Hotel employee jailed for having Sex with guest

(Hospitality Business News) December 30, 2010 - According to local reports a South African hotel employee who was working in Dubai was sentenced December 28, 2010 to six months in jail for having sex with a guest and getting an abortion when she became pregnant.

The woman was charged with committing zina, the Sharia offence of having sex outside of wedlock, and of aborting a 4 month old fetus. The maximum sentence is 100 lashes and five years in prison.

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Court detains three in hotel fraud

 (Hospitality Business News) December 30, 2010 - - - According to reports a Nigerian court has ordered three persons remanded in custody for their alleged involvement in a failed deal to construct a 5-star hotel in Minna.

The accused persons, Tanko Angulu, Mohammed Balaba, and Musa Wara, through SOCACIC West Africa Ltd, signed an MOU with the Niger State government to build a 5 star hotel with a total cost of N25 billion (US$ 165,000,000).

The Commissioner of Justice stated that once the MOU was signed the Government released it’s portion of the “counterpart fund” to the contractor. An amount of N500 million (US$3.3M). The Commissioner further explained that the contractors failed to start the project.

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Hard Rock Hotel hit with $500,000 fine over drugs

Even after Nevada casinos were warned that drug use and other illegal activity wouldn't be tolerated in nightclubs and other venues, Las Vegas Hard Rock hotel-casino employees and supervisors broke the law by selling drugs and providing private restrooms so patrons could have sex and take drugs.
That's according to the state Gaming Control Board, which filed a complaint against the hotel-casino Wednesday.

Without admitting or denying the allegations, the Hard Rock agreed to settle the matter by paying a $500,000 fine and paying $75,000 apiece to the Gaming Control Board and Metro Police to cover investigative costs.

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Police suspect a second case of arson in less than 24 hours

Police are investigating a suspicious fire at an Italian restaurant in Saint-Leonard, the second suspected case of arson at a restaurant in less than 24 hours.
The first floor of a commercial building housing Ristorante Rimi at 8760 Pascal Gagnon St was apparently set ablaze at around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday evening.
Firefighters found two broken windows in the rear and Montreal police say the back door of the building was broken into.
A resident saw smoke coming from the restaurant and called the fire department, allowing them to quickly get the fire under control before it spread to the second floor of the building.
The incident came one night after another suspected firebombing at Café Calypso in Montreal North just after midnight very early Wednesday morning.

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Primm hotel furnished from bankrupt Vegas casino

Dressers, chairs and night stands once destined for the Las Vegas Strip have been moved to a casino near the California-Nevada border after its owners bought the furnishings from billionaire Carl Icahn.

Furnishings sold from the shuttered Fontainebleau Las Vegas project are now in Buffalo Bill's, a casino-hotel along Interstate 15 in Primm. Even some of the carpeting intended for the Fontainebleau has been installed in the corridors of the 1,242-room hotel at Buffalo Bill's.

The furniture cost about $1.5 million, part of a nearly $3 million remodeling of Buffalo Bill's, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The casino about 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas shut down last month to remodel guest rooms, add a Denny's Restaurant and introduce an energy efficiency program. It reopened Dec. 23.

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Elbit Imaging sells stakes in 3 London hotels

Elbit Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: EMITF; TASE: EMIT) today sold its holdings in three London hotels for ₤21 million to its partner in them, Park Plaza Hotels Ltd. (AIM:PPH). The deal comes a day after it bought seven shopping centers in the US.

Elbit Imaging, controlled by chairman Mordechai Zisser owned 45% of the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel and the Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes Hotel and 50% of the Park Plaza Victoria Hotel. Park Plaza, controlled by chairman Eli Papouchado, manages the hotels. Park Plaza will also assume Elbit Imaging's ₤11.9 million guarantees to Aareal Bank AG.

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London's Grosvenor House hotel sold for GBP 470M

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Private-equity firm buys controlling stake in Noodles & Co.

Broomfield-based Noodles & Co. has sold a controlling stake in the chain to private-equity investment firm Catterton Partners of Greenwich, Conn.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Restaurant analysts said the deal will allow Noodles, already on a fast growth curve, to open more outlets.
The chain operates in 18 states with 255 locations — more than twice the number of restaurants it owned five years ago. The first Noodles outlet opened in 1995 in Cherry Creek.

The company will continue to be based in Broomfield and will operate with the same management team.

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Restaurants won't be celebrating this New Years

The bubbly may sparkle on New Year's Eve at the nation's restaurants, but business itself is expected to be essentially flat — despite signs the economy is improving.

Nationwide, restaurants are expecting a 1% drop in patrons Dec. 31 compared to last year. That's about the same amount of decline in business for all of 2010, according to the NPD Group.

Todd Johnson, general manager of Lawry's the Prime Rib in Beverly Hills, said his restaurant is offering patrons a champagne toast at midnight, but no extravagant party.

"Eating out is for the most part discretionary income," Johnson said. "And discretionary income is pretty discretionary these days for many of us."

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Judge narrows Hilton race discrimination suit but allows it to move ahead

A federal judge has allowed the heart of a racial discrimination lawsuit by dozens of black guests against the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center to move forward.

The Dec. 20 ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo granted the hotel's request for immediate dismissal of three civil rights claims, but left intact one claim because the 68 plaintiffs produced enough evidence to show they might have been victims of discrimination.

A trial is expected to start in February.

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Police seize 'tomahawk' suspect at Sydney Hilton

Police have arrested a man inside an upmarket Melbourne hotel who was earlier seen blood-soaked and allegedly carrying a tomahawk.
Heavily armed police wearing bullet-proof vests and helmets entered the Hilton Hotel on South Wharf this morning and arrested a 45-year-old Melbourne man who was staying as a guest.
The blood-soaked man holed himself up in a room at the Hilton after he reportedly attacked a car with a tomahawk.

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Police standoff at Oklahoma Clarion

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City Police are still trying to convince a man barricaded inside a hotel room to surrender, more than 12 hours after a standoff began.

The standoff started just after midnight Wednesday when officers went to The Clarion Hotel at N.W. 63rd Street and Robinson.  They were searching for a fugitive from Cleveland County, but it turned out that suspect was already back in jail.

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LaSalle bails on Chicago hotel plan

Bethesda-based LaSalle Hotel Properties has sold several floors in a landmark Chicago skyscraper it bought two years ago with the intention of converting it into a luxury hotel and will take a loss on the investment.

LaSalle, through a joint venture named Modern Magic Hotel LLC, acquired 12 floors of the 52-story IBM Building at 330 N. Wabash Ave. in March 2008 from Prime Group Realty Trust for $46 million. It was the majority stakeholder in the joint venture, with Oxford OG Hospitality Chicago holding a 5 percent stake.

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Baltimore Four Seasons hotel project moving ahead

Baltimore's $197 million Four Seasons Hotel is on target to open by late 2011 with partial financing from the proceeds of $45 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority.

Representatives for the state and the hotel developers said PNC Bank is purchasing the state-issued bonds and that the proceeds will be loaned to the developer so that it can complete the 18-story, 256-room luxury hotel in Harbor East. Affiliates of John Paterakis' H&S Properties Development Corp. are the developers.

MIDFA held a public hearing on the bond sale Wednesday morning, and the settlement is scheduled for Thursday. According to H&S Vice President Michael Ricketts, the hotel project is expected to create 1,273 construction jobs and 577 full-time jobs.
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Another Montreal restaurant firebombed

The epidemic of suspicious fires in restaurants and coffee shops continued as the Café Calypso in Montreal North was hit by a firebomb just after midnight very early Wednesday morning.
The café, on Forest St. near the corner of Bellevois St., was empty at the time of the attack and no one was injured.
The attack took place at about 12:50 a.m. when a passerby saw some flames coming out of the building and quickly dialled 9-1-1. Firefighters required little time to get the fire under control, and the damage was limited to the furniture inside.
Firefighters noticed that a heavy object had been thrown through the window of the restaurant to facilitate throwing some sort of firebomb into the restaurant.

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Building to begin on $8.8 billion Mecca hotel project

The developer of a long-delayed $8.8 billion (Dh32 bn) project in the heart of Mecca has signed a deal to start construction on a large portion of the development.
Saudi Arabia's Jabal Omar Development said it awarded a 3.4 bn riyal ($908 million) contract to Nesma & Partners Construction for the first phase of the project, located on 23 hectares neighboring the Grand Mosque. Nesma was given a 24-month contract to start on a section of the project overlooking Ibrahim al Khalil Street, according to a statement Jabal Omar issued to the Saudi Arabia bourse yesterday.
Plans for the development call for at least three luxury hotels, hundreds of shops and air conditioned prayer facilities for 100,000 worshippers, as well as housing for 87,000 people.

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Luxury hotel for gay tourism to open in Mexican Caribbean region

Cancun –  A luxury hotel catering exclusively to the male gay tourist trade will open next month near the Tulum archaeological zone on Mexico's Riviera Maya, the facility's general director told Efe on Tuesday.
"The hotel is uniquely for men. That is to say, only homosexual couples are accepted, it's not for women, although among our personnel we have heterosexual men and women and all have received specialized training to avoid having our guests feel uncomfortable or discriminated against," Patrick Lurenz said.
He said that another prohibition will be on men entering the hotel with minors.
Lurenz said that the Adonis Tulum hotel, the first establishment of its kind in the state of Quintana Roo, is now in the last phase of remodeling prior to opening its doors to guests in January.

See related story

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A Hotel Mogul Gets a Reprieve

Kentucky hotelier Bill Yung III has found a solution to one of his debt problems just weeks after relinquishing control of 14 hotels to a lender, Blackstone Group LP.
Mr. Yung's Columbia Sussex Corp. has lined up loans from Barry Sternlicht's Starwood Capital Group totaling $206 million to replace debt that came due last July, the companies announced Tuesday. The deal means that 10 hotels pledged as collateral for those loans will remain with Columbia Sussex for another several years.
The loans from Starwood Capital include $192 million in a mortgage and mezzanine loan at an 8% interest rate. Those loans, maturing in January 2016, are tied to eight hotels. In addition, a $14 million, one-year bridge loan averaging a 12% interest rate is tied to two hotels.

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Hard Rock Hotel guest files suit alleging assault, defamation

A Las Vegas Hard Rock hotel-casino guest is suing the property, charging assault, defamation and false imprisonment over an Oct. 12 incident.
Las Vegas attorney Sigal Chattah said Monday the suit was filed in Clark County District Court in behalf of Ryan Maurer.
The suit says Maurer, a tourist from Minnesota, was awoken at 4 a.m. by hotel security and was detained over mistaken allegations of a domestic disturbance in the room. Maurer says there was no disturbance since he was alone in the room. Maurer says Metro Police later advised him he was being evicted for "failure to comply" and that he was arrested for trespassing.

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Hotel for the dead opens in Tokyo

TOKYO, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A Tokyo non-profit has opened a storage facility for corpses awaiting funerals. It's billed as a "business hotel for the dead."
The LISS Center Shin-Kiba facility, which is run by funeral-arranging non-profit LISS System, can store up to 37 bodies in rooms with antibacterial lights, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.
The rooms cost $88 per night and the center also offers assistance with arranging for morticians and setting up funerals.

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Michelin Inspectors: Food Industry Spies

A chef's toughest critic isn't the woman at the corner table who sent back her cod, or the man at table five nibbling on a steak tartar appetizer -- unless one of them is a Michelin inspector. Chances are, they'll never know.

The super secret spies of the restaurant industry, Michelin inspectors are the anonymous, incorruptible keepers of the coveted Michelin star rating. They've been writing anonymous reports of restaurants for over 100 years.
"We say it's a little like the CIA," said inspector "M," with a laugh. She asked that her identity not be revealed. "My whole life is staying under the radar, staying away from cameras, using fake names, trying to sneak in and out of restaurants unnoticed."

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Mich. woman can sue over toilet paper dispenser

Image via WikipediaA Michigan woman says she can't work or crochet and her bowling game has suffered since her right hand was broken by a toilet paper dispenser in a restaurant bathroom.

The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 4-3 order, has refused to throw out Sheri Schooley's lawsuit against Texas Roadhouse in suburban Detroit. Liberal justices were in the majority in a decision that raises questions about what businesses need to do to protect themselves from liability in strange situations.

Schooley, 58, acknowledged it's a "bizarre story." She and her husband were out for dinner on New Year's Eve 2007 when she visited the restroom.

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Danville man's 'exploding' escargot negligence lawsuit dismissed

Image via Wikipedia

Two men who claimed they were scalded by "exploding" escargot at a San Rafael restaurant have been served a court ruling nearly as scathing.

Judge Roy Chernus dismissed "with prejudice" a negligence lawsuit filed by Chadwick St.-OHarra and Steve Righetti, who claimed their snails ruptured at Seafood Peddler last June, splattering their faces and shirts with hot garlic butter.

St.-OHarra also accused restaurant staff of "indifference" and "friggin' rudeness" in the immediate aftermath.
After the restaurant's insurer rejected their claim, the men sued for a $7,500 judgment for alleged negligence, pain and suffering. The defendants were Richard Mayfield and Manuel Camacho, two supervisors at the restaurant.

Chernus heard the case in a small claims trial on Dec. 3 and mailed his decision to the defendants this week. The two-page decision, laced with legal precedent and Latin jargon, said St.-OHarra and Righetti failed to meet their burden of proof.

See previous article

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Macau dims Sands' sunshine

By all accounts 2010 has been a pretty good year for Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson.

The $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands in Singapore opened in April and has produced revenues far beyond analysts' expectations. Table games in Pennsylvania added a revenue source to the Sands Bethlehem.

Company President Michael Leven has brought a calming influence to the corporate operation.
And in November, the Nevada Supreme Court threw out a $60 million verdict that a Clark County jury wanted the company pay to a Hong Kong businessman following a lengthy 2008 trial.

Adelson, 77, was the third richest man in America before 2008. But the economy tanked, stock in Las Vegas Sands fell from more than $140 per share to less than $2, and the company had to avoid bankruptcy by restructuring its corporate balance sheet.

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Spotting corporate espionage

From the top of the Gherkin building in London, Crispin Sturrock points out an anonymous-looking office block in the swirling snow below. “There’s a device in there,” says the chief executive of White Rock Defence Systems, an information security consultancy that helps companies protect themselves against spies. “They’re not clients of ours, but whenever we scan for transmissions in nearby buildings, we pick it up. It’s been there for ages, just streaming information out.” The building in question is bugged with an electronic device transmitting information about one of its tenants. In the era of WikiLeaks, it is tempting to view all leaks as news headlines. But in general, corporate leaks tend to be of interest only to a very small group of people – an organisation’s competitors or potential buyer. “The reasons people engage in competitive information gathering are usually financial gain and leverage,” says Mr Sturrock.

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Pizza Hut tries to defuse "race" row in UK

A restaurant chain today ordered its staff not to ask for payment before a meal after an incident involving a group of black footballers.
The AFC Bournemouth players were angered after being told to pay the bill before being served with their food at Pizza Hut.
Midfielder Anton Robinson was reportedly told by the restaurant manager that the request was made because of their appearance.
He told the Daily Echo: “We had a good idea what he was getting at. A group of white kids came in straight after us and they weren't asked to pay before they had their food.

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Spain votes for tough smoking ban

Spanish lawmakers have voted to approve a tough new anti-smoking law, meaning that from 2 January, bars and restaurants will be no-smoking zones.

Smokers will also not be allowed to light up on television broadcasts, near hospitals or in school playgrounds.

The bill, proposed by PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his governing Socialist Party, was passed in the lower house by 189 votes to 154.

Bar and cafe owners fear the law will adversely affect business.

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Fast-food restaurants plan a heaping helping of excess

Who's ready for a steaming-hot bowl of meat, eggs and cheese from Burger King for breakfast? Or a pizza with not just bacon but "double bacon" and six types of cheese?

Rolling into 2011, fast-food joints across the country are set to deploy a potent new arsenal of greasy goodness for Americans who have grown numb to mere burgers. Think spicier, cheesier, gooier. The new items flout principles of healthful eating and instead celebrate a spirit of wanton gluttony.

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Canada. Sales up at bars, restaurants

Sales for the food services and drinking places industry rose 0.8 per cent in October from the previous month to about $4.1 billion, Statistics Canada said Thursday. The price of food purchased in restaurants rose 0.3 per cent in October, the federal agency said. Since February, the agency said sales of food increased 0.7 per cent, with the price of food purchased in restaurants was up 1.4 per cent. The biggest advance in sales was in the limited-service restaurant sector, which was up 1.1 per cent. Sales at drinking places rose one per cent, while full-service restaurants saw a 0.7 per cent increase.

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The best Austrailian restaurants of 2010

CRISIS, what global financial crisis? A slew of great new restaurants opened, Neutral Bay became a surprise new dining destination and food stayed classy while the surrounds went downmarket, with no-bookings policies thriving as the queues outside lengthened.

Remarkably, Australians spent an extra $800 million on dining out in the past 12 months. The mining industry's not the only one enjoying boom times. Here are 10 of the best from this year.

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Gordon Ramseay tops list of five worst cookbooks of the year

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Gordon Ramsay’s World Kitchen: Recipes from The F-Word was slammed by the US watchdog Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

‘Ramsay has travelled to the ends of the Earth to bring back dishes that will wreak havoc on your health,’ the group declared.

One dish in particular was seized upon – Ramsay’s British Pheasant Casserole - which is made of two birds, smoked bacon, butter and double cream.

Also making the top five list of most unhealthy cookbooks in the US are Barefoot Contessa: How Easy is That? by Ina Garten, Home Cooking by Trisha Yearwood, How to Cook Like a Top Chef from the makers of Top Chef and The Primal Blueprint Cook by Mark Sisson and Jennifer Meier.

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La Caille co-owner and wife found in Provo Marriott Hotel in apparent murder-suicide

PROVO, Utah — The bodies of La Caille co-owner Steven Runolfson, 56, and wife Lisa, 57, of Sandy, were found Saturday night at the Provo Marriott Hotel in an apparent murder-suicide. Police say the couple had checked into the Provo Marriott Hotel on Dec. 23 and were suppose to check out out on Dec. 24. On Dec. 25, one of the managers went to the room to see if they had left. They found them in the room and notified Provo Police Department.   Read More:

On McDonald's Menu: Variety, Caution .

AUGUSTA, Ga.—More than 100 items crowd the menus at Dee and Christine Crawford's five McDonald's restaurants, ranging from familiar Egg McMuffins to newfangled fruit smoothies. The family franchisees recently added oatmeal and caramel-mocha beverages. Next up for consideration: frozen strawberry lemonade.

In certain restaurants around the country, McDonald's Corp. is testing flatbread sandwiches and "garden" snack wraps—chicken and vegetables wrapped in a tortilla.

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Lawyer alleges evidence destroyed in restaurant sexual harassment case

The lawyer for a woman alleging sexual harassment against the N9NE Group and its top executive in Las
Vegas is now claiming evidence has been destroyed in her case.

Leslie Culler on Dec. 13 sued Michael Morton and his N9NE Group, operator of popular restaurants and nightclubs at the Palms hotel-casino, as well as two more N9NE Group executives.

Culler claims she was fired as art director of the group in July after refusing sexual advances directed toward her by Morton and other male executives and objecting to “constant sexual harassment” in the workplace.
Attorneys for Morton and the N9NE Group have not yet filed their response to the allegation.

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Malaysia's Johor Corp says not selling QSR, KFC

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Malaysia's Johor Corp, the state investment arm of the country's southernmost state bordering Singapore, has decided it won't sell its indirect subsidiaries QSR Brands and KFC Holdings , upsetting plans of two rival foreign private equity bidders.
QSR and KFC Holdings, held via Johor Corp's 53 percent subsidiary Kulim, have been in the spotlight after receiving two unsolicited bids to buy the company, both of which involved foreign private equity firms.
Local tycoon Halim Saad had made a bid for QSR together with private equity firm CVC Group before the Carlyle Group made a better offer worth 1.94 billion ringgit ($618.8 million).
"QSR and KFC are not for sale," Johor Corp's president and chief executive Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim said in a statement.

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Lawyer warns liquor licensing laws 'apply to all'

Those ringing in 2011 with a glass of champagne and no alcohol licence will be breaking the law - even tourists.

And so are those throwing a party and sharing their alcohol and those drinking in an emirate for which their licence is not valid.

Federal law makes it illegal to consume alcohol in the UAE without a licence - whether at home or in a hotel, and this applies to both residents and tourists, according to the Abu Dhabi-based lawyer Khalid Mustafa.
So while hotel establishments may rarely ask customers to produce their licence, drinking alcohol without a licence at such a venue could still lead to time in jail.

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French Couple Found Dead in North Bali Villa

(12/27/2010) Both the national news agency Antara and Bali Post report the mysterious death of a French couple staying in a small hotel in north Bali. Oliver Marroni (35) and his wife, Scapin (34) were found dead in Villa number 6 of the Villa Lumbung Bali in Munduk, Buleleng on Monday, December 20, 2010.

The couple reportedly checked into the hotel at 6:00 pm on Monday. One hour-and-a-half later the woman's nude body was found next to the fully clothed body of her husband in the bathroom of the villa. Ardiono, an employee of the Villa, discovered the bodies, raising the alarm with the senior management of the villa and local police.


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US to step up security at hotels and malls

The United States is stepping up security at "soft targets" like hotels and shopping malls, as well as trains and ports, as it counters the evolving Al-Qaeda threat, a top official said Sunday. A year after a foiled plot to bomb a US-bound passenger plane, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNN's "State of the Union" program that other places and modes of transportation must now be scrutinized.

"We look at so-called soft targets -- the hotels, shopping malls, for example -- all of which we have reached out to in the past year and have done a fair amount of training for their own employees," Napolitano said.
Since an attempted bombing on a packed Saturday night in Times





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Jumeirah Group to manage 405-room hotel on Palm Jumeirah

Jumeirah Group, the hotel management company owned by Dubai’s government, will manage Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, a five-star hotel built on a man-made island shaped like palm tree in Dubai.

The 405-room hotel, with Ottoman inspired architecture, is scheduled to open in January, Jumeirah Group said in an emailed statement today.

The hotel, built on the west crescent of Palm Jumeirah, also includes 38 beach villas, 10 restaurants, bars, a nightclubs and boutiques.

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Abu Dhabi sees 27% surge in hotel guests in November

Heralding its arrival as a tourism competitor for Dubai, Abu Dhabi saw a leap of 27 percent in hotel guests in November compared to the same month in 2009, with guest nights surging 42 percent to mark the emirate’s second highest performing month of the year.

The surge brought the emirate to 1,646,799 guests total for the first 11 months of the year, close to its goal of 1.65mn for all of 2010.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority reported that 169,001 guests stayed in the emirate last month, with guest nights at 544,753.

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NCAA weighing exemption status for the Bahamas

VIRGINIA Tech coach Seth Greenberg has tried to get his team as much exposure as he can, taking the Hokies to places like Cancun, Puerto Rico and Alaska. None of those destinations compared to what he experienced in a doubleheader held in a ballroom at a Bahamas resort that once hosted the Miss Universe Pageant.

 "Every single aspect of our experience was positive, from the locker rooms to the practice facility to the reception to the actual game experience," Greenberg said.

"Their attention to detail was second to none." The Battle at Atlantis made its debut this past weekend with Greenberg's Hokies facing Mississippi State and Georgia Tech against Richmond.

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New Beer Pouring Technique

Free wireless internet is a make or break deal for business guests in UK hotels

 Even though most will be able to claim any expenses from their employers, business travellers are highly averse to the idea of paying for wireless internet access in a hotel.

Indeed, according to new research, not only is the way in which some hotels in London and elsewhere in the world continue to charge their guests to get online an irritant to corporate guests, it can make or break a deal.

That is, while in the past free wireless may have been viewed as a nice extra, it is now regarded by a majority of both business and leisure travellers as a right, up there with complimentary tea and coffee and towels and, as such, consumers are starting to vote with their feet by boycotting establishments that have the nerve to charge them for internet use.

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Mumbai braces for follow-up terrorist attack

A MANHUNT was under way in Mumbai yesterday for four alleged members of the same Islamist group that attacked the city in 2008, amid warnings of a strike on foreign targets over Christmas and the new year.
Roads were closed in and around the luxury Taj Mahal Palace Hotel - focus of the deadly siege two years ago that killed 166 - while armed police were out in force at high-profile sites, including overseas consulates.
Mumbai police warned on Friday that four operatives of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit were preparing a ''violent attack'' during the festive season and called for residents to be vigilant.

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Hardrock cancels Rehab Reality show

The truTV reality show “Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel” won’t be returning for a fourth season, attorneys have disclosed.

The disclosure was made last week in court papers by attorneys for the Las Vegas Hard Rock hotel-casino, which hosts Rehab day parties during the summer and was hit with a trademark lawsuit over the TV show in September by the owner of the international Hard Rock brand.

Hard Rock Cafe International charged in the September lawsuit that the TV show about the Las Vegas parties was tarnishing the Hard Rock brand by portraying “drunken debauchery, acts of vandalism, sexual harassment, violence and criminality.”

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How Profitable Will Your RevPAR Be In 2011?

(Hospitality Business News) As 2010 comes to a close, hotel owners and operators start to focus on the upcoming year and ask the question, “How much money will we make in 2011?”  Based on the December 2010 edition of Hotel Horizons®, Colliers PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) is forecasting occupancy for the overall U.S. lodging industry to grow 2.2 percent in 2011, along with a 3.9 percent gain in average daily rate (ADR).  The net result is a 6.2 percent increase in RevPAR that should yield an 11.1 percent lift in the net operating income[1] (NOI) of the average U.S. hotel.

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NFS Launches New iPhone App for Aloha Point of Sale

(Hospitality Business News) HERTFORD, UK - 23 December, 2010: NFS, provider of the world-class Aloha point of sale software suite, announced the launch of TIM - an exciting new iPhone app for the Aloha Point of Sale solution.

TIM allows the user to do everything the Aloha Point of Sale system can do - and more. Unlike other mobile solutions, a server using TIM can work an entire shift without having to resort to an actual Point of Sale terminal, meaning more time on the floor serving guests.

This no-nonsense application will run on any iPhone / iPad and has a user interface designed to allow servers to work quickly and efficiently, optimising customer service. All a restaurant needs to gain the full benefits from the TIM app is a good Wi-Fi infrastructure with the correct security measurements in place. There is no need for additional storage and no training is required.

This revolutionary new app has many unique features, all designed to help a hospitality operation give the best customer service they can, at minimal cost, and in the least time.
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Morgans Hotel Extends CEO Tenure

Morgans Hotel Group Co. is extending the period of service of its chief executive officer (CEO) Fred Kleisner by 3 months. Kleisner was supposed to resign upon the completion of his tenure on December 31.
The New York-based company began the hunt for its new CEO in late summer or early fall. The company also appointed the executive search firm Spencer Stuart to speed up the pursuit. Although Morgans Hotel has not yet been able to find an appropriate candidate, management expects to find the replacement by March 2011.
We believe it will be quite challenging for the company to find a suitable replacement for Fred Kleisner, as he boasts four decades of experience in the hotel industry. Moreover, his dedicated service has helped the company scale new heights.

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Atlantic City Hilton foreclosure hearing off until Jan. 19

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - A hearing on whether a bank can foreclose on the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort has been postponed until Jan. 19.
Both sides agreed to cancel a hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday in Atlantic City while they try to negotiate a settlement.
Gilbert Brooks, a lawyer for the Hilton, says he's optimistic a deal can be worked out.
The Hilton stopped paying its bank loans in July 2009 and has been trying to work out a deal with its lenders since then. As of the end of September, the casino had skipped $39.3 million worth of payments, including interest.
U.S. Bank National Association has filed a motion seeking permission to foreclose on the struggling casino.

Robbing a restaurant? There isn't an app for that

NEW LONDON, Conn. — An accused would-be restaurant robber had a change of heart Wednesday, after cooks at the establishment grabbed knives to defend themselves.

Police said Jerome Taylor, 20, wore a mask as he entered the Northern Indian restaurant on State Street Wednesday afternoon.

He pulled what the cooks thought was a gun and demanded money, according to police. But the cooks grabbed knives and said they weren't handing anything over.

At that point, Taylor became apologetic and told the cooks he was only kidding and that he needed money for his child, police said.

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Kathmandu Govt still seeking Rs 193 million from five casinos

KATHMANDU: The government still has to recover Rs 193.59 million from five casinos.

Finance minister Surendra Pandey at the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) today informed that the government still has to recover revenue from Casino Anna‚ Casino Royal‚ Casino Shangrilla‚ Casino Nepal and Casino Fulbari.

“The government has been able to recover Rs 77.36 million from the casinos recently‚” Pandey informed‚ adding that the government is in the process to recover the remaining sum.

“If the casnos don’t pay‚ the hotels are laible to pay tax as the casino license is issued to the hotels only‚” he added.

Nepal’s casino industry is considered the oldest in South Asia but lately it has been in news for all the wrong reasons like tax evasion and entertaining Nepalis.

When Casino Nepal — the first casino in Asia — was started in 1968‚ it was open only to foreigners but the casinos lately are blamed of entertaining the Nepalis against the law.

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Famous Sussex hotel up for sale following administration

An East Sussex-based country house hotel with a famous past is on the market following its administration.
The Shelleys in Lewes, which was once owned by the family of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, was placed into administration due to a downturn in trade. The 4-star, 16th Century, grade II listed country house hotel, which also boasts a one AA rosette-ranked restaurant, is currently still trading despite its administration.
Partners at insolvency specialists FRP Advisory have been appointed as joint administrators of The Shelleys and are currently carrying out 'extensive marketing' in a bid to find a buyer for the property.

Jason Baker and Chris Stevens of FRP Advisory, confirmed, "Trading is on-going and the ho
tel and restaurant are continuing to welcome guests as usual. Meanwhile, a purchaser is being sought for the business."

Baker and Stevens said that The Shelleys had been affected by the fact that several of its key corporate clients had moved away and no longer needed hotel accommodation in Lewes.
The hotel, which can sleep 37 guests, boasts 10 bedrooms, a large dining room, bar and two conference rooms, plus traditional English country garden and parking.
Its current owners, Carlo Fernando and John Rudich Fernando, bought the hotel in 2007 when it had a guide price of £2.5 million attached. The hotel had also been previously sold earlier that year.

Irish Weather results in 70% drop in Christmas week trade for hotels

HOTELS IN snow-affected parts of the country have lost up to 70 per cent of their Christmas week business, according to the Irish Hotels Federation – even though thousands of people trapped by weather booked hotel rooms in the past week.

The IHF says the ground-floor business of hotels – such as bars and restaurants – has “gone” this week and any uplift from cancelled flights and disrupted travel plans has been slight.

Christmas week is normally a bonanza for the hotel sector, with turnover up to three times that of a normal week. However, because of the big freeze, many establishments have lost out on the cash flow that normally sustained them through January, according to IHF president, Paul Gallagher.

“Ireland effectively shut down because of the weather and, as a result, business was devastated on three of the busiest weekends in the year,” he said.

Mr Gallagher acknowledged that some hotels, particularly those near airports, had picked up business because of the air travel turmoil caused by snow in Ireland and throughout northern Europe.

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