British Hospitality Association publishes tips code

The British Hospitality Association has published its code of practice for restaurant service charges and is urging all restaurants and hotels to adopt it as soon as possible.
The code, drawn up by the BHA after discussion with the Department for Business, asks restaurants and hotels to make it clear to their customers – via a written note or on the company’s website – how service charges are distributed to staff.

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http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/item/3686

Montana resort for elite sold for $115 million

BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana's ultra-posh Yellowstone Club is in new hands, following a $115 million deal that the new owner hopes will close the door on the resort's much publicized descent into bankruptcy.
Eight months ago, the millionaires-only club was on the verge of liquidation, a victim of its prior owners' excesses and the broader economic downturn that choked off the flow of money fueling the club's rise.
On Friday, CrossHarbor Capital Partners of Boston bought the 13,600-acre private ski resort about 50 miles south of Bozeman at what was considered a bargain-basement price.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gzb_qDMdMX4uxxdyQrrogGGv082gD99GGM300

Fontainebleau Las Vegas moves to cancel conventions, worker contracts

With construction on its $2.9 billion resort halted, Fontainebleau Las Vegas is canceling numerous meetings and conventions scheduled there for the first half of 2010.
The cancellations were revealed in a Miami bankruptcy court filing Thursday in which Fontainebleau sought permission to cancel the meeting contracts.

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/17/fontainebleau-moves-cancel-conventions-worker-cont/

Lenders sue to recoup at least $145 million personally guaranteed by Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs after Shangri-La hotel project goes into foreclosure

RFR Holding partners Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs are being sued for at least $145.6 million to repay a loan they personally guaranteed on a hotel project that is now in foreclosure.
Lenders ING Real Estate Finance and Swedbank AB filed to foreclose on the hotel project last month, but amended the complaint last week to exercise a clause that makes the duo as well as others personally liable for the loan, late fees and other expenses.

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http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090716/FREE/907169975

Fortune can favour the brave as hotels’ recovery beckons

The hotel sector continues to be buffeted by the recession, with a number of operators failing and others facing uncertain futures.
This uncertainty among operators, owners and investors is pushing the sector back towards quality, brand and location basics. The demise of some gives opportunities for others. But for those who can restructure or find funding, now is a perfect time to grow and gain market share.

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http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article6719639.ece

New hotel defies recession

It will be London's biggest ever hotel in a generation, boasting 1,021 guest rooms in a dramatic glass-clad heart-shaped building at the southern end of Westminster Bridge.
When the £350m project is finished early next year, opening onto a new landscaped and pedestrianised area beside the former Greater London Council's headquarters it will mark the transformation of the polluted roundabout dominated by one of the capital's most unpopular buildings – a concrete GLC "overspill" office which lay empty and vandalised for more than twenty years.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/19/park-plaza-hotel-opening

Ruby Tuesday, Inc. Announces Common Stock Offering

MARYVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (NYSE: RT) today announced it plans to publicly offer 10,000,000 shares of its common stock. In addition, it intends to grant the underwriters a 30 day option to purchase up to 1,500,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments, if any. The offering is being conducted as a public offering pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933. Proceeds will be used to pay down debt. Wells Fargo Securities and BofA Merrill Lynch are joint book-running managers and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. are co-managers of the offering.

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http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090720005446&newsLang=en