Inside the Marriott test kitchen: trying Courtyard's new Bistro concept | gadling.com

Several weeks ago, we were invited to Marriott's Bethesda, Maryland headquarters to meet with hotel executives and experience the "belly of the beast," so to speak - the Marriott Test Kitchen, where dishes for the chains' more than 1,000 restaurants are created, tested and perfected. For this experience, we, along with several other food and travel bloggers, offered our opinions on dishes for the chain's new "Eat. Drink. Connect." Bistro concept, which was first unveiled 2007 and is expected to be implemented across all U.S. Courtyard hotels by 2012. At present, more than 338 hotels have the Bistro concept in place.

Morgans Hotel Group Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Remaining Equity and Control of Food and Beverage Joint Ventures

The transaction will convert CGM's long-term management arrangements to short-term cancellable management agreements for each property. CGM will continue to manage the operations for a transitional period while Morgans reassesses its food and beverage strategy. As part of the agreement, MHG's ownership interest in the Asia de Cuba brand, and all intellectual property connected therewith, will be transferred to CGM. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011 and is subject to satisfaction of certain closing conditions.