NEW YORK (AP) -- Hotel owner and manager Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. said Wednesday it acquired Grand Hotel Timeo and Villa Sant'Andrea in Italy for $117 million.
The company also said it sold its Australian property, Lilianfels Blue Mountains, to Lilianfels Hotel Pty Ltd. for $19.3 million.
Orient-Express said the sale of its Australian property helped its balance sheet and it said it expects to make "significant improvements" in performance at both of the properties it acquired
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Huddle House Lowers Franchise Fee, Eliminates Royalties
In this economy, franchise brands have been forced to think "outside-the-box" for franchise development strategies. Under the leadership of newly-hired Chief Development Officer, Thomas Flaherty, Huddle House has lowered its franchise fee for new development signed in 2010 to just $5k, with no royalties due for restaurants opening under the program for the first five months of operation.
"This program allows existing and new Huddle House franchisees the opportunity to develop with a lower cost of entry. Also, the savings in paying no royalty for the first five months provides fuel for new restaurants to advertise more heavily during the initial stages," Flaherty said. "This model also encourages multi-unit development."
Read more:
"This program allows existing and new Huddle House franchisees the opportunity to develop with a lower cost of entry. Also, the savings in paying no royalty for the first five months provides fuel for new restaurants to advertise more heavily during the initial stages," Flaherty said. "This model also encourages multi-unit development."
Read more:
CKE Restaurants(R), Inc. Reports Period Thirteen Same-Store Sales
"Same-store sales remained weak in the final period of our fiscal 2010 with no real improvement in the overall economy or the unemployment rates in the markets we serve and with the deep-discount burger wars continuing during the traditionally slow winter months," said Andrew F. Puzder, chief executive officer. "Both brands' sales results were also significantly impacted by worse weather this year than in the prior year. Carl's Jr., experienced severe rain in its core West Coast markets for most of the final week of the period and Hardee's experienced severe winter weather in several of its core mid-west and southeast markets. Regardless of when the overall economy turns around, we remain steadfastly focused on protecting our brand image for the long run while trying to grow same-store sales in the short run. Given the state of the economy, I'm proud of our profitability and we will continue to focus on the excellent value-for-the money of our premium products and new initiatives to improve same-store sales and increase market share.
Read more:
Read more:
Pizza Pizza Limited Adds 34 Restaurants to the Fund's Royalty Pool and Increases Ownership of the Fund to 26.3%
Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund (the "Fund") (TSX:PZA.UN - News) and Pizza Pizza Limited ("PPL") today announced that effective January 1, 2010, the pool of restaurants (the "Royalty Pool"), on which royalties are paid to the Fund by PPL, has been increased to include 31 new Pizza Pizza restaurants and 12 new Pizza 73 restaurants. Of the 31 new Pizza Pizza restaurants opened between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009, ten are traditional restaurants and 21 are non-traditional locations. The 12 Pizza 73 restaurants are comprised of ten traditional restaurants and two non-traditional locations opened between September 2, 2008 and September 1, 2009. The Royalty Pool will decrease by nine Pizza Pizza restaurants which were closed during the year, of which five were traditional and four non-traditional. With the addition of the 34 net, new restaurants, royalties are now paid to the Fund on 671 restaurants in the Royalty Pool.
Read more:
Read more:
Bahamas - Baha Mar's Harrah's claim is 'meritless'
A New York judge has delivered a seeming knock-out blow to Baha Mar's legal action against Harrah's Entertainment over their collapsed $2.6 billion Cable Beach joint venture, dismissing the developer's breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims, and branding as "meritless" a key part of its case against the gaming giant.
Judge Charles Ramos, sitting in the New York State Supreme Court, ruled that Harrah's and its Caesars Bahamas Investment Corporation subsidiary "validly exercised their right to terminate" the joint venture agreement with Baha Mar, and that the latter "has no obligation to consummate" the deal to redevelop the Cable Beach strip.
Read more:
Judge Charles Ramos, sitting in the New York State Supreme Court, ruled that Harrah's and its Caesars Bahamas Investment Corporation subsidiary "validly exercised their right to terminate" the joint venture agreement with Baha Mar, and that the latter "has no obligation to consummate" the deal to redevelop the Cable Beach strip.
Read more:
Enterprise Inns Prefers Bond Sale Over Rights Offer
Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Enterprise Inns Plc would offer high- yield bonds or sell more pubs before contemplating a rights offering to help repay 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) of debt that’s due in May 2011, Chief Executive Officer Ted Tuppen said.
Selling new shares would be a last resort for the U.K.’s second-biggest pub owner, which is “confident” its lenders will refinance all the debt, Tuppen said ahead of its annual meeting with bondholders today. He expects the amount owed to be reduced to about 650 million pounds through asset disposals
Read more:
Selling new shares would be a last resort for the U.K.’s second-biggest pub owner, which is “confident” its lenders will refinance all the debt, Tuppen said ahead of its annual meeting with bondholders today. He expects the amount owed to be reduced to about 650 million pounds through asset disposals
Read more:
Burger King, franchisees clash over $1 burger deal
The story of how well Burger King's $1 double cheeseburger is performing depends on whose numbers are accurate.
Numbers given to franchisees by Burger King tell a dramatically different story than numbers presented by Restaurants Services Inc., the fast-food chain's independent purchasing cooperative, according to data obtained by The Miami Herald. Burger King shows the promotion growing profits, while RSI says it took a bite out of the bottom line.
Read more:
Numbers given to franchisees by Burger King tell a dramatically different story than numbers presented by Restaurants Services Inc., the fast-food chain's independent purchasing cooperative, according to data obtained by The Miami Herald. Burger King shows the promotion growing profits, while RSI says it took a bite out of the bottom line.
Read more:
California motel owner turns herself in for allegedly cheating travel Web site
A California motel owner has turned herself in after authorities say she cheated the travel Web site Orbitz.com out of more than $800,000.
Ashka Patel, who was the subject of a three-month investigation, surrendered to police Tuesday.
Police say Orbitz.com notified them in November that $848,000 had been fraudulently paid to Patel's business, the Travel Inn Motel in Victorville, from February to November.
Police say they searched the motel and found bank records that showed $700,000 in various accounts. Investigators say some of the money was also funneled through a Days Inn that Patel owns.
Her attorney says Patel is expected to be out of jail Tuesday evening after posting bail, which a judge set at $300,000
Ashka Patel, who was the subject of a three-month investigation, surrendered to police Tuesday.
Police say Orbitz.com notified them in November that $848,000 had been fraudulently paid to Patel's business, the Travel Inn Motel in Victorville, from February to November.
Police say they searched the motel and found bank records that showed $700,000 in various accounts. Investigators say some of the money was also funneled through a Days Inn that Patel owns.
Her attorney says Patel is expected to be out of jail Tuesday evening after posting bail, which a judge set at $300,000
President Obama Again Criticizes Trips to Las Vegas
President Obama is catching heat from Nevada lawmakers and business leaders regarding his comments Tuesday criticizing trips to Las Vegas.
During the president's town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, he discussed the need to curb spending during tough economic times. "When times are tough, you tighten your belts," the president said. "You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college."
Read more:
During the president's town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, he discussed the need to curb spending during tough economic times. "When times are tough, you tighten your belts," the president said. "You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college."
Read more:
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Olympic cruise ship as floating hotel plan could be sunk
A plan to berth an 1,100-room cruise ship in North Vancouver for use as a floating hotel during the Olympic Games appears to be in serious danger of sinking.
Edmonton-based Newwest Special Projects - which has marketed the Norwegian Star to Games visitors for the past nine months - said in a statement over the weekend that sales have been disappointing while expenses have increased beyond expectations. It said it is negotiating with its partners to try to lower costs and keep the project alive.
Read more:
Edmonton-based Newwest Special Projects - which has marketed the Norwegian Star to Games visitors for the past nine months - said in a statement over the weekend that sales have been disappointing while expenses have increased beyond expectations. It said it is negotiating with its partners to try to lower costs and keep the project alive.
Read more:
Website's list of dirtiest hotels provokes anger
They are the grubby prison cells away from home, the matchbox-size rooms with the peeling wallpaper and foetid sheets – at least according to the on-line reviews. But how bad are they really?
The hotel industry is growing increasingly concerned at the power wielded by internet sites such as TripAdvisor, on which often excoriating – yet anonymous – notices are posted that can destroy an establishment's reputation. It comes after hoteliers reacted with fury, claiming their businesses were damaged, after being included in a list of the 10 "Dirtiest Hotels" in the UK, released to publicise the site.
Read more:
The hotel industry is growing increasingly concerned at the power wielded by internet sites such as TripAdvisor, on which often excoriating – yet anonymous – notices are posted that can destroy an establishment's reputation. It comes after hoteliers reacted with fury, claiming their businesses were damaged, after being included in a list of the 10 "Dirtiest Hotels" in the UK, released to publicise the site.
Read more:
Credit Suisse takes over Gansevoort South in Miami Beach
The owners of Gansevoort South lost the Miami Beach hotel to lenders on Thursday as the troubled condo-hotel conversion couldn't find a buyer for an $89 million loan.
An affiliate of Credit Suisse took possession of the 334-room hotel after no bidders stepped up at a New York auction to buy the debt.
Read more:
An affiliate of Credit Suisse took possession of the 334-room hotel after no bidders stepped up at a New York auction to buy the debt.
Read more:
Don't Use the R-Word: Hotels Find Trick to Business Bookings
To attract business conferences in these tough times, some luxury resort hotels have resorted to a sort of strategy of last resort: They're dropping the very word "resort" from their names.
The Ballantyne Resort in Charlotte, N.C., changed its name during the summer to the Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge after several corporate clients indicated it would have a better chance of landing their business if it weren't called a resort. Same for the Westin Stonebriar near Dallas, formerly the Westin Stonebriar Hotel & Resort. Ditto the Renaissance Orlando at Sea World, no longer the Renaissance Orlando Resort at Sea World.
Read more:
The Ballantyne Resort in Charlotte, N.C., changed its name during the summer to the Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge after several corporate clients indicated it would have a better chance of landing their business if it weren't called a resort. Same for the Westin Stonebriar near Dallas, formerly the Westin Stonebriar Hotel & Resort. Ditto the Renaissance Orlando at Sea World, no longer the Renaissance Orlando Resort at Sea World.
Read more:
7 things I hate about posh hotels
How did we get to this? How did it become acceptable for hotels to get away with all this without us complaining? Why do we fail to bat an eyelid? We’re the guests. We’re the paying customers. And, until Ryanair opens its first hotel, we should be afforded some respect. Here are the practices widespread in the hotel industry that need to change. If they don’t, we’ll revolt. Or, at the very least, we’ll fill out a customer-satisfaction form in a slightly negative way.
Read more:
Read more:
Cybercrime Checks Into The Hotel Industry
Over the past year America's hotels have had some uninvited guests: a wave of increasingly sophisticated invasions by organized cybercriminals.
That's one finding of a report that cybersecurity researcher Nicholas Percoco plans to present Tuesday at the Black Hat security conference in Arlington, Va. His data shows a spike in hacking incidents that successfully targeted hotels and resorts, what Percoco describes as relatively unprotected sources of thousands or even millions of credit card account details.
Read more:
That's one finding of a report that cybersecurity researcher Nicholas Percoco plans to present Tuesday at the Black Hat security conference in Arlington, Va. His data shows a spike in hacking incidents that successfully targeted hotels and resorts, what Percoco describes as relatively unprotected sources of thousands or even millions of credit card account details.
Read more:
