The vista from the private terrace of the John Barrymore Suite at the Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince is a vision of verdant hills and a brilliant blue bay, a dramatic postcard that reveals not a hint of the mountains of rubble and trash left over from Haiti's catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake, nor the escalating cholera epidemic, nor the slums just beyond the hotel's gate.
The suite named for the American actor boasts an open-air, king-size bed draped in mosquito netting, two bedrooms, artisan-painted armoires, high ceilings and lace curtains -- lavish quarters that are the jewel of Haiti's most famous hotel, which served as the setting of Graham Greene's 1965 novel The Comedians.
Read More:
Friday, December 10, 2010
Hotel brand loyalty dives
In its 2011 travel forecast, TripAdvisor surveyed 3,000 Americans to reveal a nose dive in hotel brand loyalty.
According to the survey, 39 percent of travellers say they are faithful to one hotel brand, down from 59 percent a year ago. Travel industry watchers have noted for several years that travel brand loyalty, be it to hotels, airlines or rental car agencies, has dipped. But 20 percentage points in a year?
Brooke Ferencsik, a TripAdvisor spokesman, speculated that the drop came in response to travellers being better informed of their options.
Read More:
According to the survey, 39 percent of travellers say they are faithful to one hotel brand, down from 59 percent a year ago. Travel industry watchers have noted for several years that travel brand loyalty, be it to hotels, airlines or rental car agencies, has dipped. But 20 percentage points in a year?
Brooke Ferencsik, a TripAdvisor spokesman, speculated that the drop came in response to travellers being better informed of their options.
Read More:
Man Dies After Altercation With Burger King Employee
According to a story by CBS Detroit , an altercation between a 20-year old Burger King employee and a 67-year old man has led to the death of the customer.
The incident happened Thursday evening at a Burger King restaurant on Gratiot, near St. Aubin, on Detroit’s east side.
According to Detroit Police, the employee allegedly punched the customer, who then fell to the floor.
The man apparently began choking on his dentures. The man was rushed to a hospital where he died a short time later.
The Burger King employee has been arrested.
The incident happened Thursday evening at a Burger King restaurant on Gratiot, near St. Aubin, on Detroit’s east side.
According to Detroit Police, the employee allegedly punched the customer, who then fell to the floor.
The man apparently began choking on his dentures. The man was rushed to a hospital where he died a short time later.
The Burger King employee has been arrested.
TripAdvisor blocks Google Places from accessing its hotel reviews
TripAdvisor confirmed that it blocks Google Places from accessing its hotel reviews. According to TripAdvisor, it believes the user does not benefit with the “experience of selecting the right hotel”.
TripAdvisor reviews of hotel properties, alongside reviews from other providers, were streamed in as part of bitesize summaries of individual reviews, with a link to follow in order to read the full review on the TripAdvisor site.
TripAdvisor would feature next to reviews from online travel agencies or other hotel booking sites, but given its page rank in organic search, often found itself at the top of the list.
Read More:
TripAdvisor reviews of hotel properties, alongside reviews from other providers, were streamed in as part of bitesize summaries of individual reviews, with a link to follow in order to read the full review on the TripAdvisor site.
TripAdvisor would feature next to reviews from online travel agencies or other hotel booking sites, but given its page rank in organic search, often found itself at the top of the list.
Read More:
Blackstone Said to Seize 14 Columbia Sussex Hotels It Sold Five Years Ago
Blackstone Group LP took ownership of 14 hotels it sold to Columbia Sussex Corp. five years ago after buying junior debt on the properties and seizing control, a person with direct knowledge of the transaction said.
Thirteen of the hotels will be managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts Inc., according to a statement yesterday by Arlington, Virginia-based Interstate. They include properties under the Westin, Sheraton and Hilton brands.
Blackstone is betting that hotel real estate will recover after the credit crisis depressed values. The New York-based firm was part of a group that this year won a bankruptcy auction for hotel chain Extended Stay Inc., which it sold in 2007 to investors led by David Lichtenstein’s Lightstone Group LLC.
Read More:
Trump pays down hotel debt
Developers of the Trump SoHo hotel-condo building "substantially paid down" the debt owed on the project to iStar Financial after receiving a new loan from CIM Group.
Trump Soho is a joint venture between the Trump Organization and the project's developers, Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization.
Donald and Ivanka Trump both declined to discuss financial terms of the deal.
In September, iStar offered $20 million more in financing to the Trump SoHo in a mortgage restructuring. It had already lent more than $250 million to the project, the Wall Street Journal reported.
IStar, the New York-based commercial real-estate lender, had about $2.8 billion of non-performing loans as of Sept. 30. It may refinance loans with a new $1 billion to $2 billion credit line as an alternative to bankruptcy, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.110 women arrested on prostitution charges at Macau's Venetian
Hong Kong's vice squad raided Macau's Venetian casino resort Friday, arresting 110 women on prostitution charges and 22 suspected pimps, Agence France Presse reports.
The women were forced to pay their pimps a daily "protection fee" of as much as about $130 dollars, the article says.
Read More:
The women were forced to pay their pimps a daily "protection fee" of as much as about $130 dollars, the article says.
Read More:
