The owner of The Ritz-Carlton in Palm Beach, Florida, is suing The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., Marriott International, and supplier co-op Avendra Inc., alleging those companies are harming profitability through excessive fee charges and via kickbacks, according to a Thursday report in the Palm Beach Post.
Lewis Trust Group, which owns the hotel under the legal arm of RC/PB Inc., is seeking damages and termination of its management agreement. It also claimed it was blocked in February from seeing financial records and wants a full accounting of the fees charged since Ritz-Carlton began managing the hotel.
The Post reported that the hotel owner claims the corporate entities have bilked it out of more than US$75 million between the loss of operating revenue and damage to the hotel’s value.
“The key here is discovery,” said attorney Bill Bosch, who represents the owner. “We need to seek recourse from the courts to get Marriott and Ritz-Carlton to give us access to the information we have a right to.”
A Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman said the company believes that the allegations are unfounded.