Budget hotels in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stand to be the big winners from the growth in stopover traffic and the rapidly expanding low-cost carrier business, analysts and hoteliers say.
As a result, there is room for much more budget accommodation in the UAE and the wider region, as the phenomenon of jumping on a cheap flight and taking several short breaks a year, which is now well-established in Europe, starts to take off in the region.
A number of budget properties have launched in Dubai this year, including an easyHotel, and new Premier Inn and Holiday Inn Express lodgings next to Dubai International Airport.
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Sunday, December 12, 2010
Britain's top tax official enjoys £6,000 four-night stay at luxury hotel in India
Britain's top tax official Dave Hartnett has enjoyed a four-night stay in a luxury hotel in India – at a cost of thousands of pounds to the taxpayer – to attend a conference at which he delivered a speech lasting just half an hour.
Mr Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for Tax at Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, flew business class to Mumbai to participate in the low-key conference largely for Indian accountants and tax officials.
He was even joined on the trip by another senior executive, Melissa Tatton, who is the HMRC’s Deputy Director of Business International.
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Mr Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for Tax at Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, flew business class to Mumbai to participate in the low-key conference largely for Indian accountants and tax officials.
He was even joined on the trip by another senior executive, Melissa Tatton, who is the HMRC’s Deputy Director of Business International.
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Make way for the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino
Even before The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas opens Wednesday, gaming industry analysts are saying that to succeed financially the hotel-casino will have to offer something different from what is found at other properties along the Strip.
The Cosmopolitan also needs to generate income for Deutsche Bank AG, which acquired the property out of foreclosure in 2008 and spent $3.9 billion to complete the 2,995-room hotel-casino.
The Cosmopolitan also needs to generate income for Deutsche Bank AG, which acquired the property out of foreclosure in 2008 and spent $3.9 billion to complete the 2,995-room hotel-casino.
"It's important for them to maximize the property's long-term financial potential, no question," said Edward King, managing director of Morgan Stanley's investment banking division.
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Saturday, December 11, 2010
Uproar Over ‘Mass Firings’ At Minn. Chipotle Restaurants
RICHFIELD (WCCO) – A Minnesota immigration rights group is protesting what it calls “mass firings” of Chipotle workers. According to the group, around 50 of the restaurant’s Latino workers have been fired in the last week.
The Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committeee (MIRAC), a local group that fights for the legalization of undocumented workers, says employees at local Chipotle stores came forward, saying they were fired over questions about their immigration status.
“We started to piece together there was something larger going on than a few people fired at one store,” said MIRAC member Brad Sigal. “It appears to be a statewide attack on immigrant worker who are longtime employees most of them been working there for years.”
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Do Hotels have to accept all reservations?
(Hospitality Business News) Nassau Bahamas - December 11, 2010 - I would think that everyone knows that hotels do not accept all reservations. There are different reasons for not accepting one and over the past few months there have been stories about “bad guests” and that hotels are refusing to accept certain people due to their past history. But how far can this policy go is up for debate. Below are two stories from this past week.
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Ex-manager charged with stealing from South Brunswick hotel
Michael Clegg, 30, of East Windsor is accused of stealing from the Princeton Hampton Inn on Route 1 over the past year and a half.
Police say Clegg, the onetime general manager, created fake vouchers that showed that the hotel received services from a company called Mercer Catering. The vouchers allegedly were submitted to the hotel’s parent company, Scotto Brothers Enterprises.
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Pebblebrook Puts $52.5M Debt Against Buckhead Hotel
BETHESDA, Md. - Pebblebrook Hotel Trust Inc. has added $52.5 million of debt to its books, taking out a secured loan collateralized by the 422-room Intercontinental Buckhead Hotel in Georgia.
The Maryland-based REIT got a five-year, 4.88 percent fixed-rate loan from Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital LP. Loan proceeds will be used for future acquisitions and general purposes.
Pebblebrook acquired the Buckhead hotel in July for $105 million.
Pebblebrook is now shouldering $143.6 million of outstanding debt at a weighted average annual interest rate of 3.78 percent. It has no outstanding balance on its $150 million senior secured credit facility.
The Maryland-based REIT got a five-year, 4.88 percent fixed-rate loan from Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital LP. Loan proceeds will be used for future acquisitions and general purposes.
Pebblebrook acquired the Buckhead hotel in July for $105 million.
Pebblebrook is now shouldering $143.6 million of outstanding debt at a weighted average annual interest rate of 3.78 percent. It has no outstanding balance on its $150 million senior secured credit facility.
Couple held in dismemberment of man at L.A. hotel
A couple wanted for allegedly killing and dismembering a man at a downtown Los Angeles hotel were arrested Friday, authorities said.
The arrests of Edward Garcia Jr., 36, and his wife, Melissa Hope Garcia, 25, were made by the U.S. marshal's service and the Los Angeles Police Department at a location on La Brea Avenue near Hawthorn Avenue in Hollywood.
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The arrests of Edward Garcia Jr., 36, and his wife, Melissa Hope Garcia, 25, were made by the U.S. marshal's service and the Los Angeles Police Department at a location on La Brea Avenue near Hawthorn Avenue in Hollywood.
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Friday, December 10, 2010
Haiti's Hotels Thrive Amid the Earthquake Disaster's Long Aftermath
The vista from the private terrace of the John Barrymore Suite at the Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince is a vision of verdant hills and a brilliant blue bay, a dramatic postcard that reveals not a hint of the mountains of rubble and trash left over from Haiti's catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake, nor the escalating cholera epidemic, nor the slums just beyond the hotel's gate.
The suite named for the American actor boasts an open-air, king-size bed draped in mosquito netting, two bedrooms, artisan-painted armoires, high ceilings and lace curtains -- lavish quarters that are the jewel of Haiti's most famous hotel, which served as the setting of Graham Greene's 1965 novel The Comedians.
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The suite named for the American actor boasts an open-air, king-size bed draped in mosquito netting, two bedrooms, artisan-painted armoires, high ceilings and lace curtains -- lavish quarters that are the jewel of Haiti's most famous hotel, which served as the setting of Graham Greene's 1965 novel The Comedians.
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Hotel brand loyalty dives
In its 2011 travel forecast, TripAdvisor surveyed 3,000 Americans to reveal a nose dive in hotel brand loyalty.
According to the survey, 39 percent of travellers say they are faithful to one hotel brand, down from 59 percent a year ago. Travel industry watchers have noted for several years that travel brand loyalty, be it to hotels, airlines or rental car agencies, has dipped. But 20 percentage points in a year?
Brooke Ferencsik, a TripAdvisor spokesman, speculated that the drop came in response to travellers being better informed of their options.
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According to the survey, 39 percent of travellers say they are faithful to one hotel brand, down from 59 percent a year ago. Travel industry watchers have noted for several years that travel brand loyalty, be it to hotels, airlines or rental car agencies, has dipped. But 20 percentage points in a year?
Brooke Ferencsik, a TripAdvisor spokesman, speculated that the drop came in response to travellers being better informed of their options.
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Man Dies After Altercation With Burger King Employee
According to a story by CBS Detroit , an altercation between a 20-year old Burger King employee and a 67-year old man has led to the death of the customer.
The incident happened Thursday evening at a Burger King restaurant on Gratiot, near St. Aubin, on Detroit’s east side.
According to Detroit Police, the employee allegedly punched the customer, who then fell to the floor.
The man apparently began choking on his dentures. The man was rushed to a hospital where he died a short time later.
The Burger King employee has been arrested.
The incident happened Thursday evening at a Burger King restaurant on Gratiot, near St. Aubin, on Detroit’s east side.
According to Detroit Police, the employee allegedly punched the customer, who then fell to the floor.
The man apparently began choking on his dentures. The man was rushed to a hospital where he died a short time later.
The Burger King employee has been arrested.
TripAdvisor blocks Google Places from accessing its hotel reviews
TripAdvisor confirmed that it blocks Google Places from accessing its hotel reviews. According to TripAdvisor, it believes the user does not benefit with the “experience of selecting the right hotel”.
TripAdvisor reviews of hotel properties, alongside reviews from other providers, were streamed in as part of bitesize summaries of individual reviews, with a link to follow in order to read the full review on the TripAdvisor site.
TripAdvisor would feature next to reviews from online travel agencies or other hotel booking sites, but given its page rank in organic search, often found itself at the top of the list.
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TripAdvisor reviews of hotel properties, alongside reviews from other providers, were streamed in as part of bitesize summaries of individual reviews, with a link to follow in order to read the full review on the TripAdvisor site.
TripAdvisor would feature next to reviews from online travel agencies or other hotel booking sites, but given its page rank in organic search, often found itself at the top of the list.
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Blackstone Said to Seize 14 Columbia Sussex Hotels It Sold Five Years Ago
Blackstone Group LP took ownership of 14 hotels it sold to Columbia Sussex Corp. five years ago after buying junior debt on the properties and seizing control, a person with direct knowledge of the transaction said.
Thirteen of the hotels will be managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts Inc., according to a statement yesterday by Arlington, Virginia-based Interstate. They include properties under the Westin, Sheraton and Hilton brands.
Blackstone is betting that hotel real estate will recover after the credit crisis depressed values. The New York-based firm was part of a group that this year won a bankruptcy auction for hotel chain Extended Stay Inc., which it sold in 2007 to investors led by David Lichtenstein’s Lightstone Group LLC.
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Trump pays down hotel debt
Developers of the Trump SoHo hotel-condo building "substantially paid down" the debt owed on the project to iStar Financial after receiving a new loan from CIM Group.
Trump Soho is a joint venture between the Trump Organization and the project's developers, Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization.
Donald and Ivanka Trump both declined to discuss financial terms of the deal.
In September, iStar offered $20 million more in financing to the Trump SoHo in a mortgage restructuring. It had already lent more than $250 million to the project, the Wall Street Journal reported.
IStar, the New York-based commercial real-estate lender, had about $2.8 billion of non-performing loans as of Sept. 30. It may refinance loans with a new $1 billion to $2 billion credit line as an alternative to bankruptcy, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.110 women arrested on prostitution charges at Macau's Venetian
Hong Kong's vice squad raided Macau's Venetian casino resort Friday, arresting 110 women on prostitution charges and 22 suspected pimps, Agence France Presse reports.
The women were forced to pay their pimps a daily "protection fee" of as much as about $130 dollars, the article says.
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The women were forced to pay their pimps a daily "protection fee" of as much as about $130 dollars, the article says.
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