MGM slapped with lawsuits: Attorneys who filed one of the first lawsuits after the October 1 mass shooting that killed 58 concertgoers and left hundreds injured on the Las Vegas Strip filed four new negligence cases Monday on behalf of more than 450 victims. This time, the Houston-based lawyers filed against companies including MGM Resorts International, which owns both the Mandalay Bay resort and the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert venue.
Wanda responds: China’s Wanda Hotel Development Co. responded to a South China Morning Post report last week that said the conglomerate was looking to sell US$5 billion of overseas property assets to a single buyer. Wanda said Tuesday it was open to “business opportunities” related to its portfolio of landmark overseas properties, although no sale talks were under way.
Virgin drama: A city council in Palm Springs, California, gave initial approval last week to an agreement on a downtown Virgin Hotel that could invalidate the city’s ability to recover future tax rebates if developer John Wessman is convicted in an ongoing public corruption case. Since that vote, dissenting council members and others have raised concerns about some of the concessions made for the project, including a controversial transient occupancy tax rebate program.
Fire trouble: October’s wildfire significantly impacted hotel occupancy and revenue in Napa County, and to a lesser extent in Sonoma, according to new data from an industry analytics firm. Napa County’s hotel occupancy last month declined nearly 25% compared with October 2016, the STR trend report stated. October revenue in the county declined 36% from US$46.9 million in October 2016 to US$29.8 million last month.