2011 NEWH Leadership conference held in January

Orlando, Florida (Hospitality Business News)—Roughly 200 hospitality professionals attended the recent bi-annual NEWH Leadership

Conference in January at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort Hotel & Conference Center at Universal Orlando.

Dubbed “Catch the Wave,” the three-day event featured a tradeshow showcasing the best products in the

industry, a conference filled with veteran and leadership-inspiring speakers, and fun-filled networking events.

Highlights include the opening keynote speech by Raul Leal, who discussed the revolutionary vision

of the newly formed Virgin Hotels; an in-depth look at the branding and creation of the award-winning Iron

Horse Hotel in Milwaukee by owner Tim Dixon and Brigette Breitnebach;

magazine’s Owners Roundtable, where attendees speed-networked with 18 key senior hotel design and

purchasing executives from around the U.S.; “America’s small talk expert” Don Gabor’s amusing speech on

real-life networking techniques and skills; a special behind-the-scenes presentation by Universal’s Theirry

Coup on the creation and construction of the entire Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme area at

Universal; and a closing presentation by Adrienne Pumphrey on the new groundbreaking green-from-theground-up Adobo Eco Hotel & Suites concept. Other breakout sessions covered social media, personal

branding, sustainable purchasing and design, the sustainable impact on ecology, specification writing, and

running a volunteer organization like NEWH. “Thank you for putting together such a great program and

allowing me to be part of it,” says Ken Koneck, public affairs manager, Valley Forge Fabrics.

On Saturday night, attendees had the chance to tour and ride Universal’s Harry Potter Experience

and attend an awards dinner banquet at Rising Star at Universal’s CityWalk where Lynda Sullivan of JLF and David Mahood of Olive Designs were honored with the NEWH Award of Excellence for their dedication and service to the organization. Six of NEWH’s recent college scholarship recipients also shared how NEWH and its grants to students have changed both their student and professional lives.

The next NEWH Leadership Conference will take place in San Francisco in January of 2013.Hospitality Design (HD)

Bendigo publican jailed for $4.5m theft

The former publican of a Victorian hotel has been jailed for manipulating nearly $4.5 million from the TAB which he used as an "overdraft".

David John Keogh, 43, was the publican of the One Tree Hill Hotel in Spring Gully, near Bendigo, when the pub struck financial troubles.

In 2008, Keogh, a pub TAB licensee, issued more than 1000 TAB vouchers, each with amounts averaging about $5000, but did not pay for them, the Victorian County Court heard on Monday.

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Marriott, Hilton against Disney, Universal in Expedia tax battle

Some of the biggest players within Florida’s $60 billion-a-year tourism industry are at odds in a battle over how online-travel companies such as Expedia Inc. and Orbitz Worldwide Inc. should be taxed.
One on side are hotel heavyweights such as Marriott International and Hilton Hotels & Resorts, which are out to eliminate what they contend is a competitive advantage the online companies have in selling hotel rooms.

Aligned with the Internet companies are theme-park giants Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, motivated at least in part by concerns that requiring Expedia, Orbitz and others to absorb higher taxes could jeopardize a tax advantage the resorts themselves now have when selling vacation packages.

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• Florida Dispute over hotel taxes escalates (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

Deal for Historic San Diego Hotel Adds Blackstone, Cashes Out KKR.

Image via WikipediaBlackstone Group LP is in and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. is out as part of a recapitalization of the Hotel Del Coronado that establishes the historic beachfront hotel’s value at 20% less than it was during the boom.

The complex deal, which we first reported Jan. 28 and the owners formally outlined Monday, resolves the Del Coronado’s pressing matter of $630 million in debt that was to come due next week. As part of the deal, Blackstone has gained a 60% stake in the 787-room California property by contributing $100 million and converting into equity a small slice of the hotel’s mezzanine debt that it recently bought at a discount.

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Barclay brothers buy debt in Maybourne hotels

Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, the owners of the Telegraph newspaper group, have bought debt held by Bank of Scotland in the Maybourne Hotel Group in the latest move to take full control of its prestigious London hotels.

The Barclay brothers have bought a stake in the hotel group’s debt to support their bid to control its equity.

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• Barclay Brothers Said to Gain Control of Maybourne Hotels' Owner (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)
• Chinese bid for big stake in the Maybourne Hotel Group (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

Hard Rock foreclosure sale rescheduled

The proposed foreclosure sale of the Hard Rock hotel-casino in Las Vegas has been rescheduled from Monday to Tuesday — assuming a New York state judge in Manhattan allows the foreclosure to proceed.
Attorneys are waiting for Bernard Fried, a New York State Supreme Court justice, to rule on the Las Vegas Hard Rock's motion that the foreclosure be blocked. In New York, the Supreme Court is a trial court similar to Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. The highest court in New York is the state Court of Appeals.
If Fried allows the foreclosure to proceed, it's now set for 4 p.m. Tuesday, New York time, on the New York City courthouse steps.

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• Hard Rock files lawsuit to stop foreclosure (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)
• Lenders file foreclosure notice against Hard Rock Hotel (hospitalitybusinessnews.com)

Owner of shuttered Pizza Hut franchises files suit against the pizza chain

Image via WikipediaLarry Lundy, a well-known New Orleans businessman and Pizza Hut magnate who owned dozens of the franchises in southeast Louisiana that abruptly closed last month, filed a counterclaim Monday against the pizza chain, claiming it hampered his company's profitability as it attempted to squeeze him out of the market.

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Related articles

• Pizza Huts around La. closed over lawsuit (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Hardee's restaurants looted, closed in Egypt

Image via Wikipedia

A Hardee's franchise in Cairo, Egypt, has closed its 32 locations there after some restaurants were damaged and looted in the political protests.

One of the closed restaurants is in Tahrir Square or “Freedom Square.”

"We have no insight as to whether they were targeted because of their western affiliation," said Jenna Petroff, a spokeswoman for St. Louis-based Hardee's. "There has been damage and looting in a number of locations, but at this point, the damage is believed to be associated with general looting."

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Starwood Hotels CFO: Middle East Turmoil 'Hurting Our Business'

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Escalating political turmoil and violence in the Middle East is blemishing a robust lodging recovery in global markets for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT).
The company, which swung to a profit in the fourth quarter, said the Middle East and Africa were the only regions that haven't fully recovered from one of the worst brutal downturns in the hotel industry.

"The political turmoil in North Africa, especially Egypt, is of course hurting our business," said Vasant Prabhu, vice chairman and chief financial officer of the hotelier during a post-earnings conference call Thursday. He noted Starwood has 16 hotels across North Africa that generated between $10 million to $12 million in fees last year.

"We expect that our fees will be hit in North Africa," he added. "It is too early to tell how we will be impacted, but this is clearly a risk that needs to be closely monitored."

Starwood's revenue per available room, a key profit metric for hotels, was up more than 10% in the fourth quarter of 2010 over the same time period in 2009, the company reported. It was up 9.4% for the year, following a decline of 20.7% in 2009.

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STARWOOD REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER 2010 RESULTS

WHITE PLAINS, NY, February 3, 2011

(NYSE: HOT) today reported fourth quarter 2010 financial results.

– Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Fourth Quarter 2010 Highlights

􀂃

special items, EPS from continuing operations was $1.08.

Excluding special items, EPS from continuing operations was $0.52. Including

􀂃

Adjusted EBITDA was $269 million.

􀂃

Including special items, income from continuing operations was $206 million.

Excluding special items, income from continuing operations was $99 million.

􀂃

in constant dollars) compared to 2009. System-wide REVPAR for Same-Store

Hotels in North America increased 10.2% (9.7% in constant dollars).

Worldwide System-wide REVPAR for Same-Store Hotels increased 10.1% (10.3%

􀂃

2009.

Management fees, franchise fees and other income increased 13.0% compared to

􀂃

approximately 100 basis points compared to 2009.

Worldwide Same-Store company-operated gross operating profit margins increased

􀂃

10.1% (10.9% in constant dollars) compared to 2009. REVPAR for Starwood

branded Same-Store Owned Hotels in North America increased 9.1% (8.1% in

constant dollars).

Worldwide REVPAR for Starwood branded Same-Store Owned Hotels increased

􀂃

basis points compared to 2009. Adjusted for a non-recurring item recorded in 2009,

margins increased approximately 170 basis points.

Margins at Starwood branded Same-Store Owned Hotels Worldwide increased 30

􀂃

compared to 2009.

Operating income from vacation ownership and residential increased $13 million

􀂃

contracts representing approximately 8,000 rooms and opened 23 hotels and

resorts with approximately 5,700 rooms.

Read More:During the quarter, the Company signed 37 hotel management and franchise 

Debt Due-Date Looms for Kerzner

Kerzner International Resorts Inc., owner of several high-end vacation spots, including the sprawling Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, has tapped a cadre of restructuring advisers to help rework nearly $3 billion in debt ahead of a looming repayment deadline later this year.

Kerzner recently enlisted advisers at law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Blackstone Group LP to determine how to restructure the debt, according to people familiar with the matter. About $2.6 billion of the debt, in the form of a senior mortgage, comes due in September.

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Hilton's Revival Boosts Blackstone

A year ago, Blackstone Group LP's real-estate group was peeling egg off its face.

Real-estate chief Jonathan Gray, once toasted as a member of Vanity Fair's "New Establishment," also seemed to have established the firm's most embarrassing deal. Blackstone's record $6 billion investment in the buyout of hotel chain Hilton Worldwide had lost 70% of its value.

How things have changed.

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Florida Dispute over hotel taxes escalates

As South Florida counties sue Expedia, Priceline and other travel sites for uncollected hotel taxes, state lawmakers are pushing bills to scuttle the litigation.

Legislation filed by two Republicans would exempt the travel giants from paying hotel taxes on the rates they charge customers. Meanwhile, local governments -- including Broward and Miami-Dade -- are taking the sites to court for not collecting those taxes, claiming Expedia and the rest owe millions of dollars.

The dispute has been building judicial momentum for years, as tax collectors try to expand their authority from brick-and-mortar hotels to virtual booking systems. Miami-Dade was part of one class-action suit Florida counties filed in Monroe, only to settle for under $7 million.

But both Broward and Miami-Dade are pursuing separate court cases

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New Year Fireworks causes fire at Shenyang Sheraton

The blaze in Shenyang, the capital of China's Liaoning Province, is believed to have started in an apartment complex before spreading to the hotel.

Chinese state media said a fireworks display was the cause of the fire.

The 20-storey Sheraton Shenyang Lido Hotel is the the tallest building in the city.

It meant firefighters had trouble extinguishing the blaze, as they were unable to reach the highest parts of the building.

Around 50 guests were evacuated from their rooms but there were no reports of injuries.

Hilton Paid Starwood $75 Million in Espionage Settlement

Hilton Worldwide Inc. paid $75 million last year to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide as part of a settlement agreement in a corporate-espionage lawsuit, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In its earnings statement Thursday, Starwood said it received the money in a corporate settlement in December but didn't identify Hilton. Still, the legal settlement with Hilton was the only one Starwood reached that month.

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