A Warren County judge ruled that Bowling Green’s efforts to try to collect local motel tax from discount online room providers is a legislative matter, rather than a judicial one.
Warren Circuit Judge Steve Wilson said Thursday he ruled in favor of Hotels.com and other defendants to dismiss the case. That ruling may be appealed - something for the Bowling Green City Commission to decide.
Bowling Green and Warren County have a 6 percent motel room tax, including a special 2 percent tax that goes to development of the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center.
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
California Pizza Considers Sale as Results Improve
April 12 (Bloomberg) -- California Pizza Kitchen Inc. said it is reviewing options including a possible sale and reported preliminary first-quarter earnings that beat its forecast.
Alternatives may include a sale, merger or changes to the company’s capital structure, the Los Angeles-based restaurant chain said today in a statement. Moelis & Co. is advising the company, which has 253 company-owned stores and franchises.
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Alternatives may include a sale, merger or changes to the company’s capital structure, the Los Angeles-based restaurant chain said today in a statement. Moelis & Co. is advising the company, which has 253 company-owned stores and franchises.
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Harrah’s Debt Rallies to Highest Level Since Apollo, TPG Buyout
April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. bonds are trading at the highest level since the world’s largest casino operator was purchased in a leveraged buyout in January 2008 as a two-year slump in Las Vegas gambling eases.
Harrah’s $311.3 million of 5.625 percent, 10-year notes issued in 2005 have risen almost 13 times since February 2009 to 68 cents on the dollar, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
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Harrah’s $311.3 million of 5.625 percent, 10-year notes issued in 2005 have risen almost 13 times since February 2009 to 68 cents on the dollar, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
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Donald Trump Beats Carl Icahn in Bankruptcy Battle for Casinos
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Donald J. Trump and his partners won control of the bankrupt casino company Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., when a judge ruled that their bid was better for creditors than a competing offer by investor Carl Icahn.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith H. Wizmur yesterday sided with a group of bondholders who are owed $1.2 billion. Their proposal would reduce Trump Entertainment’s debt by $1.4 billion and give the celebrity billionaire as much as 10 percent of the three- casino company he once ran.
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U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith H. Wizmur yesterday sided with a group of bondholders who are owed $1.2 billion. Their proposal would reduce Trump Entertainment’s debt by $1.4 billion and give the celebrity billionaire as much as 10 percent of the three- casino company he once ran.
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Occupancy drives double-digit revpar growth in London hotels
London hotels have enjoyed double-digit growth in revenue per available room (revpar) during the first quarter of 2010, according to business advisory firm Deloitte.
Revpar growth of 10.1% to £94 was driven by occupancy which rose by 5.4% to 76.2%, while average room rates increased 4.5% to £123.
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Revpar growth of 10.1% to £94 was driven by occupancy which rose by 5.4% to 76.2%, while average room rates increased 4.5% to £123.
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Monday, April 12, 2010
SAVOY'S REOPENING PUT BACK A FOURTH TIME AS REFIT BILL DOUBLES TO £200M
The reopening of the Savoy Hotel has been delayed for a fourth time, sending the cost of the refurbishment spiralling to at least twice the £100 million original estimate.
The hotel, which has been shut since December 2007, will now not be ready to welcome guests again until late August or even early September, almost a year and a half late.
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The hotel, which has been shut since December 2007, will now not be ready to welcome guests again until late August or even early September, almost a year and a half late.
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Two W hotels in New York City to drop W name this week, report says
Starwood's trendy W Hotels chain is losening its grip on the New York City market slightly by dropping two of its five Manhattan hotels - the W Court and W Tuscany, according to HotelChatter.com's report.
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California Pizza Kitchen Reports Preliminary First Quarter 2010 Results
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California Pizza Kitchen, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPKI) announced today that revenues decreased 2.7% to $156.7 million for the first quarter ended April 4, 2010 versus $161.1 million in the first quarter of 2009. Comparable full service restaurant sales decreased approximately 2.7% compared to a 5.9% decrease in the first quarter a year ago. Management estimates that the Easter shift and adverse weather conditions during the quarter negatively affected comparable sales by approximately 1.3%.
During its February 18, 2010 conference call, the Company forecasted first quarter comparable full service restaurant sales in the range of negative 3.0% to negative 4.0% and earnings of $0.05 to $0.07 per diluted share. Based on preliminary results, management has raised its earnings estimate to $0.10 per diluted share for the first quarter which includes an approximate $0.03 benefit for gift card breakage.
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During its February 18, 2010 conference call, the Company forecasted first quarter comparable full service restaurant sales in the range of negative 3.0% to negative 4.0% and earnings of $0.05 to $0.07 per diluted share. Based on preliminary results, management has raised its earnings estimate to $0.10 per diluted share for the first quarter which includes an approximate $0.03 benefit for gift card breakage.
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Mitchells & Butlers rejects suitors seeking All Bar One chain
Mitchells & Butlers, the pub and restaurant operator, has rebuffed preliminary approaches from a number of private equity firms keen to buy its Browns and All Bar One chains.
The approaches come after a strategy review unveiled last month by John Lovering, M&B’s new chairman, which encouraged suitors to believe that the company may consider offers for several concepts outside its six principal brands. But insiders last night rejected the idea that its 14 Browns restaurants and 37 All Bar Ones would be among them.
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The approaches come after a strategy review unveiled last month by John Lovering, M&B’s new chairman, which encouraged suitors to believe that the company may consider offers for several concepts outside its six principal brands. But insiders last night rejected the idea that its 14 Browns restaurants and 37 All Bar Ones would be among them.
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Banyan Tree Pulls from Al Areen Resort in Bahrain Due to Contract Breaches
In a rushed move, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts has terminated, with immediate effect, its management contract for the Banyan Tree Al Areen Resort in Bahrain on April 8. This was in response to management company Al Areen Holding Company's "continuing breaches of the management contract." Typically, contract terminations require a notice with transition period of two weeks, however Banyan Tree's is effective immediately.
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Roark Capital Group acquires Wingstop
RICHARDSON, Texas (April 12, 2010) Wingstop Restaurants Inc., the parent to the 440-unit chicken-wing chain, has been acquired by an affiliate of private-equity firm Roark Capital Group, the companies said Monday.
The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, was announced at Wingstop's franchisee convention in Las Vegas. Roark Capital, which is based in Atlanta and specializes in franchised concepts, has a portfolio that includes such restaurant brands as Carvel, Cinnabon, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Schlotzsky’s.
The acquisition buys out Gemini Investors LLC of Wellesley, Mass., and another private investor who had bought a controlling stake in Wingstop in 2003 and owned about 64 percent of the company.
James Flynn, Wingstop’s chief executive, told NRN that Roark’s expertise in franchising should help Wingstop ratchet up its growth.
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The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, was announced at Wingstop's franchisee convention in Las Vegas. Roark Capital, which is based in Atlanta and specializes in franchised concepts, has a portfolio that includes such restaurant brands as Carvel, Cinnabon, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Schlotzsky’s.
The acquisition buys out Gemini Investors LLC of Wellesley, Mass., and another private investor who had bought a controlling stake in Wingstop in 2003 and owned about 64 percent of the company.
James Flynn, Wingstop’s chief executive, told NRN that Roark’s expertise in franchising should help Wingstop ratchet up its growth.
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Best places to spot UFOs
It was just another winter night in Stephenville, Texas, when Steve Allen, a 30-year aviation veteran, saw something that defied all logic—an eerily silent, mile-wide craft ringed in lights that would “rearrange themselves” racing across the sky at what he estimated to be 3,000 miles per hour
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Sunday, April 11, 2010
Starbucks Retreat Opens Door on Australia for Secret Recipe
April 9 (Bloomberg) -- With Starbucks Corp.’s operations across Australia reduced to a fraction of their peak, one Malaysian entrepreneur is looking to fill the gap, starting with Melbourne’s café society.
Secret Recipe Cakes & Café Bhd. will open its second restaurant in the southern Australian city this month and hopes to have 50 cafés nationwide within five years, says Steven Sim, who owns and runs the Kuala Lumpur-based chain.
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Secret Recipe Cakes & Café Bhd. will open its second restaurant in the southern Australian city this month and hopes to have 50 cafés nationwide within five years, says Steven Sim, who owns and runs the Kuala Lumpur-based chain.
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Hooters in China
Reporting from Beijing — Sunday is a slow night for the Beijing Hooters girls. Jiang Xin -- or Summer, as her name tag reads -- takes the opportunity to teach the new hires one of their dance routines.
With smoky dark eyes and her all-black trainer uniform, 24-year-old Jiang is sexy, smoldering and standoffish until she smiles. This she does when she gently admonishes the girls to loosen up, laugh, and stop tugging at the bottoms of their shorts.
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With smoky dark eyes and her all-black trainer uniform, 24-year-old Jiang is sexy, smoldering and standoffish until she smiles. This she does when she gently admonishes the girls to loosen up, laugh, and stop tugging at the bottoms of their shorts.
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Europe's best city apartments
Boutique hotels are all very well, but if you really want to get under the skin of a city nothing beats having your own pad for the weekend. Renting an apartment gives you more space and your own kitchen, and often means you're based in a far more interesting part of town than where the tourist hotels are. Best of all, there's none of that embarrassing waking up the night porter when you roll in at dawn.
We've picked a cross section, with some for romantic couples, others for families or groups of friends; some that are a bargain and others that are seriously expensive – there's a huge, and growing, choice on the market
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We've picked a cross section, with some for romantic couples, others for families or groups of friends; some that are a bargain and others that are seriously expensive – there's a huge, and growing, choice on the market
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