Crown employees sentenced for gambling, China: A court in Shanghai sentenced three Australian employees of Crown Resorts to less than a year in prison each for illegally promoting gambling in China. Thirteen other employees, one Malaysian and 12 Chinese, received similar sentences, the company said. China maintains strict laws against gambling, including punishment of up to three years for those who engage in organizing the activity.
Viceroy can stay at Jumeirah Dubai, judge says: DIFC Courts issued a court order prohibiting the owner of the Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai hotel, Kabir Mulchandani, from taking any further actions to prevent Viceroy Hotels and Resorts from exercising Viceroy’s exclusive authority to manage and operate the hotel.
More from Hotelier Middle East
A French slap on the wrist for Expedia: Expedia was fined €1 million (US$1.1 million) by a French court and ordered to cease demanding “tariff parity” from hotels following an appeal brought by the government in Paris. The judgment by the Court of Appeal of Paris found the parity clauses applied by online travel agent Expedia in contracts with hoteliers to be illegal.
Wanda grows in London: Dalian Wanda has agreed to acquire for £470 million (US$595 million) London’s One Nine Elms project from a joint venture of UK builder St. Modwen Properties and France’s Vinci, according to numerous published reports. The project has received outline approval for three towers of between 32 and 54 storeys offering 1,821 apartments and will complement Wanda’s long-delayed One Nine Elms project right next door. The first project is envisioned to be a 1.14 million square foot mixed-use residential and hotel complex featuring twin towers with 437 high-end apartments and a Wanda Vista hotel.
Blockchain Tech Task Force: Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals are organizing a Blockchain Technology Task Force to prepare for the technology’s future impact on hospitality. The task force will be chaired by Lyle Worthington, CHTP, CIO of The Student Hotel and the 2017 HFTP global president. “Blockchain technology has been predicted to have the greatest impact on the future of the world economy,” said Frank Wolfe, CEO of HFTP. “As the industry’s nonprofit brain trust on finance and technology, it is incumbent on us to address the issue before blockchain reaches maturity and assembling a task force is the first step.”
“Single” woman denied hotel, India: A woman was denied access to her hotel on the basis that she was single and travelling alone. A third party company, which organized her stay at the Hotel Deccan Erragadda, had not checked the hotel’s policy, which stated that locals, unmarried couples and single women are not allowed to stay.
Luxury Queenstown complex: hotel Developer Kevin Carlin announced plans for a US$100 million luxury hotel complex in Queenstown. The four-level complex includes a 120 to 130-room, 4.5-star to 5-star hotel, and up to 20 high-end shops and six food and beverage outlets. An operator has yet to be announced.
More from the New Zealand Herald
George Best gets a hotel: UK-based Signature Living will open a hotel in honor of deceased soccer player George Best as the company’s first project in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The agreement was negotiated by IMG on behalf of the George Best Company, owned by Best’s sister and brother-in-law Barbara and Norman McNarry.
Lodging Econometrics data: Lodging Econometrics global construction pipeline trend report states that the total pipeline ended the first quarter with 11,904 Projects/1,974,439 rooms, up 6% by projects year-over-year. There are 5,496 Projects/1,009,227 rooms under construction, up 4% by projects year-over-year. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, at 3,753 Projects/532,814 rooms, are up a strong 17% while projects in early planning at 2,655 Projects/432,398 rooms are down 2% by projects.
The leading franchise companies in the global construction pipeline by project-count are: Marriott International with 2,159 projects/363,672 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 1,993 projects/300,524 rooms, InterContinental Hotels Group with 1,336 projects/204,991 rooms and Choice Hotels with 561 projects/47,155 rooms. The leading brands for each of these companies are: Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 332 projects/35,089 rooms, Hilton’s Hampton Inn with 547 projects/65,211 rooms, IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 595 projects/72,113 rooms, and Choice’s Comfort Suites with 127 projects/10,596 rooms.