ANDREA SEABROOK, host: A hopeful sign now from Mumbai. Guests are once again checking in to two of the luxury hotels at the center of last month's terrorist attacks. Parts of the Taj and Oberoi hotels reopened this weekend. In all, more than 160 people died during the Mumbai rampage, at least half of them in those two hotels. Deepak Dutta was determined to be the first guest to check in to the Taj Mahal hotel today. And for him, it was a return visit.</s>Mr. DEEPAK DUTTA (Customer, Taj Mahal Palace): I went back to the same room which faced two explosions right under my room during the terrorist strikes. And I wanted to go back there, and I'm definitely going to sleep in my room tonight.</s>ANDREA SEABROOK, host: He was trying to make a statement. Dutta told Sky News he wanted to stand up to the terrorists. The hotels did their part to send the message, as well. They've added security dogs, baggage scanners and private guards in their lobbies. And they've done their best to remove any trace of the attacks from the areas that re-opened, fixing marble floors, changing out windows, replacing damaged furniture. At the Taj today, officials greeted guests with piano music, marigold garlands, and the unveiling of a memorial. It's a six-foot tall bronze sculpture built in honor of the victims. The title: "Tree of Life." Both hotels still have a lot of work left to do to fully recover. A big part of the Oberoi are still closed, as is much of the Taj. Officials there expect the repairs and renovations won't be finished until 2010. As an executive at another hotel said today, a world-class hotel needs to be an invisible fortress.
Tourists in Mumbai are once again checking in at the Taj and Oberoi hotels. The doors opened this weekend for the first time since last month's terrorist attacks. Host Andrea Seabrook charts the reopening — and notes that large sections of the damaged hotels won't open for months, or even years.