InterContinental Hotels to invest $500 mn in Mexico

Mexico City( Hospitality Business News)  –  InterContinental Hotels Group will invest $500 million in Mexico over the next three years, the office of Mexican President Felipe Calderon said.

Calderon met Sunday with IHG's president for the Americas, Jim Abrahamson, who informed him of the decision taken to make this new investment.

The new investment "will translate into a projected 47 hotels with a total of 5,000 rooms," according to information released by the Mexican government.

At the meeting between Calderon and Abrahamson, "they exchanged points of view on the tourism industry and Mexico's great potential to figure among the world's top five tourist destinations, while also discussing the tourism industry's impact on creating jobs and growing the nation's economy."

The Calderon administration has declared 2011 to be the Year of Tourism in Mexico.

During last month's FITUR tourism fair in Madrid, Mexican Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara said that, despite the violence spread by organized crime, visits to Mexico have increased and "investments have as well."

Citing preliminary figures, she said that more than 22 million people visited Mexico last year, matching the record set in 2008.

Kuwait blogger sued over bad restaurant review

blogger in Kuwait is facing court action after posting a bad review of a local restaurant, in a case that could set a precedent for defamation laws in the Gulf state.

Mark Makhoul, a Lebanese blogger in court, is being sued by Las Palmas Company – which owns the newly-owned Benihana franchise – for KD5,001 (about 17,878), after the firm claimed he damaged the reputation of the restaurant with a series of “offensive” claims made on his blog.

Makhoul had said that when he and his wife had eaten at the Asian outlet, their food had been undercooked.
Makhoul’s crimes, it specified, were “the damages caused… [by] encouraging large numbers of customers not to try the restaurant by insulting and doubting the quality of food served.”

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Daytona Beach hotel owner arrested in child porn sting

Daytona Beach police have confirmed to News 13 that a hotel owner has been arrested in a child porn bust.
In a joint investigation with the FBI, the police raided the Desert Inn hotel Wednesday morning.

The hotel was locked down due to the investigation, with at least 40 guests inside.

According to News 13 reporter Saul Saenz, around 70 police and FBI officials raided the hotel at about 10 a.m. Investigators said they are serving search warrants to look into reports of child porn, child sexual abuse and child exploitation. The proclaimed owner, who has not been identified, was charged with three counts of sex acts on a 13-year-old, one count of lewd and lascivious and voyeurism.

Police Chief Mike Chitwood told News 13 the raid is the culmination of a month-long investigation between the FBI and Daytona Beach police.

The FBI said it received solid information about a month ago about illegal activities occurring inside the Atlantic Avenue hotel. Chitwood said a series of sealed search warrants were executed.

Russian Police Raid Deutsche Bank in Hotel Probe

Russian police raided the Moscow offices of Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest lender, today as part of a criminal investigation into fraud in the reconstruction of the Hotel Moskva, investigators said.

Officials believe $87.5 million was stolen from a company controlled by the city government, the Investigative Committee in Moscow said on its website today, without detailing Deutsche Bank’s connection to the case.

The probe was to do with “a criminal case on alleged embezzlement during the reconstruction of the Moscow Hotel” that relates to an unnamed client and not to the bank itself, Deutsche Bank said in an e-mailed statement today. “Deutsche Bank continues to operate as normal,” it said.

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Claremont files for bankruptcy

The Claremont Hotel & Spa, a fixture in the Berkeley hills since 1915, was part of a luxury hotel group that filed for bankruptcy yesterday. The Claremont and seven other resorts were part of a $6.6 billion acquisition by Morgan Stanley in 2007. When debt of $1.5 billion came due yesterday, lenders foreclosed on five of the properties (three other properties with longer-term debt did not file for Chapter 11 protection).

The lenders, led by hedge fund Paulson & Co, stated in a press release that they intend to work down the debt and position the hotels to benefit as the economy improves. The last few years have been particularly bruising for the luxury end of the travel industry, and the Claremont has suffered from poor occupancy rates.

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Hard Rock files lawsuit to stop foreclosure

The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas claims a company trying to foreclose on the struggling hotel has no right to do so and is trying to gain an advantage over other investors, according to a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court.
In the 825-page lawsuit filed on Tuesday against an entity created by NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. of New York, the Hard Rock said it was bringing "this action ... to prevent NorthStar from foreclosing on a major Las Vegas hotel casino and destroying plaintiffs' equity value as a consequence."

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