Al Sharpton's after Darden's this time

Image via Wikipedia
The Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network called Monday for major investors to dump Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, saying managers of a Cleveland-area Olive Garden sexually harassed women, discriminated against new moms, hired illegal immigrants and didn't adequately discipline a manager who had sex with employees.

The group plans to send letters this week to mutual-fund companies such as Vanguard, asking them to drop their holdings in Darden, said Richard Jones, a Midwestern representative for the National Action Network.
"We want to put pressure on the investors," Jones said. "We want them [Darden] to change the management and the culture in these stores."

Read More:

Can hotel pizza fliers be dangerous? Walt Disney World thinks so

There's a push in Florida to encourage a police crackdown on unsolicited pizza menus and other fliers in hotels, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

What's so dangerous about a flimsy piece of paper that advertises a $9.99 pizza pie and a 1-800 number?
The handouts are really said to be a ruse by criminals to convince hungry tourists to give out their names, credit-card information and hotel room number. They apparently pose such a threat to both tourists - and Florida's $60 billion-a-year tourism industry - that even Walt Disney World's backing legislation designed to fight them, the paper says.

Read More:

Boston W Hotel owners stave off lender's foreclosure effort

A US Bankruptcy Court judge rebuffed Prudential Insurance Co.'s efforts to foreclose on the developer of the W Hotel & Residences, which filed bankruptcy protection last spring after being unable to sell most of its Theatre District condos.

Judge Joan Feeney ruled that the developer, SW Boston Hotel Venture, is making progress stabilizing its finances and should be allowed to continue to do so without the threat of foreclosure by Prudential. The insurance company had provided a $192 million loan for the development of the W Hotel and 123 condominiums on Stuart Street in Boston, and is the primary creditor in bankruptcy proceedings.

SW Hotel Venture "has shown sufficient progress during this Chapter 11 case to support the conclusion that there is a reasonable possibility of a reorganization within a reasonable time," Feeney wrote in a 50-page ruling issued today.

Read More:

Mexico charges 5 for hotel blast that killed 7

CANCUN, Mexico -- Prosecutors in Mexico have filed charges against five employees and contractors at a Caribbean coast hotel where a Nov. 14 explosion killed five Canadian tourists and two Mexicans.
The assistant attorney general of the state where the hotel is located says investigators found an unauthorized extension of a gas line under the hotel lounge where the blast occurred.

Read More:

China to become 'No 1' for tourists within seven years

China has put tourism at the top of its priorities, designating the sector a "key strategic industry", as a part of its attempt to transform its economy away from low-end manufacturing.

Significant inward investment is expected, with Thomas Cook eyeing acquisitions to bolster its China business.

"We can expect to see China become the No 1 country both in terms of receiving tourists and also of sending tourists abroad," said Taleb Rifai, the head of the UNWTO, saying he expected this to happen within "five to seven years". "China is full of attractions, from sea to mountain, and it has a culture that is tangible, from its food to its ancient history," he added.

Read More:

Jamaica Government probes sale of Sandals Whitehouse Hotel

GORSTEW Limited has pledged to co-operate with the contractor general’s probe of the negotiations for the sale of the Sandals Whitehouse hotel in Westmoreland and has made public a 24-point statement of facts on the project.

In a statement published in today’s Sunday Observer, Gorstew, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart’s holding company, said it “welcomes and will co-operate with any investigation mounted by the contractor general in relation to the sale of Sandals Whitehouse”.

Gorstew’s statement comes amidst swirling controversy over the sale talks which the company has insisted are not secret, contrary to a Sunday Herald story a few weeks ago.

Read More:

Related articles

• Jamaica Government to lend 'Butch' US$32.5m ... For Sandals Whitehouse acquisition (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

Chinese bid for big stake in the Maybourne Hotel Group

The battle for control of Maybourne Hotel Group, which owns the Berkeley, Claridge's and The Connaught hotels in London, has taken a dramatic turn this weekend with a surprise bid from the Chinese government for the 37 per cent stake in the group.

Although owner Paddy McKillen, one of Ireland's most successful property developers, has said he did not want to sell, he is understood to be evaluating the offer.

The deal could scupper plans by the Barclay brothers, owners of the Ritz in London and Telegraph Media Group, to take a controlling stake in Maybourne after acquiring 25 per cent from the family of British billionaire Peter Green earlier this month.

Read More:

Related articles

• Barclay Brothers Said to Gain Control of Maybourne Hotels' Owner (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

Calgary man dead after fall from Banff Hotel balcony

A young man from Calgary is dead after falling from a third-floor balcony at a Banff hotel, say RCMP.
While police say they do not believe the man's death is suspicious, they don't know why the people he was partying with waited so long before calling 911.

RCMP say three people, including the man who died, were drinking in the hotel when he fell sometime overnight on Jan. 6, 2011.

"At approximately 10 a.m. (on the 7th) Banff RCMP were dispatched to a hotel in Banff. A 22-year-old Calgary man was found deceased as a result of a fall from a third floor balcony of the hotel," said Banff RCMP Const. Howard Cann. "Indications are that this incident is alcohol related and police do not suspect foul play."

Read More:

Related articles

• Stewardess found dead at Amsterdam Radisson (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)
• Man Dies in Fall From Hotel in Midtown New York (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)
• Baseball player, 14, dies after leaping from tenth floor of Sheraton (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

Saipan Senate expands to 30 percent hotel rooms, balconies where smoking may be allowed

By a vote of 9-0, the Senate passed on Friday its own bill expanding from 20 percent to 30 percent the number of rooms at each hotel that can be designated as smoking areas.

Sen. Luis Crisostimo's (D-Saipan) bill also allows smoking in the attached balconies of these hotel rooms.

The Senate, however, did not act on a House bill introduced by Rep. Froilan Tenorio (Cov-Saipan) that expands the number of hotel smoking rooms to 80 percent.

Current law allows up to 20 percent of rooms at hotels to be designated as smoking areas.

Read More:

 

FLorida Hotel Owner Plans On Suing TripAdvisor.com

Volusia County, Fla. -- A Volusia County hotel is threatening legal action after a website listed the hotel as one of the dirtiest in the country.

According to state officials the report by TripAdvisor.com paints an inaccurate picture of conditions at The Desert Inn Resort.

The owner Dennis Devlin showed WFTV his hotel which is located on Atlantic Avenue in Daytona Beach.

Devlin said he’s furious at the travel website, which advertises reviews from travelers.

“When they put someone on a list you think they’d at least do an onsite inspection to verify what they’re saying is true,” said Devlin.

Some of the reviews said the Desert Inn Resort has roaches; however, the hotel just passed a state inspection which looks for sanitation and safety violations.

Read More:

Related articles

• "Daytona hotel ranks No. 3 on TripAdvisor's "dirtiest hotels" list" and related posts (blogs.orlandosentinel.com)
• TripAdvisors top 10 dirtiest hotels for 2011 (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)
• Duncan Bannatyne to campaign against 'cowardly' TripAdvisor (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)
• Can you trust those online hotel reviews? (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

Columbus Hyatt put up for sale

The 400-room Hyatt on Capitol Square has been put up for sale by its California-based owner, which bought the hotel in 2007, just before the recession hit. The hotel is expected to continue normal operations.
The property is valued at $30 million for tax purposes, but there is no set asking price for the hotel, which is listed with broker Jones Lang LaSalle.

Hertz Investment Group of Santa Monica paid $30 million for the hotel at 75 E. State St. in September 2007, according to the Franklin County auditor's website. Hertz also bought the office tower that is attached to the Hyatt for $42.5 million in August 2007. That building is not listed for sale.

Read More:

Related articles

• HYATT announces agreement to rebrand Waikiki hotel (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)
• Loan on Luxury Park Hyatt Aviara Resort Extended (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

In Australia if you want a drink then give us your fingerprints

THOUSANDS of clubbers and pub patrons are being forced to submit to fingerprint and photographic scans to enter popular venues, seemingly unaware of the ramifications of handing over their identity.

Biometric scanners, once the domain of James Bond movies, are flooding the pub market as the fix-all solution to violence and antisocial behaviour. The pubs are exerting more power than the police or airport security by demanding photos, fingerprints and ID. Police can only do it if they suspect someone of committing a crime and they must destroy the data if the person is not charged or found not guilty.

Yet one company boasts that the sensitive information collected about patrons can be kept for years and shared with other venues in the country - in what appears to be a breach of privacy laws.

Read More:

Stylish thief hits top Melbourne hotels

A BRAZEN thief has fleeced wealthy guests at some of Melbourne's most exclusive hotels of $100,000 in jewellery and other items after posing as a member of staff.

Police fear the well-dressed conman, who is believed to have struck three times this month, is working his way through five-star hotels in a crime spree that has left some victims questioning security at Melbourne's high-end accommodation.

In one case at the Grand Hyatt in Collins Street, the thief claimed he needed to fix a couple's air conditioner and then moved a handbag into the outside corridor while the room was unattended.

He left the suite picking up the bag, which contained a Cartier bracelet and a diamond bracelet worth a total of $90,000.

Read More:

Can you trust those online hotel reviews?

It has become the traveller's champion, a first port of call for holidaymakers in search of the warts-and-all truth about hotels and a place where they can let off steam when things go wrong.
But the world's largest travel website, TripAdvisor, is facing a searing backlash from hoteliers who claim it is rife with inaccuracies and fraudulent claims about their properties concocted by phoney reviewers.

This week, it was slammed as "despicable and cowardly" by BBC Dragon's Den panellist Duncan Bannatyne after he complained that a "dishonest" review compared his Charlton House Spa in Somerset to Fawlty Towers. He demanded that it be removed.

The website has also incurred the wrath of a growing number of Irish hoteliers over claims that it refuses to remove dishonest and defamatory reviews from its pages.

Read More:

Related articles

• Duncan Bannatyne to campaign against 'cowardly' TripAdvisor (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

2011 Dirtiest Hotels around the world

See the lists from TripAdvisor
Asia
Europe
India
United States