Vice President Biden’s gregarious, gaffe-laden diplomacy doesn’t come cheap.
It can cost in the neighborhood of $500,000 a night — and that’s just for the hotel.
Biden’s one-day visit to Paris on Feb. 4 required more than 100 rooms at the five-star Hotel InterContinental Paris Le Grand.
The lodging cost taxpayers $585,000.50, according to federal contracting records that emerged Friday.
Then it was on to London, where Biden’s visit on Feb. 5 required “approximately 136 rooms” at another five-star hotel, the Hyatt Regency London Churchill — the closest Hyatt to the U.S. Embassy.
Total cost for those rooms: $459,338.65.
The spending was first reported by a conservative website, The Weekly Standard, which discovered the official government contract filings online, showing how much was paid for the lodging.
Experts say the costs reflect the enormous security and logistics challenges posed whenever the President or vice president travel.
“Those rooms are covering a lot,” a veteran of advance work for federal VIPs told the Daily News.
Asked for comment, a State Department spokesman said the costs of Biden’s two days in Paris and London were “nothing out of the ordinary.”
“They are in line with high-level travel across multiple administrations,” the spokesman told The News.
“The contract costs cover the entire range of support, including accommodations for military, communications, Secret Service staff and other support professionals. Security experts are also required to travel in advance of the President or vice president. Safety and security are not negotiable.”
The public learned the scope of White House advance work — and its perils — last year when a dozen Secret Service agents and as many service members were investigated for soliciting prostitutes before a trip by President Obama to Cartagena, Colombia.
Biden’s trip was the first of his second term and focused on the high stakes of the worsening civil war in Syria.
In Paris, Biden met with French President Francois Hollande, and then in London he huddled with Prime Minister David Cameron and British security officials.
Biden also traveled to Germany on the trip, meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Syrian resistance leader Sheikh Moaz Alkhatib.
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