The Wall Street Journal reported in August that an investment arm of the sultan offered $2 billion for the Plaza, as well as for London’s Grosvenor House and the Dream Downtown hotel.

The Plaza Hotel’s owners turned down an offer from the Sultan of Brunei to take over the storied spot, not because of protests from human rights groups, but because the bid was too low, sources tell Page Six.

The Wall Street Journal reported in August that an investment arm of the sultan offered $2 billion for the Plaza, as well as for London’s Grosvenor House and the Dream Downtown hotel. A source tells that $680 million of that was for the Plaza.

The news broke at around the same time as heatedprotests at the Beverly Hills Hotel, owned by the Sultan’s Dorchester Group, over the leader’s anti-gay rights policies in Brunei.

But a source tells us that what derailed the Plaza deal was that the dough was too low.

Meantime, months later in Beverly Hills, the protests seem largely forgotten. Recent tweets about the hotel include a link to a blog post, “Beverly Hills Hotel boycott: Still happening?”, as well as mentions of photo shoots, weddings and a shooting of a suspected bank robber in the lobby by LA cops on Monday.

Perhaps in planning its next moves, the Dorchester Group on Thursday hired DC lobbyist and crisis management firm Barbour, Griffith & Rogers. Oddly, though the sultan’s team adamantly denied in August he or his investment units were “involved in any way in the purchase” of the Plaza, Barbour Griffith’s announcement trumpets Dorchester Group as “rumored to be interested in acquiring” the Plaza.

The Plaza’s owner, Indian conglomerate Sahara Group, also turned down a reported $2.2 billion bid from Mirach Capital, whose investors include sports agent David Sugarman. That bid was also too low, our source said.

But Mirach instead has just handed Sahara a $1.55 billion loan — in part to fund a bail payment for Sahara’s imprisoned chairman, Subrata Roy. Sahara will try to keep the hotel, while Sugarman’s group wants to take it over. We hear Sahara’s latest plan is to turn the dark Oak Room into a private club. Reps didn’t get back to us.