Carlyle Group announced Thursday it bought a 49% stake in Mandarin Hotel Holdings Limited, making it the Chinese hotel operator’s biggest shareholder, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Carlyle Managing Director Eric Zhang declined to provide a value for the investment, but said deals by the company’s Carlyle Asia Partners III LP fund, through which the investment was made, typically total more than $75 million.
Mandarin Hotel founder Wu Hai said the company will use the funds to establish more hotels around China, in cities such as Shanghai, as well as to increase marketing efforts.
Hotel groups Pacific Hospitality and Seasons Hotel have agreed to pay $365,000 and provide preventive measures to settle a federal harassment lawsuit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to Business Examiner.
The EEOC charged that the GM who worked at both the Best Western Plus Evergreen Inn & Suites and Best Western Tacoma Dome in Washington persistently harassed and denigrated women, including those who were minorities and had strong religious beliefs, in violation of federal law.
Under the court-enforceable consent decree that resolved the lawsuit, Pacific Hospitality and Seasons Hotel will pay 11 victims a total of $365,000. For four years, the EEOC will monitor the hotels’ compliance with the decree’s other terms, including the company’s agreement to immediately fire the GM, re-employ two of the discrimination victims and make significant changes to policies.
U.S. job growth barely picked up in June, the latest sign that economic growth has slowed, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Nonfarm payrolls grew by 80,000 last month, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate, obtained by a separate survey of U.S. households, was unchanged at 8.2%.
Even with June's numbers coming in stronger than the previous two months, the pace of job creation remains well below figures at the start of the year—the economy added an average of 226,000 jobs a month in the first quarter versus only 75,000 in the second quarter.
STR, parent company of HotelNewsNow.com, on Friday released the weekly U.S. and Canada performance results for the week ending 30 June.
U.S.: In year-over-year comparisons for the week, occupancy ended the week with a 6.9% increase to 71.7%, average daily rate increased 5.3% to $106.27 and revenue per available room rose 12.6% to $76.21.
Canada: In year-over-year measurements, Canada’s hotel occupancy ended the week with a 1.9% increase to 70.5%, its ADR was up 1.3% to 132.45 Canadian dollars ($130.12) and its RevPAR reported a 3.3% increase to CA$93.41 ($91.76).
The South Florida Business Journal reported Friday Trump Endeavor 12 LLC obtained a $106-million mortgage for the Doral Golf Resort & Spa purchased in June.
Shortly after the company took title to the 693-room hotel and golf course last month, it received the massive mortgage from Deutsche Bank Trust Company. The loan represents nearly 71% of the $150 million that billionaire Donald Trump’s company spent to purchase the Doral Golf Resort & Spa out at bankruptcy auction.
Trump has told media outlets that he will spend $200 million renovating the property. His Trump Hotel Collection has taken over its operations.
Compiled by Stephanie Wharton.
