External Articles

Close that robe! | Hotels and sexual harassment | economist.com

Sunday's New York Times featured an op-ed by Jacob Tomsky, a writer who spent years working in the hotel business. Mr Tomsky argued that incidents like IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid last week in Manhattan are surprisingly common in the hospitality industry...

Emirates to only own, not manage its hotels | emirates247.com

Emirates, one of the fastest-growing airlines, is transferring management of most of its hotels to specialised companies so it will concentrate on its core business, a Dubai-based newspaper reported on Wednesday. With the exception of a key resort in Australia, the Group has transferred management of its hotels to well-known tour and hospitality companies including its Al-Maha Desert Resort and JW Mariott hotel in Dubai, the Arabic language daily 'Al Bayan' said, quoting unnamed “informed” sources.

Heartbreak Hotel: drama in the UAE’s hospitality sector | kippreport.com

Yesterday, Kipp was going to write about the eyebrow-raising news that Angsana Hotels and Resorts pulled out of managing a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi. The reason for the separation? They grew apart, realised they wanted different things and decided to go their separate ways. Very Hollywood, wouldn’t you say? (If you want the quote Banyan Tree, which manages the Angsana Brand, gave The National here it is. But trust us, it’s not half as good as how we’ve said it and it means exactly the same thing.) Anyway, partnerships come and go in the business world as much as it does on the red carpet so this story doesn’t really stand out, except that the Singapore-based operator has been having a hard time finding the right partners in the region.

Hard Rock San Diego faces suit by owners of rooms

Investors who bought condo-hotel rooms at downtown San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel and now claim to have lost millions have sued the developer and operator, saying federal and state laws were broken because the investment contracts were never properly registered. The lawsuit, filed this week by former San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre, claims that Hard Rock Hotel principals never filed their offering of investment agreements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the California Department of Corporations because they wanted to avoid scrutiny of the deal.