The Potential Effect of the Proposed Payroll Tax Reduction

(Hospitality Business News) December 13, 2010 - - By R. Mark Woodworth - - After suffering through the all-time worst year of performance in 2009, U.S. hotel owners and operators are eager for growth.  The domestic lodging industry has experienced a definite turnaround in 2010.  Considering the drags on the economy such as the depressed housing market, high unemployment, and Federal deficit worries, the swift pace of recovery in the lodging industry has been remarkable.  Recently released updated forecasts from Colliers PKF Hospitality Research (“PKF-HR”) reveal that a base has been established for very strong gains in both revenue and profits in the years to come.  The near-term future could be that much brighter if certain elements of President Obama’s recent tax proposal are enacted into law.
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Hotel manager stole $5m to cover debt

A County Court has heard a central Victorian hotel manager was struggling with debt when he stole close to $5 million from the pub's betting agency. David John Keogh, 43, faced court today and admitted to 12 charges. The thefts happened throughout 2008 when Keogh was running the One Tree Hill Hotel in Spring Gully. He issued more than 1,000 betting vouchers without payment to help cover the hotel's bills, while the majority of the funds were then put back through the agency to settle the account. Defence lawyers told the court Keogh had treated the funds as an overdraft and had not used the money to fund an extravagant lifestyle.
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Burger King’s lays off over 400 employees

Burger King's new owners continued their purge of headquarters Monday, dismissing a large number of workers there in an effort to catch-up with McDonald's in the fast-food wars.
The Miami-based company announced 413 dismissals company-wide, including 261 in South Florida. Most of those jobs came from the No. 2 burger chain's headquarters in the Blue Lagoon commercial park.
The company refused to say how many people worked at headquarters before the cuts, but in recent years Burger King put the number at between 500 and 700, according to the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade's economic development agency.
``It's significant news,'' said Frank Nero, the Beacon Council's president. ``They've told us they remain committed to having a headquarters here. Obviously, a much smaller headquarters.''

Here is a list of positions

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Not all going well at Chavez's “Socialist McDonalds”

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has created a fast-food restaurant chain to promote his brand of Socialism, according to a top-secret diplomatic cable released from Wikileaks in the Cablegate scandal.
The January 19 cable, reprinted by The Atlantic, discusses the December 22 opening of Arepea Socialista, a sort of Socialist answer to Capitalist fast food chains. The restaurant serves arepeas, a thick type of tortilla sandwich, for about a quarter of the price of competing commercial enterprises, using ingredients and other products from government-owned companies. The diplomat who visited the place noted the fast service, and that customers only paid for what they ate after their meal. Staff said they served some 1,200 customers a day.

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Hackers Steal McDonald's Customer Data

McDonald's is working with law enforcement authorities after malicious hackers broke into another company's databases and stole information about an undetermined number of the fast food chain's customers.

McDonald's has also alerted potentially affected customers via e-mail and through a message on its website.
"We have been informed by one of our long-time business partners, Arc Worldwide, that limited customer information collected in connection with certain McDonald's websites and promotions was obtained by an unauthorized third party," a McDonald's spokeswoman said via e-mail on Saturday.

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A new way to accept credit cards

(Hospitality Business News) December 12, 2010 - - Square is a new system that allows anyone to accept credit cards. Square works with any US-issued credit, debit, pre-paid, or gift card with a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover logo. Perhaps the US only restriction will be a hindrance in some major cities so you should be aware of this.

Square's card processing fees are:

·          2.75% + 15¢ for swiped transactions

·          3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in transactions

There are no activation, gateway, monthly, early termination, or hidden fees.

Square can currently be used with the following devises

Apple iOS

·         iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4

·         iPod touch (2nd generation or later)

·         iPad

Google Android

·         Motorola Droid, Droid X

·         HTC Nexus One, Droid Incredible, Evo, Desire, Hero (With Android 2.X)

·         Samsung Galaxy S Series, Intercept

·         LG Ally

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Istithmar weighs up sell-off

  Istithmar World is considering selling its share in the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront shopping and entertainment development in Cape Town as property companies show interest in South Africa's biggest tourist attraction.
A source at Dubai World, the parent company of Istithmar, confirmed talks had taken place but said no deal was imminent and added it would sell only at an attractive price. It said it would otherwise strive to hold on to the site, reckoned to be one of the country's most valuable.
The site could fetch as much as 10 billion rand (Dh5.36bn) with potential buyers including Growthpoint, a publicly traded South African property investment company, among those interested in the asset, according to a person familiar with the situation. "People are pushing to buy [the V&A Waterfront]," said a Dubai World source familiar with the discussions. "But we aren't pushing a sale. There is always a price difference … We are just looking at maximising returns," he said.

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Big market for low-cost hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

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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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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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.

"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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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.

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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