Shareholders of Gaylord Entertainment Company have voted to strike down the company’s poison pill provision, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Gaylord’s amended and restated rights plan will not be extended beyond 12 August. Mario Gabelli, chairman and CEO of Gamco Investors, the third biggest holder of Gaylord stock, previously urged shareholders to vote against extending the plan. Such an action could allow Gamco, or another investor, the opportunity to take control of the company.
Gaylord has spent the better part of the past six months investigating how to ensure equity trades are more in line with the value of the business, Colin V. Reed, chairman and CEO of Gaylord, said during an earnings conference call earlier this month.
“Our plans still need a little more work, and therefore you’ll have to be patient with us for a little bit longer as for the details of what we have in mind,” Reed said.
STR Global, sister company of HotelNewsNow.com, today finishes off its release of April pipeline data with the Caribbean/Mexico and Central/South American regions.
Central/South America: The Central/South America hotel development pipeline comprises 224 hotels totaling 31,931 rooms, according to the April 2012 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report.
Among the region’s countries, Panama is expected to report the largest increase in room supply (44.3%) if all 5,633 rooms in the total active pipeline open. Other countries to report a significant increase in room supply if all rooms open: Paraguay (+38.7% with 796 rooms in the total active pipeline); Colombia (+16.7% with 3,148 rooms); Uruguay (+11.1% with 529 rooms); Costa Rica (+8.4% with 1,506 rooms); and Nicaragua (+8.4% with 330 rooms).
Caribbean/Mexico: The Caribbean/Mexico hotel development pipeline comprises 132 hotels totaling 18,672 rooms, according to the April 2012 STR Construction Pipeline Report.
Year-to-date 2012, two properties comprising 408 rooms have opened in the region. In the remainder of 2012, 39 properties are expected to open with 4,850 rooms. In 2013, 44 properties are planned to open with 5,752 rooms and in 2014, 30 properties are expected to open with 5,991 rooms.
Choice Hotels International expects to boot approximately 400 of its Comfort Inn-branded properties from the system, executives said Thursday during the company’s annual conference.
The majority of those removals will come by way of owners who aren’t willing to invest in the capital improvements required, but approximately 140 or so are expected to be removed simply because their likelihood-to-recommend scores don’t meet the threshold.
“We’ll improve or remove the bottom 10%,” said Christina Williamson, senior director of brand strategy for Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites during a brand session at Choice Hotels International’s 2012 convention in Las Vegas. “This is a big deal. We can’t be polite any longer because guests judge all of you by one of you that doesn’t deliver.”
At the request of the Brazilian government, Rio de Janeiro hotels are slashing rates ahead of a United Nations summit in June, according to a Reuters report.
Five weeks before the start of the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development, the government said Rio's hotels would cut prices during the event by at least 25%.
High demand for scarce vacancies, in part because of block reservations made by Brazil's government to guarantee rooms for visiting delegations, prompted hotels in recent weeks to begin charging exorbitant rates for the event, which kicks off 20 June.
U.S. initial claims for unemployment remained steady at 370,000 for the week ending 12 May, the Department of Labor reported. A year ago, the figure was 418,000.
The four-week moving average fell by 4,750 to 375,000.
Compiled by Shawn A. Turner.
