Indiscreet butlers such as Paul Burrell 'should be shot', says Savoy Hotel's head servant

Sean Davoren, the luxury London hotel’s head butler, criticised the behaviour of Diana, Princess of Wales’ former servant for divulging details of her private life in the years following her death.

Instead, butlers should be the epitome of class and discretion, generally be seen and not heard and be available at a moment’s notice for even the most bizarre of requests without “batting an eyelid."

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Doormen at Montreal Fairmont charged with extortion

Six doormen are facing charges in connection with an alleged extortion conspiracy that demanded taxi drivers pay for the chance to collect fares at their luxury Montreal hotel.
Montreal police say the six men have been pressuring cabbies to pay up before picking up passengers at the storied Queen Elizabeth hotel.
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Charlie Sheen trashes room at Plaza Hotel in coke-fueled rampage

A drugged up and naked Charlie Sheen -- just two months out of rehab -- trashed his room at The Plaza Hotel early today in a frantic bid to find his wallet and cellphone after partying with a hooker, authorities said.

Hotel security called police just after 2 a.m. where they found the hard-partying Sheen after a woman called the front desk from the famed Eloise Suite, sources told The Post.
Tables and chairs had been thrown around the room and a chandelier was also damaged, sources said.

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Fairmont Hotel Drama Gets Happy Ending For College Students

Yesterday, we brought you the story of 128 Washington University students whose reservations at the Fairmont Millennium in downtown Chicago had been canceled and relocated 15 miles away to an airport Sheraton. We're happy to report that the situation appears to have been resolved, without much bloodshed.

After being told by Fairmont that their contract had been canceled because of overbooking and that the nearest available rooms to downtown would be out in O'Hare country (which, if you know Chicago, isn't exactly a quick jaunt to downtown), the students went about finding their own accommodations.

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Chicago Fairmont cancels senior trip reservation

With five days to go before the senior class trip, the Senior Class Council was forced to change its plans for housing nearly half of the trip’s participants. The Fairmont Millennium Hotel had agreed to house 128 of the trip’s 272 participants but pulled out of the contract with the Senior Class Council (SCC) on Wednesday after

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Savoy Hotel reopens after £220m facelift, but Gordon Ramsay's Grill is still delayed

London's most famous hotel will reopen this weekend after a three-year closure and a £220m facelift.


The 121-year-old Savoy Hotel, the historic stomping ground of Hollywood stars, world leaders and even a few royals, is set to welcome guests on October 10 - a year and a half later than originally planned.

The 268 plush suites and rooms have been fully booked for the first night and a dinner will be held in the iconic River Restaurant to celebrate the reopening

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Fairmont Royal york workers on one day strke

Unionized employees at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel went on a one-day strike early Friday morning, the first full day of the Toronto International Film Festival.


Talks between the hotel and the union broke down late Thursday night, sending more than 900 workers onto the picket line early Friday morning.

Members of the union, Unite Here Local 75, have been without a contract since July 16, and say their "patience has run out with hotel owners who have dragged their heels" on contract negotiations, according to a statement released Friday. The union is protesting increasing workloads, shortened shifts and high injury rates. This strike follows one on Sept. 3 at the Hyatt-Regency where members of the same union, demanded laid-off workers be hired back.

FelCor Lodging Trust purchases The Fairmont Copley Plaza for $98.5 million

Boston, MA CBRE Hotels acted as exclusive advisor to Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in the sale of The Fairmont Copley Plaza, located on Copley Sq. in Back Bay. FelCor Lodging Trust Inc. has purchased a fee-simple interest in the famed hotel for $98.5 million and will implement a capital plan in excess of $20 million which includes an overall refreshing of guestrooms and public areas and the addition of a new fitness center.

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Guest walks out on $42K bill at African Fairmont

Like in Kenya’s banking sector, credit card and internet fraud is the hospitality industry’s most guarded secret.

Hoteliers are increasingly losing millions of shillings to sweet-talking, often savvy customers who land on their doorsteps complete with the trappings of wealth and power and live large only to vanish into thin air, leaving behind millions of shillings in unpaid bills.

Nairobi’s oldest and one of the most exclusive hotels, Fairmont Norfolk, has become the latest victim of a bills-skipping scandal planned and executed by a man the hotel’s management described as a “cunning and highly connected person who portends high profile credibility.”

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FelCor Completes Acquisition of the Fairmont Boston Copley Plaza Hotel

IRVING, Texas, Aug 19, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- FelCor Lodging Trust Incorporated /quotes/comstock/13*!fch/quotes/nls/fch (FCH 4.59, -0.24, -4.97%) today completed the previously announced purchase of the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Boston for $98.5 million. The purchase was funded with cash on hand.

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FelCor agrees to buy Fairmont Copley for $98.5m

Lodging owner FelCor Lodging Trust Inc. said it is buying the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Boston for $98.5 million from an affiliate of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.


Fairmont will continue to manage the hotel under a long-term contract. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter and will be funded with cash on hand.

The real estate investment trust plans to spend $20 million to renovate the 383-room historic hotel.

Pig eyes among the wackiest hotel demands

The next time you forget to pack your toothbrush -- again -- hold your head high when requesting a spare from the hotel, confident in the knowledge that someone before you asked for 30 pig eyes on ice.

That's just one of more than 100 extraordinary guest requests documented in an internal Fairmont Hotels document obtained by Postmedia News.

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Kingdom Holding May Sell Minority Stakes in Hotels

July 5 (Bloomberg) -- Kingdom Holding Co., the investment company controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, and its hotels unit may sell minority stakes held in hotels as part of a plan to focus on higher-earning properties.

Kingdom has a “handful” of assets where it owns a 50 percent stake or less, and it “will assess the viability” of those holdings and may sell them to reinvest in the same industry, Sarmad Zok, chief executive officer of the lodging unit Kingdom Hotel Investments, said by phone from New York on June 30. He declined to identify the properties.

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Man who kept dead woman on ice at luxury hotel sent back to New Zealand

A convicted drug dealer who kept his girlfriend's body preserved on dry ice in a swank Newport Beach hotel room for a year has been deported to his native New Zealand after being released from prison, federal officials said Thursday.

Stephen David Royds, who went by the nickname "Kiwi," was arrested in March 2008 by Newport Beach police officers. Authorities had been investigating reports that he was selling cocaine at a local bar.

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Fairmont targets Q4 2011 Palm hotel opening

Fairmont Raffles Hotels International reaffirmed its commitment to its Fairmont Palm Jumeirah project, which could finally open by Q4 2011.

The group, which earlier announced plans to operate 14 new properties across three brands in the Middle East by 2014, could also see that number increase as it examines six new hotel projects for its regional portfolio.

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Fairmont Royal York Hotel fires 22 staff members

The Fairmont Royal York isn’t just Toronto’s classiest hotel. It’s a temporary abode for visiting kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers – not to mention diplomats, movie stars and music legends from around the world.


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Fairmont Raffles IPO in the cards

Four years after being taken private in a $3.3-billion buyout, the iconic Fairmont hotel chain is on its way back to public ownership.


Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal sold a stake in Fairmont Raffles Holding International on Monday, and used the deal to announce (on Bloomberg Television) that the company will go public again in two to three years.

Fairmont Raffles, once part of the Canadian Pacific conglomerate, manages the railway hotels that dominate downtowns in major Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. The chain was purchased in 2006, a year that saw a raft of private equity takeovers that also included a buyout of Four Seasons Hotels Inc.

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Fairmont Sells 40% To Boost Brand Globally

TORONTO - Fairmont Raffles Hotels International Inc., the Toronto-based luxury hotel chain, has issued US$467-million worth of new shares to Cayman Islandsbased Voyager Partners Ltd. in a strategic move to align itself with cash-rich investors in the hotel-property sector.


Fairmont Raffles, which is emerging from a particularly bad slump in the luxury hotel business, is recapitalizing to repay some of its debt and is seeking to build its brand by adding new management contracts.

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Property slump \ biggest challenge\ for Dubai hotels

The president of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has branded the collapse of Dubai's real estate industry the "single biggest challenge" facing the emirate's hospitality industry.

In the peak of the property boom, the engine of Dubai's economy, hotels leaned heavily on its custom to fill their rooms and were left with few alternatives when the real estate market slumped, said Thomas Storey.

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Fairmont to open seven new hotels this year

Hospitality chain Fairmont Hotels and Resorts has revealed its development pipeline for 2010, with seven new hotels being added to its global portfolio of 59 properties.

The Middle East will see the newly-developed Makkah Clock Royal Tower hotel in Saudi Arabia, which the hospitality chain believe will become a key destination for visitors from the UAE and the rest of the region.

The property will be part of the iconic Abraj Al Bait Complex, which includes seven towers, adjacent to the Masjid Al Haram. The 858-room hotel will offer Fairmont Gold, the brand's lifestyle product offering, with numerous dining outlets and conference facilities. The 76-storey hotel tower, at 577 metres, will be among the world's tallest and feature a 40-metre clock, more than five times larger than Big Ben in London. The property is to open in Q3 2010.

"Outbound travel to Asia, Africa, and Europe from the Middle East markets remains strong. The new hotels will cater to the needs of guests from the Middle East with facilities tailored to their needs, such as large family rooms and suites, and many hotels providing halal food," said Thomas W Storey, President, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

Other properties planned for this year by The Fairmont also include The Savoy, London, which will reopen after a two-year, £100 million (Dh596m) restoration programme. The opening is set for Q2 2010. In Shanghai, The Fairmont Peace Hotel is the new name for the newly restored Peace Hotel.

China will see the opening of a Fairmont Beijing, while two other properties will opening North America, and one in South Africa.