room hotel converted into a posh prison for privileged Saudis swept up<br />in what the government calls an anti-corruption campaign, appears set for a public reopening next month.
