Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Another Mc Lawsuit

A Sardinian snack bar owner who incurred the legal wrath of McDonald's for daring to use the prefix 'Mc' on his shop front has become an unlikely hero for Italian politicians and food campaigners fed up with the global clout of the American hamburger chain.

Ivan Puddu, 32, decided to give his restaurant in Santa Maria Navarrese a fast-food feel by naming it McPuddu's, only to receive two legal warnings. Lawyers for McDonald's said that customers might confuse his tiny outlet with the US giant.

Read More:

Sonics Drive In "sinks" in Georgia

A Sonic fast food joint in Cleveland, Georgia, was eaten by the earth earlier this week after what was believed to have been a sinkhole opened up beneath the restaurant.

Officials are blaming heavy rains, which have dumped several inches on the region and generated flash floods.

"There were people inside the Sonic when the parking lot started giving way," said David Murphy, director of White County Emergency Management. "Everyone got out without injury."

Read More:

FDA Issues Restaurant Calorie Count Guidelines

Can you stomach the truth about what you're eating? Chain restaurants and vending machines will both be required to display the number of calories in their food, according to draft guidelines released Tuesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Though smaller businesses can opt in, restaurants with 20 or more locations and vendors with 20 or more machines will have to comply.

Read More:

Ex-Sandals resort set to reopen as an independent

The all-inclusive Jewel Beach Resort and Spa, the former Sandals Dunn’s River Villagio, will reopen Sept. 1 in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

The hotel is owned by Sagicor Life Jamaica and will be managed by Dallas-based Aimbridge Hospitality, which also manages the Embassy Suites San Juan Hotel & Casino and 50 properties across numerous brands in the U.S.

Read More:

Accor to Sell 48 Hotels in Europe for $465 Million

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Accor SA, Europe’s largest hotelier, said it is selling 48 hotels to units of Credit Agricole SA and Fonciere des Regions SA for 367 million euros ($465 million) as part of a plan to dispose of some real estate holdings.

Accor will continue to run the hotels, the Evry, France- based company said in a statement today. The sale consists of 31 properties in France, 10 in Belgium and seven in Germany, operated under the Novotel, Suite Novotel, Ibis and Etap brands.

Read More:

Guest walks out on $42K bill at African Fairmont

Like in Kenya’s banking sector, credit card and internet fraud is the hospitality industry’s most guarded secret.

Hoteliers are increasingly losing millions of shillings to sweet-talking, often savvy customers who land on their doorsteps complete with the trappings of wealth and power and live large only to vanish into thin air, leaving behind millions of shillings in unpaid bills.

Nairobi’s oldest and one of the most exclusive hotels, Fairmont Norfolk, has become the latest victim of a bills-skipping scandal planned and executed by a man the hotel’s management described as a “cunning and highly connected person who portends high profile credibility.”

Read More:

Innkeepers Creditors Can Probe Apollo and Lehman Buyout Deal

Innkeepers USA Trust’s creditors won court permission to probe the 2007 transaction in which Apollo Investment Corp. acquired ownership of the bankrupt hotel company, giving it $1 billion in debt.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman in Manhattan court today said the committee can seek documents and witnesses from parties involved in the buyout, including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which was an originator to loans used in the buyout. Creditors also seek to evaluate the validity of secured claims on Innkeeper’s estate which arose from the 2007 transaction.

Read More:

Hotel offers $15 rooms - not including towels and TV

A no-frills hotel that costs as little as £9 a night - but charges for extras including towels and luggage storage - has opened in London.

Using a similar strategy to budget airline Ryanair, Malaysian hotel chain Tune Hotels will charge its customers extra for everything from towels to using the hair dryer and even getting the room cleaned

Read More:

Atlanta's Hotel tax collections up over 09

To date, the city has collected about $20.9 million in the hotel/motel tax, said Gregory Pierce, ACVB executive vice president and chief financial officer. Hotel/motel taxes are a key revenue source for organizations that bring convention and visitor traffic to Atlanta.

The hotel/motel increase should remain strong through the end of the year, especially since hotel occupancy in July climbed above 70 percent for the first time since 2008

Read More:

Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels Posts 31% Profit Rise

HONG KONG—Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd., the operator of the luxury Peninsula hotel chain, said Wednesday its first-half net profit rose 31% from a year earlier due to property revaluation gains and a nascent recovery in its hotel business.

The Hong Kong-listed company, controlled by businessman Michael Kadoorie and his family, said its net profit for the six months ended June 30 rose to 605 million Hong Kong dollars (US$77.8 million) from HK$462 million.

Read More:

She wasn’t suspended, she was just taken off the schedule

By: Eric Hertha
Hospitality Business News

In the ongoing battle between Disney and Imane Boudlal, a Muslim woman who is fighting for the right to wear her religious scarf, it was revealed today that Ms Boudlal has been taken off the schedule.

The hotel workers union has cried foul and said that Disney has in fact suspended the employee without pay. According to Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown the suspension claim is not true. According to Disney the employee has not been suspended, she simply is not being scheduled.

We look forward to the verdict.

Dubai World plans to sell Investments in Atlantis and MGM among others

Dubai World plans to sell its prized assets over a period of eight years to generate as much as $19.4-billion (U.S.) to pay off creditors burned by its overambitious expansion, according to a restructuring document obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

The state-owned conglomerate told creditors at a July 22 meeting, held at Dubai’s lavish Atlantis Hotel, that its capital structure was inappropriate and needed “urgent” restructuring, according to the document handed out at the meeting.

Read More: