Are U.S.-Owned Hotels Terror Targets?

July 17,2009— -- In the wake of today's deadly terror attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, security experts are divided about whether U.S. travelers are safest staying at American-owned hotels when travelling in places at risk for attack.

The coordinated bombings at the Marriott hotel and the connected Ritz-Carlton hotel, in which nine people were killed and 50 others wounded, were carried out by Jemaah Islamiyah, a local terror network affiliated with al Qaeda.

Luxury hotels in developing countries generally offer travelers more security, experts said, but are also often the targets of Islamic terrorists.

Choosing the right hotel, experts agreed, could be a matter of life or death.

Marriott International owns both the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton in Jakarta. The JW Marriott was attacked once previously in 2003, when Islamic extremists exploded a car bomb outside the hotel, killing 12 people.

In the six years since that bombing, seven other hotels have been targeted by terrorists. Most of those hotels were not owned by American or Western companies, but nevertheless were frequented large numbers of Westerners, including U.S. citizens.

The last American-owned hotel to be bombed was in September 2003, when the Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan, a favorite of foreign diplomats and well-heeled locals, was attacked, killing 53 people and wounding more than 260. Marriott operates more than 2,800 hotels worldwide.

(Click here for a timeline of deadly hotel attacks)