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ON THE ROAD For the Hotel Industry, Recovery is a Long Way Off By JOE SHARKEY IN these uncertain economic times, I am wary when I hear someone proclaiming, “We have finally bottomed out.” After all, who knows how long we may stay on the bottom? So that’s why I urge caution in evaluating small recent indicators that might mean better times ahead for the hotel industry. On Monday, for example, the hotel investment services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels released a survey showing that investors saw some signs of improvement for hotels, but not for at least a year....

LONDON (Reuters) -- Counterterrorism detectives said they had arrested five men in early morning raids today in northwest England. They were being held on suspicion of committing terrorism offenses including inciting an act of terrorism overseas. Police said the suspects, aged 21, 26, 27, 52, and 62, were detained after swoops at homes in Manchester and Bolton, and at a hotel near London's Heathrow Airport. The properties were now being searched.

SNIPPET: "Search at Grundy County plant called part of ongoing probe" SNIPPET: "But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago. Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said."

SNIPPET: "SANTIAGO – One person was injured and several windows were destroyed when a small bomb exploded at a bank branch in the Chilean capital, police said. The blast occurred at 2 p.m. at a branch of Banco de Credito e Inversiones inside a Marriott hotel in Santiago’s affluent Las Condes neighborhood."

<p>An explosion rocked the compound of a four-star hotel just off a main boulevard in Pakistan's garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday and there were reports of casualties, police said. "According to initial reports the blast took place in the compound of the hotel. Our teams are there, they are updating us on the details," police officer Mohammed Akhlaq told AFP by telephone.</p>

Title only. Breaking.

Hotel Owner to Workers: No Spanish! By MELANIE DABOVICH, AP TAOS, N.M. (Oct. 26) -- Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark. Whitten's management style had worked for him...

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark. Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years...

President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the H1N1 influenza a national emergency, giving doctors and medical facilities greater leeway in responding to the flu pandemic. Obama signed the declaration late Friday, which the White House said allows medical treatment facilities to better handle a surge in flu patients by waiving federal requirements on a case-by-case basis. "The foundation of our national approach to the H1N1 flu has been preparedness at all levels -- personal, business, and government -- and this proclamation helps that effort by advancing our overall response capability," the White House said in a statement. In the proclamation,...

A moose is squirreled away at a Fargo hotel this morning, and authorities are asking the public to stay out of the area. The animal is "contained on the property" of the Mainstay Suites at 1901 44th St. S., according to an e-mail report from Fargo Police Sgt. Jeff Skuza. The moose is showing "no sign of trying to leave as we work to resolve the situation," Skuza added. The sergeant said that the species' "size and temperament make them a significant public safety risk in an urban setting."

Two luxury hotels have dis-invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from their dining rooms, where he planned to feast during his visit to New York City. The United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) organization and other protestors still are pressuring the Barclay InterContinental Hotel to hang out a “no vacancy” sign for him.

Hotels in the U.S. posted a 1.4 decline in occupancy to 53.4 for the week of 30 August-5 September 2009 compared to the same period in the previous year. The decline in occupancy was one of three declines in all three key performance measurements during the week according to Smith Travel Research (STR). Average daily rate dropped 8.6 percent to finish the week at US$92.20 whilst revenue per available room for the week decreased 9.9 percent to US$49.28. The market which reported the largest decreases in all three key metrics was Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota-Wisconsin, which hosted the Republican National Convention...

A senior Hamas terrorist, involved in planning the 2002 suicide bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya, was arrested overnight Monday in the West Bank, security officials announced Tuesday. IDF soldiers detain a... IDF soldiers detain a Palestinian man (illustrative) Photo: AP [file] SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World Muhammad Harwish, head of Hamas's armed wing in Tulkarm, was apprehended along with his personal aide, Adnan Samara. The two were being interrogated by security forces. A Duvdevan special forces unit, along with personnel from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and special Border Police forces, arrested the pair after encountering...

(IsraelNN.com) Wanted Al-Qaeda terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan was killed Monday in an airstrike in southern Somalia, local civilians have reported. Nabhan is wanted for multiple terrorist attacks, including a 2002 hotel bombing and attempted attack on an airplane that targeted Israeli citizens. Nabhan was wanted by the United States FBI for both the 2002 attacks and possible involvement in 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in which hundreds of people were killed.

RADICAL Islamist al-Shabaab militants linked to al-Qa'ida and based in Somalia plotted to kill US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to Africa last month, it was disclosed yesterday. A planned series of bomb attacks set to take place in Nairobi, the capital of neighbouring Kenya, while Mrs Clinton was there - one in the hotel where she was staying - was foiled at the last minute, media reports, citing senior security officials, said. "Al-Qa'ida wanted to strike at the heart of Nairobi (while Mrs Clinton was here)," the senior security official was quoted as saying, adding that...

26 August 2009 INDONESIAN BOMBING SUSPECT A JIHAD MAGAZINE PUBLISHER AND WEBMASTER As of today he's in the custody of Detachment 88. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. First the news reports: • Preacher's son arrested: Mohammad Jibril runs his father's company, Ar-rahmah Media, which publishes religious books and JihadMagz, a glossy 148-page magazine devoted to Islamic fighters and wars across the world. He also set up the militant website, arrahmah.com, which posts news in Bahasa Indonesia and English on the Islamic struggle to preserve and spread their religion.

A fountain flows in front of the Caravan Hotel at Baghdad International Airport. The hotel began as a Command Emergency Relief Program in October 2007 and was signed over to the Government of Iraq, Aug 19. Photo by Staff Sgt. Luke Koladish, 114th Public Affairs Detachment. BAGHDAD — The 364th Civil Affairs Brigade (CAB) here signed a memorandum of agreement with the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) turning over control of the Caravan Hotel at Baghdad International Airport to the ICAA, Aug. 19. Distinguished guest, Maj. Gen. James P. Hunt, Multi-National Corps - Iraq deputy commanding general, and Dr. Adnan...

A Connecticut hotel where a woman was raped at gunpoint in front of her children says the victim was careless and negligent. The papers filed last month in Superior Court by the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa say the victim "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities."Prosecutors say Gary Fricker assaulted the woman in her minivan in the hotel's parking garage in front of her two children, then ages 3 and 5.

SNIPPET: "Indonesian police confirmed that DNA tests proved that wanted terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top was not killed during last week's raid on a farmhouse in Java in Indonesia." SNIPPET: "DNA tests confirmed that the body of the person killed was that of another wanted terrorist named Amir Ibrohim. Ibrohim, who is also known as Amir Abdullah, worked as a contractor for the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels and is said to have aided in the July 17 attacks. He was reportedly seen on tape escorting one of the suicide bombers during the July 17 attacks. Ibrohim is also believed...

Hotel Swept into River after Typhoon Source:Xinhua Updated: 2009-8-10 11:08:53 A six-storey hotel building leans before falling into a flooded river after Typhoon Morakot hit Taitung county, eastern Taiwan, August 9, 2009. People watch as a six-storey hotel building leans before falling into a flooded river. A collapsed hotel building is seen in flood waters.

Flying into Philly with kids. In need of hotel recs.

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Olympic organisers are "very alive" to the threat of a cyber attack on the London 2012 Olympics, made more challenging because of its evolving nature, senior Interior Ministry officials said on Tuesday. Ticketing systems, the transport network and hotel bookings as well as security are among potential targets. Olympic security officials are also planning for the possible diversion of aircraft to protect airspace around the venues from terrorist attacks, the officials said. The greatest threat to security at the Games is international terrorism, the government's latest "Safety and Security Strategy" report said.

At least four people have been killed in two separate explosions at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, say reports. The country's Metro TV reported that one blast hit the Ritz-Carlton and the other, the Marriott Hotel. Television footage showed the facade of one of the hotels had been torn off by the blast. The BBC's Karishma Vaswani, outside the Marriott, said ambulances are present and security is extremely tight. South Jakarta police Col Firman Bundi said the four who died were foreigners, reported AP. "There were explosions heard from two separate places, one the JW Marriott, the other...

Swine flu fears and the global economic crisis are taking their toll on bookings at hotels in the city of Mecca, two months before the start of a minor pilgrimage that attracts up to two million Muslim pilgrims. Umra can be performed any time of the year but most prefer to do it during the last 10 days of the fasting month of Ramadan, which will be around September 10 to 20 this year. The haj season, which falls in November this year, attracts some three million pilgrims. At Ajyad Hotel, favoured for its proximity to the Grand Mosque and...

Hotel foreclosures spread throughout California Andrew S. Ross Sunday, July 12, 2009 The "challenges" for San Francisco's biggest business are coming thick and fast. That oft-used word at last Tuesday's San Francisco Visitors & Convention Bureau luncheon rang loud and clear two days later when the Four Seasons Hotel on Market Street defaulted on a $90 million loan. Those who might have forgotten were reminded that Nob Hill's famed Stanford Court Hotel had gone into receivership two weeks earlier, owing $89 million after its new owners bought the place for $93 million two years ago and spent $32 million in...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Authorities say a prankster persuaded a married couple to smash their Florida hotel window after falsely telling them the room had a gas leak. Police say a person claiming to be a front-desk clerk at an Orlando hotel convinced the couple to break a wall mirror and use a lamp to punch a hole through the wall. The couple also threw a mattress out the window, but a hotel manager came to the room before they could jump. The manager told the couple there was no gas leak. The prank cost about $5,000 in damages. Police say...

Hotel owners are facing the same problems as homeowners, being upside down on their properties with no good escape. Please consider Hotel foreclosures jump in California. In California, 175 hotels are in default -- the first stage in the foreclosure process -- according to a report from Atlas Hospitality Group, an Irvine-based brokerage firm. Another 31 have been foreclosed, nearly one third of them in the Inland region. Of those in default or foreclosure, about 75 percent obtained new loans between 2005 and 2007 for construction financing, re-financing or to buy the hotel, according to the firm. Atlas Hospitality estimates...

BASRAH — British forces handed over a former Coalition headquarters to Iraqi officials during a ceremony at the Basrah International Airport Hotel here, June 15. The handover of the hotel is part of the ongoing withdrawal of British forces from Iraq in accordance with the United Kingdom's security agreement with the Iraqi government. "Military and civilian personnel, both Iraqi and Coalition, have worked within the hotel to achieve the conditions that have allowed us to celebrate many days just like this – the return of functions and facilities to the Basrawis," said Group Captain Richard Hill, deputy commander of British...

Extended Stay Hotels has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, buckling under debt as its revenue dries up in the recession. The Spartanburg, S.C.-based company filed its Chapter 11 petition Monday in the Southern District of New York. Extended Stay - which operates under the brands of Extended Stay America, Crossland Economy Studios, Extended Stay Deluxe and Homestead Studio Suites — operates 15 hotels in the Orlando area. According to the filing, Extended Stay had about $7.1 billion in assets and $7.6 billion in liabilities at the end of 2008. Lakewood, N.J.-based Lightstone Group bought Extended Stay from Blackstone Group...

The manager of a prominent Nashville hotel cancelled a contract with a conservative foundation to hold a conference this weekend on radical Islam, apparently after learning that the group would feature a keynote address by controversial Dutch parliamentarian and filmmaker, Geert Wilders. Muslim groups succeeded in preventing Wilders from screening “Fitna,” his 15-minute movie on radical Islam, in the House of Lords this February, on claims it was insulting to Muslims, and dogged him during a recent U.S. tour as well. Thomas A. Negri, managing director of Loew’s Vanderbilt Hotel and Office complex in Nashville, told Newsmax on Wednesday that...

Chemical Warning: Bodies In London Hotel Two people have been found dead in a hotel room after a chemical incident, emergency services said. Police and fire services were called to the Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, north London just before midday. The hotel has been evacuated. A spokeswoman for London Fire Brigade said: "We are treating this as a confirmed chemical incident. The hotel has been evacuated and cordon implemented." She said the substance involved was not known at this stage. The bodies are still at the scene, police said. A Met police spokeswoman said: "Police were called at...

Hundreds of tourists and employees were under quarantine in a downtown Hong Kong hotel Saturday after a Mexican guest tested positive for swine flu. With the outbreak on its doorstep, China suspended direct flights from the Latin American country. Hours after the first confirmed case in Asia was reported, the continent got its second: Tests showed a South Korean woman also had the disease. She has been under quarantine since returning earlier this week from Mexico, the epicenter of the disease.

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Kabul Serena Hotel and Victory Day Threats CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS South / Central Asia - Afghanistan 22 Apr 2009 Printer Friendly Email Article RELATED REPORTS 11 Feb 2009 KABUL SUICIDE COMBINED-ARMS ATTACKS 11 Feb 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: ATTACKS ON AFGHAN GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS 10 Feb 2009 AFGHANISTAN 2009 CRIME AND SAFETY REPORT 24 Nov 2008 TERRORIST TACTICS: ATTACK ON INDIAN EMBASSY IN AFGHANISTAN U.S. Embassy Kabul released the following Warden Message on April 22: Recent intelligence reporting indicates that insurgents...

The first flying hotel, Hotelicopter, is now ready, SBCC Company announced. The hotel was built on the base of the Mi-12 chopper, which is the largest helicopter in the world. The construction took five years.

Bed bugs? Check. Filthy hallways? Check. A body under a bed? Yup, this hotel has had that, too. The Hotel Carter was named the dirtiest hotel in America Tuesday by TripAdvisor.com, marking the third time in four years that the W. 43rd St. dump has topped the list....

This is an incident report and there is no information indicating that it is terrorism related. Additional details will be provided as they become available. Guests were evacuated Sunday night when a smoke bomb went off on the fourth floor of the Hilton Garden Inn, 1940 W. Pinnacle Peak Road in northwest Phoenix. Officials found other weapons in the room where

  Jessica Mazzone is recovering from operation by Dr. John Boockvar.   Writhing in pain inside a dilapidated hospital in the Dominican Republic, Brooklyn native Jessica Mazzone didn't think she'd ever walk again.  The 28-year-old flight attendant had fallen three stories from a hotel balcony on the eastern tip of the island, snapping her spine and shattering her left leg.  Local doctors insisted they had to operate on her at the hospital. A journey to the U.S. would almost certainly leave her paralyzed, Mazzone was told. Her family feared the worst until a relative suggested they contact a famed surgeon who...

Prashant Mangeshikar could be dead, one of more than a hundred victims of militant attacks across Mumbai landmarks, if it had not been for an employee at the Taj Mahal Hotel... ...Recovering from the initial shock and chaos, hotel staff shepherded the guests, including the Mangeshikar family, through the service section upstairs -- only suddenly to come face to face with one of the gunmen. "He looked young and did not speak to us. He just fired. We were in sort of a single file," Mangeshikar, a 52-year-old gynecologist, told Reuters. "The man in front of my wife shielded us....

just breaking, Oberoi Trident hotel is secure

Mumbai: At least 15 people have been injured in gunfights between two groups in at least three places in Mumbai on Thursday night. Details are sketchy but it is believed that two gangs fired at each other at outside CST Railway Terminus, Hotel Oberoi and the popular Café Leopold restaurant in Mumbai. The first shooting took place near the CST police station

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gunfire erupted in the storied Waldorf-Astoria hotel during a brazen robbery attempt Saturday at a lobby jewelry store, wounding a security guard and sending guests diving for cover. An armed gunman tried to rob a jewelry store in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Saturday. An armed gunman tried to rob a jewelry store in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Saturday. The 54-year-old guard, Gregory J. Boyle, was shot in the chest but was expected to survive, and a suspect was arrested on charges including attempted murder and assault.

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese man set fire to the hotel where he was due to get married at the weekend, rather than go through with the ceremony later the same day, newspaper reports said Monday. Tatsuhiko Kawata, 39, had gone along with wedding plans despite already having a wife, the Yomiuri newspaper said. "I thought if I set a fire I wouldn't have to go through with the wedding," the Yomiuri quoted him as telling police

The heightened security for the Republican convention resulted in four Pakistani students from St. John's University being detained in Times Square last night. The four, who were in a burgundy van, were taken into custody shortly after 5 p.m. outside the Marriott Marquis hotel on Broadway and West 45th Street after cops thought they were acting suspiciously. They were questioned for at least seven hours at the Midtown North precinct on West 54th Street while anxious relatives waited outside. Police sources said two of the students were on an FBI watch list.

via translation - ALERT - Pakistan: the Czech ambassador was killed PRAGUE - The Czech Republic's ambassador to Pakistan, which had called for help from the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad shortly after the attack Saturday, died Sunday announced in Prague public television CT 24.

How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A huge explosion ripped through part of the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, damaging buildings in a wide radius, killing at least two people and wounding at least 25.

“I hope you guys are game,” he said, “because I haven’t been putting up with 19 months of airplanes and hotel food and missing my babies and my wife –- I didn’t put up for that stuff just to come in second. I don’t believe in coming in second. The American people can’t afford for us to come in second. We’ve got to win this thing and we’re going to win it with your help.”

A wounded soldier home from Afghanistan on sick leave was forced to spend the night in his car after a hotel refused him a room. Corporal Tomos Stringer was told by staff at Metro Hotel, in Woking, that it was company policy not to accept members of the armed forces as guests. The 24-year-old had travelled to the Surrey town to help with funeral preparations for a friend killed in action. It was so late that Cpl Stringer, who had broken his wrist jumping off an Army truck as it was attacked, had no choice but to bed down in...

excerpts ... He tried to rent a room at the Metro Hotel in Woking, after spending longer than expected in the town. He was asked for ID and showed them his military pass. But staff told him it was company policy to turn away members of the Armed Forces. 'Soldiers don't get treated like this in America. There they are treated like heroes but here they are being treated like scum. It is heartbreaking.' [ <-- AMEN!]