Hooters, the American founded restaurant famous for its hotpant-clad hosts, has opened in Cardiff.
After a failed feminist campaign against the licence for the new food outlet, the high-energy restaurant today opens its doors as the first of its kind in Wales – complete with 56 Hooters Girls.
We went along to the VIP opening event which saw the Hooters Girls – uniformed in orange shorts and tight Hooters trademark vests – test out their newly learned dance and chant routines.
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Monday, November 22, 2010
Hotwire Reveals Hotel Rate Report for November 2010
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Hotwire.com®, a leading discount travel site, today announced the results of the November 2010 Hotwire® Hotel Rate Report. The report features the top five cities in North America where hotel rates have dropped the most and the top five cities where rates have experienced the biggest price increase. While one report guides customers to the destinations that will maximize their travel dollars, the other helps inform travelers when using Hotwire to save money will be even more essential.
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Londons' Hoxton Hotel Owner Explores Sale
The owner of the Hoxton Hotel, located on the outskirts of London’s main financial district, are exploring a possible sale of the venue that may raise as much as 67.5 million pounds ($108 million).
Knight Frank LLP was appointed as adviser during the process and expressions of interest have been received, owner Bridges Ventures Ltd. said today in a statement.
The hotel has 208 bedrooms, seven meeting rooms and the Hoxton Grill restaurant. It was established in 2006 by co-owner Sinclair Beecham, who also helped found the sandwich chain Pret A Manger.
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Knight Frank LLP was appointed as adviser during the process and expressions of interest have been received, owner Bridges Ventures Ltd. said today in a statement.
The hotel has 208 bedrooms, seven meeting rooms and the Hoxton Grill restaurant. It was established in 2006 by co-owner Sinclair Beecham, who also helped found the sandwich chain Pret A Manger.
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Pebblebrook Hotel Trust Acquires the Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica Hotel
BETHESDA, Md., Nov 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Pebblebrook Hotel Trust /quotes/comstock/13*!peb/quotes/nls/peb (PEB 18.33, 0.00, 0.00%) (the "Company") today announced that it has acquired the boutique-style Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica Hotel for $102.8 million. The 310-room, upper-upscale, full-service hotel features over 10,000 square feet of meeting space, two food and beverage outlets and is located in Santa Monica, California, just minutes from the beach and all of Santa Monica's leisure attractions. The property will continue to be managed by the Viceroy Hotel Group. The transaction was funded by the Company entirely with available cash.
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Expedia and Wyndham Hotel Group Sign Long-Term Agreement
BELLEVUE, Wash., Nov. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Expedia, Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!expe/quotes/nls/expe (EXPE 25.82, -0.05, -0.18%) , the world's largest online travel company, today announced it has signed a long-term global agreement with Wyndham Hotel Group /quotes/comstock/13*!wyn/quotes/nls/wyn (WYN 28.89, +0.00, +0.01%) , the world's largest hotel company with nearly 7,200 properties in 65 countries worldwide. Under this renewed agreement, Wyndham Hotel Group will continue to be available on more than 90 Expedia(R) and Hotels.com(R) sites in over 60 countries, as well as on more than 10,000 active affiliate sites through the Expedia Affiliate Network.
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Sunday, November 21, 2010
Harrah's Shelves $531 Million IPO
Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., the world’s biggest casino operator, terminated its $531 million initial public offering, the first private equity-backed company to pull its U.S. IPO in six months.
Harrah’s, taken private by Apollo Global Management LLC and TPG Capital in a leveraged buyout in 2008, canceled its sale because of “market conditions,” according to the Las Vegas- based company’s statement today. The postponement was the first from a private equity-backed company since Americold Realty Trust, owned by billionaire Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos., shelved its offering in May, data compiled by Bloomberg and Greenwich, Connecticut-based Renaissance Capital LLC showed.
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Harrah’s, taken private by Apollo Global Management LLC and TPG Capital in a leveraged buyout in 2008, canceled its sale because of “market conditions,” according to the Las Vegas- based company’s statement today. The postponement was the first from a private equity-backed company since Americold Realty Trust, owned by billionaire Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos., shelved its offering in May, data compiled by Bloomberg and Greenwich, Connecticut-based Renaissance Capital LLC showed.
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Pay-to-play infects Chicago beer market
The Wit Hotel in the Loop is a trendy hangout for the after-work and weekend crowd. Clubbers dressed to the nines party year-round on its 7,000-square-foot rooftop and, 27 stories below, in the State & Lake bar off the lobby.
The boutique hotel also is on the front line of Chicago's brutal—and at times illicit—battle over beer.
When the Wit opened in 2009, bar managers stocked State & Lake's 16 taps with an impressive selection of microbrews, including Stone, Anderson Valley, Two Brothers and Metropolitan, a new hometown brand.
Then, in June, most of the craft beers from smaller distributors disappeared,, replaced by 11 specialty brands carried by Chicago Beverage Systems LLC, a powerhouse distributor of Miller, Coors and other labels.
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The boutique hotel also is on the front line of Chicago's brutal—and at times illicit—battle over beer.
When the Wit opened in 2009, bar managers stocked State & Lake's 16 taps with an impressive selection of microbrews, including Stone, Anderson Valley, Two Brothers and Metropolitan, a new hometown brand.
Then, in June, most of the craft beers from smaller distributors disappeared,, replaced by 11 specialty brands carried by Chicago Beverage Systems LLC, a powerhouse distributor of Miller, Coors and other labels.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010
Hotel refuses to refund deposit after Dog eats passport
(Hospitality Business News - November 20, 2010) A honeymoon trip to Mexico planned by a Massachusetts couple went to “the dogs” recently when Mexican authorities refused to grant the couple entry into the country.
Two days before Eric Mann and Brooke Blew left on their trip the couples dog chewed Mann’s passport.
Although the couple made it through Boston’s tough security at Logan Airport, upon arriving in Cancun Mexico the Mexican immigration officials said that the condition of the passport was unacceptable and that they had to return to the USA
JetBlue refunded the couples airfare, but the Hotel said “No hablo Engles, que?”
Sleepwalking hotel guest awarded 10M Euros
A businessman was celebrating today after winning a €10m libel case following a bizarre naked sleepwalking incident.
The sum is more than five times larger than any previous Irish libel settlement. The court in Dublin ordered that only €500,000 be paid out pending an expected appeal.
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Donal Kinsella, 67, from Dunleer in County Louth, Ireland, took the case against his employer, Kenmare Resources, after the firm issued a press release that, he claimed, suggested he had made inappropriate advances to a female colleague while on a business trip to Africa in 2007.
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Super 8 Guest robbed of $350,000
(Hospitality Business News) Police are looking for two men they say pulled off one of the highest-dollar robberies ever to take place in the area after they stole $350,000 in jewelry from a guest staying at the Super 8 Motel in Dumfries VA.
Police said on Nov. 18 at 8:14 a.m. a 50-year-old man from Great Neck, N.Y., reported to police that two unknown men pulled up in a silver four-door vehicle and blocked him in while he was trying to get into his car parked at the hotel, located at 17416 Jefferson Davis Highway.
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The Power of a Brand
The Grand Pittsburgh Downtown hotel which used to be a Hilton, has been struggling since it lost its’ brand affiliation. It is laying off employees, drastically cutting the hours of others, and shutting down its bars and restaurants on some days as the bankrupt hotel struggles to make ends meet.
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Sheraton Room Attendants protest "Green Initiative"
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| Sheraton Toronto |
(Hospitality Business News - November 20, 2010) Is it a “Green Initiative”, a cost cutting program during tough times, or both? Room attendants at the Sheraton Centre in downtown Toronto think it’s a cost cutting move and is costing jobs.
According to a report by the Toronto Star about 20 hotel workers, politicians and labour leaders barged into a morning housekeeping meeting at the downtown Sheraton Centre on Thursday to protest a Green Choice initiative they say cuts jobs.
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Verdict - Hotel to Pay $4.5M
(Hospitality Business News) An Alabama jury rendered a $4.5 million verdict Thursday evening against the owners of an Oxford hotel where two people contracted Legionnaires’ disease in 2008.
According to an article in the Anniston Star, it took the jury less than an hour to reach the verdict in a civil lawsuit against Devi LLC, an Oxford-based company that owns the Oxford Fairfield Inn and Suites and Courtyard by Marriot. The Fairfield Inn, which was previously named Wingate Inn in 2008, was where the incident occurred.Read More:
According to an article in the Anniston Star, it took the jury less than an hour to reach the verdict in a civil lawsuit against Devi LLC, an Oxford-based company that owns the Oxford Fairfield Inn and Suites and Courtyard by Marriot. The Fairfield Inn, which was previously named Wingate Inn in 2008, was where the incident occurred.Read More:
