SOL MELIÁ VACATION CLUB MEMBER RESORTS BECOME PART OF PREFERRED HOTEL GROUP PARTNERSHIP

ORLANDO, Florida (Jan. 7, 2010) – (Hospitality Business News) Sol Meliá Vacation Club (SMVC), a leading international vacation membership club with locations in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and Europe, has had four of its member resorts in Cancun, Puerto Rico and Canary Islands, Spain, join a 11 property Sol Meliá partnership with the Preferred Hotel Group™, a leading provider of business solutions for independently owned and operated hotels and resorts around the world.

            SMVC at Gran Meliá Puerto Rico, Gran Meliá Cancun, Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora and ME Cancun have all met the standards required by the Preferred Hotel Group in location, architecture, interior and exterior design, facilities, technological equipment and food and beverage services, among others.

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First Ramada Encore Hotel Opens in the Middle East

PARSIPPANY, N.J. 01-05-2011 — (Hospitality Business News)- - Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company based on number of hotels and one of three business units of Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN), today announced its continued expansion in the Middle East with the opening of the Ramada Encore Doha, the region’s first Ramada Encore hotel.

Situated in the Al-Asmakh area of Doha, less than three miles from Doha International Airport, the hotel is the second Wyndham Hotel Group property to open in Qatar’s capital and the first Ramada Encore hotel in the world to be managed by the company.

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Home Inns Accelerates Growth

SHANGHAI, Jan. 7, 2011 /(Hospitality Business News) -- Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. (Nasdaq: HMIN), a leading economy hotel chain in China, today announced plans to open a total of 260 to 280 new hotels in 2011, of which 100 to 110 will be leased-and-operated hotels and 160 to 170 will be franchised-and-managed hotels.  In addition, as previously announced, Home Inns has set plans to enter into the midscale hotel segment in China with 3 to 4 new hotels in 2011 under a second brand, Yitel.

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Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel suffers a loss of €156m

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One of Ireland's best-known hotels, the five-star Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, made a staggering pre-tax loss of €156m in 2008 after the value of the hotel property was written down by €155m.

In spite of the writedown, the company that owns and operates the hotel, Shelbourne Hotel Holdings Ltd (SHHL), made an operating profit in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The figures show that the company recorded an operating profit of €3m in 2008, following an operating loss of €6m in 2007

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3 accused of taking copper piping from NH hotel

BEDFORD, N.H.—Police in Bedford, N.H., say three men are accused of removing copper piping and other items from a hotel that's currently closed and up for sale.

The three were arrested Saturday morning in connection with a robbery at the Quality Inn Convention Center.

WMUR-TV reports an officer was patrolling when he saw a dark-colored pickup truck drive to the back of the mall toward the Quality Inn. He found the men behind the building.

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Man found dead in New York InterContinental Hotel

A Portuguese man has been found dead and sexually mutilated in a New York hotel room and his model boyfriend has been detained by police.

Veteran fashion journalist and gay activist Carlos Castro, 65, was found naked with his testicles hacked off in a InterContinental Hotel room at about 7pm on Friday, ABC news reports.

It is believed Castro was castrated with a broken wine glass and had suffered from head trauma caused by a blunt object.

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Eva Longoria’s Restaurant = No Más

Eva Longoria's Las Vegas restaurant Beso and its nightclub Eve have filed for bankruptcy.

Beso LLC, in which Longoria is a 32.33 percent investor, has $2.5 million in assets, but $5.6 million in liabilities, according to bankruptcy papers filed Thursday.

Longoria is one of the biggest creditors — none of them secured — listed in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

She made a cash loan of $1,074,247 to the company, and also paid $375,000 in legal fees for the business, according to court records.

According to her publicist Liza Anderson, Longoria had been “dealing with the fallout stemming from two former allegedly fraudulent ex-partners” tied to Beso and Eve at the Crystals Plaza in MGM's CityCenter, which led to the bankruptcy filing, handled by Hollywood attorney Robert Shapiro.

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Glacier Park Inc. buys Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish

WHITEFISH - Glacier Park Inc. expanded its seasonal operation to a year-round business on Thursday with the purchase of Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish, adding the four-season resort hotel to its other accommodations in and around Glacier National Park.

The company is a concessionaire authorized by the National Park Service to run seven major lodges in and near Glacier Park; its president announced the purchase of the 145-room lodge.

Thursday's acquisition triples the number of GPI employees and broadens its interests to include the year-round resort community of Whitefish. In addition to running the five lodges inside the park, GPI also owns and manages the Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier and operates the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park, according to GPI president Cindy Ognjanov.

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Did Hotel Serve Underage Russian Hockey Team Alcohol? State Liquor Authority Investigates

Buffalo, NY (WKBW) --- The Russian junior hockey team's "unruly" behavior leaves behind a lot of questions about what happened at the Adam's Mark Hotel following their gold medal performance Wednesday night. Because all of the players in the world juniors are under the age of 20, New York State Liquor Authority could begin interviewing witnesses and examining surveillance tapes to find out if the hotel violated the laws.
The Canadian Press video that has captured the attention of fans, players, and the State Liquor Authority. "Our goal is to do a thorough investigation to find out what the circumstances are." David Edmunds, Jr. Is the Deputy Commissioner of the Authority.
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China plans $1.3bn 'seven-star hotel'

BEIJING — Beijing authorities plan to build a "seven-star hotel" modelled after Dubai's Burj Khalifa -- the world's tallest building -- in a $1.3 billion joint project with Saudi Arabia.
The hotel will be erected in western Beijing's Mentougou district some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Chinese capital's centre, the state-run Beijing Morning Post said in a Thursday report, quoting a local parliamentary meeting.
A district official, who declined to give his name, confirmed the project and its price tag in comments to AFP on Friday.
He said that the Saudi side was expected to foot the entire bill but he refused to provide other details, such as why such an expensive project would be located in the underdeveloped rural area.
The Beijing Morning Post said the building's design would be patterned after the 828-metre (2,717-foot) Burj Khalifa's distinctive slender, tapering design, but did not say how tall the planned structure would be.

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Paris's luxury hotels brace for new Asian rivals

Reuters) - Luxury Parisian hotels are entering 2011 knowing they need a combative spirit and ambitious initiatives to protect their turf from the arrival of powerful Asian chains such as Shangri-La, Mandarin Oriental and Peninsula.
The three luxury Asian hotel groups have invested heavily to get a foothold in Paris, ranked as one of the world's top tourist destinations, prompting rival European five-star hotels to make major refurbishments and review their strategies.

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Man Ordered To Stand Trial In Hotel Murders

A man has been bound over for trial in the shooting deaths of three people at a Tulsa hotel last year.

Dale Curtis Carr is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery with a firearm in the slayings of Joey Mike, Jermico Thomas and Toni Ruff, whose bodies were found inside a room at the Days Inn near Admiral and Sheridan on October seventh.
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Strategic Hotels & Resorts Provides Update Regarding the Hotel Del Coronado

CHICAGO, Jan. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: BEE) announced today that the partnership that owns the Hotel del Coronado has received an extension on the loan maturity date associated with the hotel.  The maturity date has been extended to February 9, 2011.  Strategic Hotels owns a 45 percent interest in the partnership with affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and KSL Resorts.
The extension will allow all parties to continue negotiations toward a viable long-term restructuring; however, no assurances can be made that such a restructuring may be achieved.
Laurence Geller, Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Hotels, said: "We remain optimistic that we will be successful in restructuring the debt.  All constituents are working together to achieve the best possible outcome for this iconic asset.  These negotiations in no way affect the operations at our hotel, where our exceptional staff remains wholly focused on providing an unforgettable luxury experience to all our guests."

Comfort Suites commits to making troubled Atlanta hotel location work

54 Peachtree Street has been a Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel and Suites, an Atlanta Underground Suites Hotel and, most recently, Underground Place, a dorm catering to students from surrounding universities.

What it's never been is a runaway success.

While hotels change brands from time to time, hospitality leaders said it's unusual to have as much turnover as the property has had since its inception in 1996, when the five-story office building was transformed into a hotel with the addition of 11 new floors.

Comfort Suites Downtown Convention Center is hoping to reverse that trend. The 156-suite hotel officially opened in the building, which is next to Underground Atlanta and across from the Five Points MARTA Station, almost two weeks ago.

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Carbon monoxide sickens 4 in San Francisco hotel

SAN FRANCISCO—Four guests at a downtown San Francisco hotel are recovering from carbon monoxide exposure in their rooms.
Authorities say the guests fell ill while staying in separate rooms at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis around 10:40 p.m. Thursday. The guests complained of flu-like symptoms to the hotel's doctor, who urged staff to call the fire department.

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