Atlanta Church's Chicken robbed, employee shot and killed

DECATUR, Ga. -- According to WSBTV a Church’s Chicken employee was shot and killed during a robbery on Saturday night, police said.

The shooting occurred at the restaurant on Flat Shoals Parkway and Wesley Chapel Road in Decatur.

Church's Chicken Employee Killed

The restaurant owner said there were six employees working when two armed robbers entered the store at about 8 p.m. Police said one employee was shot and killed, and five others escaped unharmed.

Police said the two robbers ran away. They searched the restaurant while employees and family members consoled each other outside.

Here’s Your Menu, Now Decode It

The menu at the Tippling Club says simply “pigeon,” but when the dish arrives at your table, it looks more like a pancake.
You wouldn’t have known from the Singapore restaurant’s menu that the bird would be served off-the-bone, flattened and carved into a circular shape with a layer of crispy skin on top.
Nondescript menus are part of the plan at the Tippling Club, says Ryan Clift, chef and co-owner. “Why should we tell diners everything they’re getting?” he asks, adding that he thinks traditional menus spoil the surprise.
Cryptic menus — with minimal descriptions of each dish, such as a list of ingredients or worse, just adjectives, colors or even emotions — have been in vogue for nearly a decade in the West. The trend was led by the rise of molecular gastronomy, a cooking style where detailed explanations can get complicated.

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Burger King franchisee with 92 units files bankruptcy

A Burger King franchise operator in the Midwest has filed for voluntary bankruptcy protection and is seeking buyers, according to a story first published in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, a sister publication.
Duke and King Acquisition Corp., filed for Chapter 11 on Dec. 4 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota.
The company, incorporated in 2006 and based in Burnsville, Minn., lists in bankruptcy court documents 70 Burger King franchises in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.

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McDonald's sued for tempting Californian mum's daughter with Happy Meals toys

Maya Parham loves McDonald's. But not because of the food. According to a lawsuit filed in California last week the fast food giant is using Barbie, Shrek, Strawberry Shortcake and a galaxy of other toy and cartoon characters to lure in the six-year-old. Now Maya's mother, Monet, wants it to stop.

"I object to the fact that McDonald's is getting into my kids' heads without my permission and actually changing what my kids want to eat," she said.

Her suit is backed by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and comes as McDonald's and its rivals face pressure over their use of toys to sell kids' meals. In California, two counties have imposed nutritional limits on the meals McDonald's can sell with toys attached. In Wisconsin, the fast food firm recently fought off another lawsuit. These toy wars are being fought against an increasingly heated debate over what to do about the US's obesity rate.

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NOW goes after Hooters

The National Organization for Women filed complaints against local Hooters restaurants Thursday, but not for exploiting its scantily clad waitresses by subjecting them to leering and groping customers.
The subject this time was Hooters' catering to children.
The restaurants in San Francisco, San Bruno, Sacramento and Orange County are classified as "adult entertainment" establishments but also serve minors, NOW's California chapter said in papers filed with police and prosecutors.
What's more, the organization said, Hooters provides child menus, high chairs and booster seats, and sells T-shirts in children's sizes that identify the wearer as a "Future Hooters Girl."

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First ever Hospitality Revenue Director and IT Professional of the Year award winners announced at ‘Annual BAHA Hospitality Finance, Revenue Management and IT Awards 2010’

(Hospitality Business News) December 17, 2010 - -The winners of the prestigious Annual ‘Hospitality Finance, Revenue Management and IT Awards of the Year 2010’ were announced this week in London by BAHA – the UK’s leading educational organisation for professionals involved in financial management, revenue management and IT within the hospitality industry

Claire Gilbertson, Director of Revenue, Mandarin Oriental

Hyde Park, London. She is flanked by Cheryl Hawksworth,

Regional Sales Manager, IDeaS; and BAHA Chief Executive Carl

Weldon who are celebrating her success.

In the presence of over 270 guests at the 2010 BAHA Annual Christmas Awards Luncheon – held yesterday (16 December) at the Principal Hayley Group’s Grand Connaught Rooms in London’s Covent Garden – the winners of five major BAHA hospitality industry awards, together with the recipients of seven student BAHA examination prizes, were publicly honoured.

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Jury rules against Hawaii hotel in Service Fee case

A Honolulu circuit court jury on Friday decided that the Kahala Hotel & Resort deceptively charged customers food and beverage service fees for banquets and events — fees that were said to be passed on to hotel employees but never were.

The original class-action lawsuit, filed in December 2008 by Honolulu resident Jason Kawakami and includes some 1,300 plaintiffs, claimed that the Kahala charged customers thousands of dollars in food and beverage service fees and did not disclose to what or who those added fees were going.


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Hilton outsources software development to Accenture

(Hospitality Business News)  MCLEAN, Va. and NEW YORK; Dec. 14, 2010 - Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Hilton Worldwide announced today a multi-year agreement to provide the global hospitality company with application development and support services for its property management systems and multi-brand, transactional websites covering more than 3,600 hotels worldwide.  As part of the agreement, Accenture will also be supporting Hilton Worldwide with a global service desk for the company’s hotels.

 

“We are excited to welcome Accenture, one of the world’s leading technology companies, to the Innovation Collaborative,” said Robert Webb, Hilton Worldwide’s Chief Information Officer. “Accenture’s global experience in the hospitality industry and existing knowledge of Hilton Worldwide’s systems will allow us to further explore our next-generation system capabilities.”

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Hilton San Francisco Protest by Local 2 Unite Here Fails To Inspire Support

Less than 100 protestors appeared at a Unite Here Local 2 rally against the Hilton and Blackstone Corporation at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square on Thursday. No employees walked off the job and few of the protestors even work at the hotel, most of them having been recruited from the ranks of unemployed hotel workers in San Francisco.
The rally began at 2 p.m. and ended at 6 p.m. and drew no support from other local unions, none of whom appeared at the rally for Local 2’s contract negotiations with the Hilton and other hotels.

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Pan Pacific buys Hilton Melbourne Airport Hotel

Pan Pacific Hotels Group Limited said on Thursday that its subsidiary, Success City Pty Limited (SCPL), has entered into a conditional contract to buy the Hilton Melbourne Airport Hotel, Australia for A$108.89 million (US$108.13 million).

The contract for the 276-room hotel was entered with Mulpha Hotel (Melbourne) Pty Limited and Mulpha Hotel Pty Limited.

The property is currently leased to Mulpha Hotel (Melbourne) Pty Limited by the airport operator, Australia Pacific Airports (Melbourne) Pty Ltd (APAM), who is the lessee under a head lease with the Commonwealth of Australia.


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German Man Dies In Bed Watching Porn

On Saturday a German man was found dead, lying on his bed in his room in North Pattaya. Police speculate he died from the excitement of watching a sex movie.

Pattaya, November 19, 2010, [PDN]: On 18th December 2010, Banglamung Deputy Police Investigator, Lieutenant Colonel Issaranuwat Jongapichaikul, received a report that a male tourist had been found dead in the Rattanasuk Inn hotel, Pattaya-Naklua road, Moo. 5. A police team was dispatched to investigate.

In room no. 203, on the 2nd floor, officials found the body of  a German national, lying dead on his back in the bed, wearing just his underpants. The TV was switched on and showing a sex movie on DVD.

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High-class hotel employees earn 780 Euros on average

The average monthly salary of four- and five-star hotel employees in Dubrovnik-Neretva County was 5,755 kunas (780 Euros) this year, 16 per cent more than those of employees in lower-quality establishments.

Employees of two- and three-star hotels received 4,842 kunas (656 Euros) on average.

High-class hotels hired six per cent fewer workers than in 2009, the statistics show. Hoteliers warned that such a decrease in workforce leads to a drop in the quality of services, the daily Slobodna Dalmacija writes.

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STRATEGIC HOTELS & RESORTS CLOSES SALE OF THE

(Hospitality Business News)  CHICAGO, IL – December 16, 2010 – Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: BEE) today announced that the company has closed on its disposition of the InterContinental Prague to an investment group led by an affiliate of Westmont Hospitality for a total consideration of approximately €108.0 million. The consideration represents the assignment of the property’s third party debt and the interest rate swap liability related to the third party indebtedness, estimated to be approximately €6.4 million as of November 30, 2010. In addition, as part of the transaction, approximately €2.0 million of restricted cash related to the property was released to the company.
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Jumeirah hands two hotels over to Meydan LLC

Dubai-based luxury hotel operator Jumeirah Group will cease to operate Bab Al Shams Desert Resort and Spa and The Meydan Hotel from January 1, 2011.
Management of the hotels will be handed over to Meydan LCC, the owner of the two properties, HotelierMiddleEast.com can exclusively reveal.
A spokesperson for Jumeirah Group told Hotelier: “We can confirm that the day-to-day management of “The Meydan Hotel” and “Bab Al Shams Desert Resort and Spa” will revert back to Meydan LLC as from 1 January 2011. Both companies will cooperate closely to facilitate a smooth transition period.”

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Woman plunges from downtown Montreal Hotel

Image via WikipediaA 25-year-old woman is dead after falling from the 11th floor of a Holiday Inn Express in downtown Montreal Saturday morning.
The death is being ruled suspicious, said Montreal police Const. Daniel Lacoursiere.
A passerby discovered the woman's body at about 8:50 a.m. in a driveway for the hotel, which is located on Rene Levesque Blvd. and de Bullion St.
The woman was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
A 40-year-old man was also taken to hospital to be treated for nervous shock.

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Hotel workers ratify contract with four downtown Vancouver hotels

Unite Here! Local 40 has announced that workers at the Vancouver Hyatt, Four Seasons, Westin Bayshore, and Renaissance hotels have ratified a new four-year deal.
It includes a $1.84 per hour raise over the life of the contract, as well as a 50-percent hike in pension contributions, housekeeping workload relief, improved access to medical benefits , and medical-benefit increases, according to a statement released by the union.
"Now more of our coworkers will keep the extended health care and dental benefits during slower parts of the year," Naden Abenes, a room attendant at the Hyatt and member of the union bargaining committee, said in the statement. "I'm also happy we won housekeeping workload relief which means housekeepers will no longer have to skip their breaks to finish rooms, can rely less on painkilllers, and actually get to enjoy the time they spend with their families after work—instead of losing that time due to pain."

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Abu Dhabi hotel regrets $11M Christmas 'overload'

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Abu Dhabi luxury hotel that boasted an $11 million Christmas tree decorated with gold and gems admitted Sunday it may have taken the holiday spirit a bit too far.
A statement from the Emirates Palace hotel said it regretted "attempts to overload" the Christmas tree tradition by adorning it with premium bling including gold, rubies, diamonds and other precious stones from a hotel jeweler.
The statement was a rare bit of reflection on the Gulf's ethos of excess. The tree was unveiled last week with full fanfare in a hotel that features its own gold bar vending machine and a one-week $1 million package that includes private jet jaunts around the Middle East.

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