Charles Wells sells four out of ten pubs at auction

Bedford brewer and retailer Charles Wells managed to sell only four of the ten pubs it placed in a Colliers CRE auction earlier this week. Of the four that did sell, the Greyhound, in Eye, Peterborough, sold for £256,000 while two pubs, the White Horse, Keysoe, Bedford and the Smith Arms, Kempston, near Bedford sold prior and the Swan, Radwell, Bedford sold after.

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http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/83761

Nine Die In Bomb Explosions At Ritz Carlton, JW Marriot

JAKARTA, July 17 (Bernama) -- Nine people died in the bomb explosions at the JW Marriott Hotel and Ritz Carlton Hotel in the Mega Kuning commercial area here Friday, said Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Security, Widodo AS.He said the explosions within two minutes of each other, happened at 7.45am and 7.47am."These were highly-explosive bombs," he told reporters in front of the damaged JW Marriott Hotel.

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http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=426095

Worlds Top Hotels?

Travel and Leisure has come out with the annual rankings.

Of the top 15 hotels in the world; 4 were on the top 15 last year.

Of the top 15 hotels in the world; only 2 are affiliated with major chans. Four Seasons and Hyatt.

http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/2009/results.cfm?cat=hotels

Marriott International Reports Second Quarter Results

Marriott International, Inc. (“Marriott”) (NYSE:MAR) today reported second quarter 2009 adjusted income from continuing operations attributable to Marriott of $84 million, a 56 percent decline over the year-ago quarter, and adjusted diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) from continuing operations attributable to Marriott shareholders of $0.23, down 55 percent. The company’s EPS guidance for the 2009 second quarter, disclosed on April 23, 2009, totaled $0.20 to $0.23.The reported income from continuing operations attributable to Marriott was $37 million in the second quarter of 2009 compared to reported income from continuing operations attributable to Marriott of $153 million in the year-ago quarter. Reported diluted EPS from continuing operations attributable to Marriott shareholders was $0.10 in the second quarter of 2009 compared to diluted EPS from continuing operations attributable to Marriott shareholders of $0.41 in the second quarter of 2008.

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http://www.marriott.com/news/detail.mi?marrArticle=446325

Company denies Gleneagles reports

REPORTS THAT Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire was on the brink of being sold in a £250 million deal have been firmly denied by the owners, drinks giant Diageo.
“I can confirm that there are no current plans to sell the Gleneagles hotel,” a spokeswoman said yesterday.
Diageo put Gleneagles on the market in 1998 but cancelled the plan after offers fell short of their valuation.

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http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2009/07/16/newsstory13463447t0.asp

Hotels busted for fake online reviews

The hotel review may sound too good - citing obscure details like the type of faucets - or perhaps one stands out as the only negative rating of an otherwise popular location.
The influential travel website TripAdvisor has been quietly posting disclaimers to warn customers of hotels writing fake reviews to improve their popularity rankings or hurt competitors.
The red disclaimers near the names of hotels show that TripAdvisor has a problem with fake reviews, travel bloggers and industry experts say. One blogger, Jeff Tucker, warned that without changes to restore credibility to the reviews the site is "going to come crumbling down behind them."

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http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/2599530/Hotels-busted-for-fake-online-reviews

MGM Mirage Says Las Vegas ‘Bouncing Along a Bottom’

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- MGM Mirage, the biggest casino owner on the Las Vegas Strip, said business in the largest U.S. gambling city appears to be “bouncing along a bottom.”
“The tone of business feels like we saw the worst late last year, early this year, and we appear to be kind of bouncing along a bottom,” Chief Financial Officer Dan D’Arrigo said today at an Oppenheimer & Co. conference in Boston

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601205&sid=a2wiuI3.YBo8

Enterprise Inns Falls as Pub Owner Pays More to Support Tenants

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Enterprise Inns Plc, the U.K.’s second-largest pub owner, fell as much as 9.7 percent in London trading after it said the company increased the amount of support it gives to pub tenants amid the economic slowdown.
Direct financial support climbed to about 1.7 million pounds ($2.8 million) a month, Solihull, England-based Enterprise said in a regulatory statement today. The pub owner said May 12 it was giving about 1.4 million pounds a month.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601205&sid=aukXqmwRMYXw

Hotel’s offer hit by glitch

The Copley Square Hotel crashed its own birthday party.
A promotion to celebrate the hotel’s 118th year - offering $200-a-night rooms for as cheap as $18 - left thousands of would-be guests frustrated as the hotel’s online reservation system was overloaded by the response yesterday.
“Any time you’re offering a limited number of room nights for such a low price, some people will be disappointed,” said John Maibach, general manager of the 143-room boutique hotel.

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http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20090715hotels_offer_hit_by_glitch_thousands_race_for_18_rooms_in_birthday_sale/srvc=home&position=recent

Dunkin' Donuts Adds Nontraditional Florida Sites

[2009-07-15] Dunkin' Donuts announced the addition of 24 nontraditional locations across Florida: six locations in Florida Turnpike travel plazas; 14 locations at airports, including nine at Fort Lauderdale International Airport, two at Southwest Florida International Airport, two at Miami International Airport, and one unit at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport; and one unit on the Palm Beach Community College campus, with additional locations planned to open at Florida International University and Florida Atlantic University by 2010.

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http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/news/story.phtml?id=8966&utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication

Hotels in Construction Cycle Peak

There’s been much ado about something in the hotel industry. With funding scarce and demand down the new construction pipeline has been retracting. It’s a concern scaring suppliers and buyers who worry that shrinking numbers will affect the ability for these folks to do business. Another predominant fear is the recent spate of new hotel project cancellations and postponements. Combined, industry insiders are nervous there isn’t enough business out there to keep everyone flush. It’s giving even the most experienced hoteliers pause and creating irrational anxiousness.

Read more;
http://www.hotelinteractive.com/article.aspx?articleid=14260

For Las Vegas Chefs, the Odds Grow Longer

IN the late, lamented boom, waiters at luxury restaurants here could make $150,000 a year and more thanks to the electrifying arrival of high rollers renowned as “the whales.”
Robert Martinez, a 33-year-old waiter at Rao’s in Caesars Palace, said these heavyweights “had wads of $100 bills and gave them to everyone on the staff, and tipped generously on $12,000 to $15,000 checks.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/dining/15vegas.html?_r=1&hp

Paws up: All-pet airline hits skies

NEW YORK (AP) - One trip for their Jack Russell terrier in a plane's cargo hold was enough to convince Alysa Binder and Dan Wiesel that owners needed a better option to get their pets from one city to another.
On Tuesday, the first flight for the husband-and-wife team's Pet Airways, the first-ever all-pet airline, took off from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y.
All commercial airlines allow a limited number of small pets to fly in the cabin. Others must travel as checked bags or in the cargo hold—a dark and sometimes dangerous place where temperatures can vary wildly

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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99ECQSG0&show_article=1

Hersha Hospitality Announces Sale of Non-Core Properties

Hersha Hospitality Trust (NYSE: HT), owner of select service and upscale hotels in major metropolitan markets, today announced the sale of three properties. The properties include a Mainstay Suites and a Comfort Inn in Frederick, MD and a Four Points in Revere, MA.On a trailing twelve month property-level earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (“Hotel EBITDA”) basis, the Company sold the Frederick properties for 12.3 times and the Revere property for 12.4 times.

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http://www.pr-inside.com/hersha-hospitality-announces-sale-of-r1390369.htm

FBI probes PrankNET over thousands of dollars in damage caused to hotels and restaurants

Dex, the pseudonym for the group's purported leader, has claimed credit for various expensive scare calls, although others have been attributed to "copycats".
The former include one in February to a branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Manchester, New Hampshire, in which Dex pretended to be a company boss.
He convinced the staff to douse the restaurant with fire-suppressing chemicals, evacuate the building and strip off their clothes in the freezing cold .

Read more:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5829770/FBI-probes-PrankNET-over-thousands-of-dollars-in-damage-caused-to-hotels-and-restaurants.html