When
Upper East Side dad Michael planned a French getaway for his family
this summer, his first move wasn’t to book a hotel. Instead, he
contacted armed guards.
Each
morning in Paris, Michael (who requested a pseudonym because of privacy
concerns), his wife and their 10-year-old son would stroll out of the
Hotel George V, where suites can go for $5,000 a night, to meet their
personal security detail: two strapping ex-military men who cost $2,000 a
day.
“I’m
not a worrywart,” said the 38-year-old, who runs a lending fund. “But
once you start having kids, [you want] peace of mind against terrorism.”
Wealthy
New Yorkers are increasingly turning to hard bodies to protect them
during European vacations, particularly in cities such as London, Paris
and Berlin that have been hit with high-profile terrorism, say security
experts.
“I can’t fill them fast enough,” said CASS Global Security founder Shawn Engbrecht of requests for vacation bodyguards.
Rich people are hiring bodyguards to go to Disney World
“Our summer was huge . . . on the heels of what happened in Paris and London,” said Paul Viollis, CEO of Viollis Group International, a global security firm. “We’ve gotten maybe 20 new clients.”
His
firm offers multiple layers of protection — from security drivers and
armored vehicles with bulletproof glass to vacation bodyguards. But in
the case of a suicide bomber or a truck plowing into a crowd, what can a
bodyguard even do?
Engbrecht says it’s all about intel and prevention.
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