MGM reinvents loyalty program

M Life is MGM Resorts International's answer to Marriott Rewards, Hilton Honors, Caesars Entertainment's Total Rewards and other hotel or casino customer reward programs.

But it's more than a slot club with loyalty incentives.

Let's say you're planning a guy's weekend in Las Vegas. On the M Life website you can develop the entire weekend itinerary, all within the confines of MGM Resorts' 10 Strip hotel-casinos.

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Kids in India trained to steal at posh weddings

Six children were trained for over a year -- their looks groomed and language skills brushed up -- so that they would go unnoticed at weddings in five-star hotels from where they stole money and ornaments. While two of these children, nine year-old Palak and 11 year-old Neha (names changed), were arrested on December 25, the cops arrested 60 year-old Jashoda Harijan and 21 year-old Mandakini Sisodiya along with three other men on December 31. Their interrogation led the cops to Kadia village in Rajgarh district in Madhya Pradesh, where the remaining accused live.

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Union changes coming to Freeport Bahamas

FREEPORT - The joining of the re-established Commonwealth Union of Hotel Services and Allied Workers Union with the Trade Union Congress represents the beginning of "something very unique" for the umbrella union, officials said.
 
The formerly defunct Commonwealth Union (CUHSAW), which was revived in late 2009 announced on Thursday that it will be joining the ranks of the Trade Union Congres (TUC).
 
TUC president Obie Ferguson said he is pleased with the Commonwealth Union's decision. He also noted that Customs and Immigration workers have also joined the organisation.

"I am satisfied that this is the beginning of something very unique," he said.

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Dubai’s Jumeirah Group slashes jobs despite expansion plans

Jumeirah Group, Dubai’s luxury hotelier, has confirmed it is slashing jobs despite an ambitious expansion plan that will see it roll out more than 35 hotels and resorts worldwide.

Jumeirah, which last week signed a deal to operate a resort in the British West Indies, said the job cuts were part of a company-wide shake-up put in place last year.

“In view of its international expansion, Jumeirah put in place a regional structure, which unfortunately involved a number of job losses in group and corporate positions,” said a spokesperson.

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Greyhound teams up with the Expedia Affiliate Network

Bus service provider Greyhound is teaming up with the Expedia Affiliate Network in a deal that will allow it to offer hotel rooms on its website.

Greyhound that customers will be able to book bus tickets and hotel rooms across the U.S. directly through Greyhound.com.

"This partnership with Expedia Affiliate Network makes it easy for our customers to book a complete trip with Greyhound transportation and lodging," Greyhound President and CEO Dave Leach said in a statement.

Greyhound serves more than 3,800 locations. Expedia Affiliate Network is part of online travel company Expedia Inc.

Foreclosure wave has big impact Tucson on commercial properties

More than 11,000 Tucson-area property owners received notice that they'd fallen behind on loan payments last year, numbers from the Pima County Recorder's Office show.

The bulk of those are residential delinquencies (see related story on Page D7), but the foreclosure wave has had a drastic impact on commercial properties as well. Affected properties run the gamut from luxury lots to master-planned communities to hotels and apartment complexes.

The forces that led to the money crunch are largely the same as those for homeowners: plummeting property values and a lack of financing options.

Take, for example, The Passages of Tucson, a giant mixed-use project planned in Vail, that recently defaulted on $7 million in loans.

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Australia's Four Posts Hotel becomes an island paradise

THE Four Posts Hotel had an unusual problem last night when the water flowed faster than the beer.

 The owners of the hotel, at Jarklin near Boort, were expecting a tense night as floodwaters rushed past the front door of the hotel.

Picture: Ben Swinnerton Source: Herald Sun

Owner Kellie Hare said when they woke up on Sunday there was a "bit of water about". But by 1pm the pub was surrounded and last night it was landlocked. The publicans and thirsty locals chipped in to sandbag the back corner of the pub, which is posing the greatest threat.

The hotel was hoping to get another 3000 sandbags last night to reinforce its protection against the murky brown water slowly descending on it.

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Brawl breaks out between "Elvis Imperonators" at Hilton Metropole

Image via WikipediaA singer allegedly had his nose and cheekbone broken by an Elvis Presley impersonator at alookalikes’ convention after he was found in his hotel room with the man’s wife.

Victim Jeff Burton – the son of Elvis’s guitarist – is said to have staggered downstairs to the hotel bar in the early hours, bleeding from the mouth.

Lookalike Michael Cawthray had apparently ‘assumed the worst’ after he discovered that Mr Burton, 48, had persuaded his wife Sioned to join him in his room for a nightcap.

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Jamaica Government to lend 'Butch' US$32.5m ... For Sandals Whitehouse acquisition

Butch Stewart

Gordon 'Butch' Stewart has agreed to surrender his 33 per cent stake in the management company for Sandals Whitehouse for US$1, but will then buy the hotel property outright from the Government in a deal that prices the resort at US$40 million (J$3.4 billion).

Under the sale deal announced by Prime Minister Bruce Golding last week, Stewart will upfront US$7.5 million in cash as down payment on the hotel, but will then receive a vendor's mortgage from the Jamaican Government for the remaining purchase price of US$32.5 million.

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RBS May Take Marriott Hotel Stake in Restructuring

(Hospitality Business News) According to the SundayTimes Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc is close to taking a stake in 42 Marriott hotels as part of a debt restructuring.

Quinlan Private, renamed Avestus Capital Partners, and a group of Israeli investors borrowed 900 million pounds ($1.4 billion) from banks including RBS in 2007 to buy the hotels, the newspaper said. After the investment defaulted, the banks are expected to swap around 200 million of debt for equity next month

Stewardess found dead at Amsterdam Radisson

KUALA LUMPUR: Mystery surrounds the death of a Malaysia Airlines stewardess who was found dead at a hotel car park in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Friday morning. Chin Swee Len, 35, was discovered at 9am by guests of the Radisson Hotel who alerted the police. A source from the airline said Chin was believed to have been assaulted and then thrown out of her hotel room window.

"Her fourth floor room was broken into and ransacked," said the source.

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Choice Hotels to open 20-30 hotels per year over next 2-3 yrs

Mumbai, Jan 16 (PTI) Banking on the growing economyand rapid infrastructure development in India, internationalmid-scale hospitality chain Choice Hotels plans to open 20-30hotels in the country every year over the next three years, atop company official has said.

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Doral unaffected by sale of parent debt

Doral Golf Resort & Spa says its operations will be unaffected by the sale of a loan on its parent company's corporate debt.

The 693-room hotel, which is hosting the 2011 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship in March, is one of eight properties around the United States used as security for the $200 million mezzanine loan that will be auctioned in New York on Jan. 28.

Some of the other properties include Grand Wailea in Maui; the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix and the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott at Grande Lakes in Orlando.

``This is a matter involving the owner of the hotel and the lender,'' said hotel sales and marketing director Christopher Bielski.

The hotel will continue to be managed by Marriott under terms of the existing management agreement, he said. The Doral had a lackluster year in 2009 but still eked out an operating profit of $3.2 million, said Thomas Fink, senior vice president of Trepp, which tracks financials of properties backed by securitized loans.

The sprawling resort spent about $4 million improving the property, more than eating up the extra cash and pushing the bottom line into the red.

In 2010, the numbers improved and Trepp forecasts that the Doral will end the year with an operating profit of about $18 million.

Hotel St. Regis in Detroit to be sold for $850,000

A landmark hotel in Detroit is set to be sold for a bargain-basement price next week.

The Hotel St. Regis is to be sold for $850,000 after a Thursday auction for the bank-owned property.
Bidding started at $350,000, with three groups bidding on it, said Barry Lefkowitz, managing director of the Southfield-based turnaround firm BBK, which is acting as receiver for the 225-room hotel.

The winning bidder was St. Regis Sky Group LLC, Lefkowitz said. According to state records, the president and CEO of Lakeshore TolTest Corp., Avinash Rachmale, is part of that investment group.

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Previous owners of Resorts Casino Hotel were planning to shut down before sale

ATLANTIC CITY — The former owner of Resorts Casino Hotel was secretly preparing to close down the troubled gaming hall just days before new buyers took control in December, newly filed court documents show.
Resorts International Hotel Inc. filed a confidential petition with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission “to discontinue all gaming, lodging, public food and beverage, entertainment and other guest operations” at 6 a.m. Dec. 2.
The petition was sealed and never made public. It was quietly withdrawn by Resorts International on Dec. 1, the day the commission approved the $31.5 million sale of Resorts to a new ownership group headed by gaming executive Dennis Gomes and New York real estate magnate Morris Bailey, collectively known as DGMB Casino LLC.

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