For observers of religious royalty, last week in New York was a bonanza. In town, for various reasons, were His Holiness, Pope Francis; Her Holiness, Beyoncé, to perform in Central Park; and a group of people who like to “feel that they’re the sun around which everyone orbits,” as a representative of the Waldorf-Astoria recently said, describing the heads of state who were visiting for the Seventieth General Assembly of the United Nations. The logistical challenges were numerous: clearing the streets for the Pope’s Fiat, conducting Secret Service “sweeps,” and figuring out where everyone was going to stay. Beyoncé had her apartment, in Tribeca, and the Pope had a Vatican town house near Central Park, but housing the hundred and ninety-three U.N. delegations was another headache. There are only so many Presidential suites.

Further complicating matters, for the first time since the U.N.’s founding, in 1945, the American delegation had cancelled its reservation at the Waldorf. At issue was the hotel’s new landlord, a Chinese insurance company with ties to the Communist Party, which bought the Waldorf for two billion dollars last October. The Americans moved a block away, to the New York Palace, best known as a frequent backdrop on “Gossip Girl.” (The Catholic Church owns the land, which is across Madison Avenue from St. Patrick’s.) The Palace has had its share of authoritarian owners—the Sultan of Brunei, Leona Helmsley—but is now run by a South Korean conglomerate. “Seoul is undoubtedly delighted with the shift,” P. J. Crowley, a former Assistant Secretary of State, said.

The Americans’ move set in motion a game of musical suites. The Indians, who typically stay at the Palace, switched to the Waldorf—perhaps in a show of intracontinental solidarity. Every Chinese leader since 1974 has stayed in the Waldorf, and Vladimir Putin was there, too. The Pakistanis were also in the hotel, which made for sensitive movements in elevator banks, though they were dining at the Palace on the day that Prime Minister Modi arrived.

“I’m surprised he’s not staying at the Pierre,” an Indian-American lawyer who was standing amid a crowd of supporters in the lobby said. He was alluding to the fact that the hotel is now owned by the Tata Group, an Indian company.

Despite the Americans’ defection, the Waldorf was hosting more than twenty-five delegations—occupying three-quarters of its rooms. (Conveniently, it offers twenty-six “presidential-style” suites.) “This is our busiest time of year,” Carlos Cabrera, who coördinates floral arrangements for the hotel, said on Friday, after sending a bouquet of hydrangeas and calla lilies to a Balkan leader’s suite. One avenue over, the Shelburne had eight delegations; the Benjamin had six. Most bookings were in Manhattan, but B. & B.s elsewhere have cause for hope: in 1995, the senior diplomat from Palau stayed at a Super 8 on Governors Island.

A hospitality arms race was under way: the Waldorf typically provides Turkish coffee for the Turks, qiblas for Muslim delegations, and extra slippers for Asian delegations—a pair for the bedroom and another for the bath. The Palace customizes scents for each room, while the Benjamin decorates with flowers from each country’s flora. Bureaucratic needs are accommodated; some delegations insist that rooms be distributed according to hierarchy—aides-de-camp below ambassadors—while the Russian delegation has been known to pay its bill with suitcases full of cash. All the demands might make a concierge long for the Pope, who requested only that his New York bedroom be stocked with water and bananas.

Security is, of course, the most pressing concern; when Modi arrived, the front door of the Waldorf was being guarded by hotel security, the T.S.A., and a Secret Service agent in a bulletproof vest. The hotel can bulletproof its windows, and has a hidden train track that connects to the Metro North system, in case a world leader needs to escape. Most delegations provide their own protection; at Café Boulud, in the Surrey, men in suits stand over the kitchen staff to make sure nothing untoward is added to the Premier’s risotto. The Shelburne performs background checks on its housekeeping staff. “Security is so tight that we’ve had instances where heads of state never made it to the President’s party,” Richard Grenell, a former spokesman for the U.S. Ambassador, said.

Though President Obama would stay at the Palace, Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador, remained at the Waldorf, where America’s Ambassador to the U.N. has occupied the penthouse apartment since 1947. The lease is up this year, which had Maura Moynihan, Daniel Patrick’s daughter, feeling nostalgic. Moynihan lived there in the seventies, when her father was the Ambassador. “I hope Samantha’s enjoying the view,” she said, wistfully, from her two-bedroom downtown. She’d been to plenty of diplomatic cocktail hours at the Waldorf (“The Thais threw the best party”), but she had no plans to attend this year, nor did she have much interest in the Pope or in Beyoncé. “I saw the queen—that’s Madonna—twice last week,” she said, packing a suitcase. She was getting out of town.