"Security in the hotel business is a fine balance between effective security measures and the convenience of hotel customers, becoming more intrusive as the threat increases," Coldrick said.
The Oberoi and the old wing of the Taj hotel, where most of the fighting took place, both have high, central atriums. After throwing grenades and directing considerable automatic weapons fire at staff members and diners in ground-floor lobbies and restaurants, the attackers at each hotel ascended the atriums.
This allowed them to start hunting down guests while dropping grenades and shooting at commandos below who tried to engage them in combat.
The Oberoi Group employs many plainclothes security officers in its hotels, but these are unarmed, Oberoi said. Obtaining a license for even a single officer to carry a gun is extremely difficult in India, which has tight gun control laws.
Yet even security guards armed with handguns might hesitate to resist an assault by heavily armed terrorists who have a detailed knowledge of the hotel's layout, as was the case at the Oberoi and Taj.
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