Saudi King Salman to visit D.C., books entire hotel

Corrections & clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated King Salman’s family relationship to the late King Abdullah.

WASHINGTON — When you're royalty, go big or don't go at all.

That's at least true for Saudi Arabia's King Salman, who touched down on U.S. soil Thursday to the sight of dozens of black luxury cars awaiting his arrival at Joint Base Andrews located just outside Washington in Prince George's County, Md.

Wall Street Journal reporter Carol Lee snapped a photo of his epic entourage. (On a recent trip to France, Salman had a 10-vehicle motorcade, and hired an additional 400 luxury car drivers, the BBC reported.)

The king of the oil-rich nation is here to meet with President Obama at the White House on Friday to talk all things involving the Iran nuclear deal and its wider effect on the Middle East. Their face-to-face happens before the Senate returns next week and takes up the deal, just as Obama has rallied enough support for it from Democrats.

It's the Saudi king's first visit to the United States since ascending to the throne in January after the death of his brother, King Abdullah. He skipped the May summit of Gulf nations held at Camp David.

And his visit is huge — like "renting out the entire Four Seasons hotel and making it gold" huge.

Politico reported that the lavish hotel chain's Georgetown location has been redecorated, rolling out enough red carpet to keep Salman and his family from ever touching the asphalt. Almost everything has a golden touch, regulars observed, from the mirrors to the hat racks — how elegant!

The entire hotel is reportedly booked through Saturday for the king and his entourage, and just in time for Labor Day weekend.