Innkeepers Judge Says Best Western Can't End Agreement for Florida Hotel

Innkeepers USA Trust can keep an agreement to run the Best Western West Palm Beach Airport Inn in West Palm Beach, Florida, preventing a situation the bankrupt company said could harm its ability to reorganize.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman in Manhattan today barred Best Western International Inc.’s request to end its contract with Innkeepers at the hotel, saying that if she did, defaults could be triggered on Innkeepers’ loans.

“I believe the debtors are entitled to more time to determine what they want to do with this agreement,” Chapman said.
Best Western said the hotel doesn’t meet its requirements for design features such as mandated lobby size and exercise facilities, which it imposes on hotel operators that use its brand. It asked to end Innkeepers’ ability to use its logos, citing damage to its trademark.

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IHG #2 in Information Week's 2010 top companies

This years Information Week list of top companies has been released. In the top 250 are:
2 - IHG
53 - Marriott
128 - Hyatt
158 - Best Western
192 - Taco Bell

Conophy, IHG's CIO, encourages IT staffers at the company to experiment with new technologies because, he says, "I don't know where the next big innovation is." IHG's IT lab, with an open floor plan and free soft drinks, resembles what you might find in Silicon Valley. "As long as they don't burn down a hotel or electrocute a guest, those are the only two rules that really apply," Conophy jokes. "We don't want to curtail their thinking."


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Busch Gardens Best Western seeks bankruptcy protection

A massive decline in revenue and struggles in the tourism industry has led a franchised Best Western hotel near Busch Gardens to seek bankruptcy reorganization.


Surya Hospitality LLC, owner of Best Western All Suites at 3001 University Center Drive just outside of Temple Terrace, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Middle District of Florida April 9, claiming assets and liabilities of up to $10 million.

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Best Western aims for more consistency with rebranding

The owners of Best Western hotels have approved a plan that will create three levels for the brand's more than 4,000 properties.


CEO David Kong said 55% of hotel owners approved the plan, which was presented to them at last year's annual meeting.

Under the plan, Best Westerns that have a Two Diamond rating from AAA will remain Best Western, Three Diamond properties will be renamed Best Western Plus and Four Diamond properties will become Best Western Premier — an upper tier that is already in place in Europe and Asia.

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O’Hare-area hotel faces foreclosure

(Crain’s) — The owner of a Best Western hotel in Rosemont that’s also home to sports bar Shoeless Joe’s Ale House & Grille has been hit with an $11.6-million foreclosure lawsuit.
Blue Ribbon Hospitality (Hotel) Rosemont LLC defaulted this summer on a loan issued three years ago on the 141-room property, 10290-10300 W. Higgins Road, according to a complaint filed Sept. 9 by an affiliate of LNR Property Corp. Blue Ribbon already has agreed to the appointment of a receiver, the complaint says.

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