Group items tagged

The SpringHill Suites by Marriott San Diego Carlsbad is now open in Carlsbad, California. It is owned and managed by DKN Hotels of Irvine, California, led by Kiran Dahya as CEO. The 104-suite hotel in Carlsbad Village outside San Diego is near Carlsbad State Beach, U.S. Marine Corps's Camp Pendleton, LEGOLAND California, The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch, The Crossings at Carlsbad and the Carlsbad Premium Outlets. Amenities include a rooftop lounge, outdoor swimming pool and two meeting rooms with a combined 1,156 square-feet of space. DKN Hotels was founded in 1984 by the Dahya family. Its portfolio of owned and third-party managed Hilton, Marriott, IHG, and independent properties throughout the greater Southern California area.

DOZENS OF STRIKING hotel workers arrived in Washington on Sept. 23 to meet with Congress members, urging action against hotel resort fees. More than 4,000 workers are striking at Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotels in Honolulu, San Diego and San Francisco, vowing to continue until new contracts are secured. Many of the workers traveled from these strike-affected cities, according to UNITE HERE, the union representing hotel, casino and airport workers across the U.S. and Canada. The union is lobbying against legislation backed by hotel corporations that would limit states' ability to regulate resort fees. Hotel workers argue that resort fees, along with COVID-era service and staffing cuts, undermine the hospitality that guests expect. The workers' visit included a briefing for congressional staff, hosted by Sen. Bernie Sanders. "We're here because guests and workers share a common goal - we want hotels to reverse COVID-era cuts, protect guests from resort fees, and refocus on providing the best possible hospitality," said Gwen Mills, UNITE HERE's president.

STRIKING HOTEL WORKERS in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, recently ratified union contracts that include wage increases and healthcare. These contracts at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich and Omni Providence Hotel are the first in ongoing national disputes between the hotel workers' union UNITE HERE and Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Omni. The union celebrated the contract settlements but cautioned that ongoing strikes across the U.S. are expected to escalate before labor disputes are resolved. "These first contracts encourage hotel workers in other cities as strikes continue," said Gwen Mills, UNITE HERE's international president. "Hotel workers in Honolulu, San Diego, and San Francisco will strike as long as it takes to secure what they need, and more strikes are possible. We're in this for the long haul, and we urge travelers to prepare for potential widespread disruptions."

Approximately 10,000 U.S. hotel workers began a multi-day strike on Sunday in eight cities, including Boston, Honolulu, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle, after contract talks with Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels Corp. stalled. The workers, members of the UNITE HERE labor union, are demanding higher wages, fair staffing and the reversal of COVID-era cuts. The union said insufficient wages force many to work multiple jobs to cover living costs. "I have to work a second job because my hotel job isn't enough to support my kids as a single mom," said Mary Taboniar, a housekeeper at Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu for six years. "I'm living on the edge, unsure if I'll be able to pay our rent, groceries, or provide my family with health care. It's so stressful. One job should be enough."

OFFICIALS OF THE "She Has a Deal" annual hotel investment pitch contest announced the five teams selected to advance to the final round of SHaDPitch 2023. The competition allows early career women to compete for the prize of $50,000 of equity in SHaD's Prosperity Fund I, following the conclusion of a virtual, preliminary round of pitching, SHaD said in a statement. SHaD 2023 will be held at the new Marriott Headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, on April 27 to 28. According to the statement, the goal of SHaD is to increase the number of women owning and developing hotels. It provides participants with the ability to source, analyse, raise capital and close hotel real estate investment deals. During the preliminary judging round, eight teams comprising 15 participants pitched their hotel investment acquisition or development projects live on Zoom to a judging panel of hotel business executives, entrepreneurs, and investors. The judges evaluated and selected the following five teams: Sydney Young and Rachel Nicholson with SpartanStone, graduates of Michigan State University, pitching a La Quinta Inn & Suites in Lewisville, Texas. Chandler Williamson with Chanders Core Commitment, graduate of North Carolina Central University, pitching a Hilton Garden Inn in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina. Isabella Suffredini, Veronica Lewis and Alexandra Neoman with CROWN, graduates of Cornell University, pitching a TownePlace Suites in Houston, Texas. Makenna Price with Hookipa Hospitality, graduate of Washington State University, pitching a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Allison Busch and Hannah Takekawa with AH Hospitality, graduates of San Diego State University, pitching a Staybridge Suites in Austin, Texas "Every year, I grow more encouraged that we are making an impact," said Tracy Prigmore, founder of SHaD. "These are brilliant women who benefit from the education and programming that SHaD provides, and their hotel investment acumen has grown by leap

A LAWSUIT FILED in federal court in Washington state alleges that STR, owned by commercial real estate information researcher CoStar Group, along with several major hotel companies conspired to inflate luxury hotel rates. The seven individuals named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit seek to make it a class-action filing on behalf of every person who stayed at the defendants' hotels from February 2020 until the present for an unspecified amount. CoStar and hotel companies including IHG Hotel & Resorts, Marriott International and Hyatt Hotels Corp., entered an exchange of "competitively-sensitive information about their prices, supply, and future plans" in violation of the antitrust provisions of the Sherman Act, according to the lawsuit. STR and most of the other defendants in the suit did not respond to requests for comment in time for this article, but a spokesperson for IHG said the company could not comment on pending litigation. "Teddy Roosevelt passed the antitrust laws to prevent titans of industry from price fixing in smoke-filled rooms," Steve Berman, the plaintiffs' lead attorney told Reuters, calling the defendants' conduct the "modern equivalent." The alleged price fixing happened in major cities including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Denver, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. The lawsuit focuses on STR's "Forward STAR" product that was expanded into many of those markets in April after launching 17 of the country's 25 largest hotel markets, including Las Vegas, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston and Phoenix.