Search

×

Briefs: ‘Chef of the century’ dies | Indonesia quakes

Robuchon dies: Joël Robuchon, the “most starred chef in the world,” died this morning in Geneva, Switzerland. The French restaurateur, famed for upending the traditional approach to his native cuisine and who ran restaurants from Las Vegas to Hong Kong, had cancer. “To describe Joël Robuchon as a cook is a bit like calling Pablo Picasso a painter, Luciano Pavarotti a singer, Frederic Chopin a pianist,” said Patricia Wells, cook and author of a book about Robuchon.

Joël Robuchon
Joël Robuchon

Radisson in Riga: Radisson Hospitality AB, signed a new Radisson in Latvia: The 60-room Radisson Riga, developed with Astor Group and currently the Astor Riga Hotel, will be rebranded to the Radisson Old Town Riga Hotel this year. It’s the brand’s first Baltic hotel. It will be managed and operated by Radisson Hospitality.

 


Quakes in Lombok, Bali: Thousands of people have been evacuated from the Indonesian island of Lombok after a 6.9 magnitude quake on Sunday. The death toll stands at nearly 100, with buildings, power and communication all damaged and more than 1,000 tourists evacuated from the Gili islands nearby. The second quake to hit Lombok in a week also jolted nearby Bali. “There is no tsunami warning reported for Bali and Bali is still safe to travel. There were only a few damaged buildings reported with no casualty for Bali,” The Bali Hotels Association said in a statement, adding that the airports operations remained normal.

 


Irish VAT increase? The Irish Times is reporting that a possible move by the government to single out hotels for an increase in the special lower VAT rate would undermine the sector, according to industry groups. Under proposals being strongly considered, the full 13.5% VAT rate would be restored only for businesses that sell “accommodation” — hotels, guesthouses and bed and breakfasts.

 


Top U.S. franchise pipeline: For Q2 2018, Lodging Econometrics reports the top franchise companies with the largest U.S. construction pipelines are: Marriott International with 1,351 projects/177,743 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 1,327 projects/147,728 rooms, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 932 projects/95,018 rooms. Development projects in these three franchise companies comprise 66% of total construction pipeline rooms. The largest brands for each of these companies are Marriott’s Fairfield Inn with 284 projects/27,584 rooms, Hilton’s Home2 Suites by Hilton with 384 projects/40,240 rooms and IHG’s Holiday Inn Express with 430 projects/40,162 rooms. These three brands make up 17% of the total construction pipeline rooms.

 


Trump (clock) tower: The Washington Post reports that the U.S. General Services Administration granted a US$534,000 rental credit to the Trump Organization’s D.C. hotel for providing “security, utilities and janitorial services” to support tours of the building’s clock tower. The tower is connected to the hotel but run by the National Park Service, is part of an arrangement between Trump’s company and the federal government. “I can’t think of a single transaction that is a true public-private deal in the nature of this one that GSA has done,” according to a Colliers International leasing expert. The Trump Organization pays the government US$3 million per year to lease the property.

Comment