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Hotel rates zoom for Democratic National ConventionBy Celeste Smith Posted: Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011 Room rates are going up in a big way at some area hotels during the Democratic National Convention. The markups - quadruple or more in some cases - don't affect the convention's official attendees. DNC organizers already reserved rooms and locked in rates for 6,000-plus delegates, VIPs and others during the Sept. 3-6 convention. **SNIP** Among the most expensive spaces: Holiday Inn Express Suites East Matthews, charging $849.15 to $1,014 per night during the stretch of Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 and Aug. 24 to Aug....

Clinton Foundation facilitates $45 million Haiti hotel dealNovember 28, 2011 | By the CNN Wire Staff Two years after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake leveled Haiti's capital, a deal brokered by former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation will add new lodging for aid workers and other travelers to Port-au-Prince -- in the form of a $45 million hotel. With only about 500 operable hotel rooms, the city has limited space to house aid workers, potential investors and other visitors, according to a news release Monday by the future hotel's owner and its operator. Caribbean cell phone provider Digicel will own the hotel,...

SNIPPET: "ZAMBOANGA CITY (2nd update, 1:56 p.m.) -- A powerful blast killed at least 3 people and wounded 27 others in a budget hotel packed with wedding guests in the southern Philippines, officials said Monday. The explosion, suspected to have been caused by a bomb, ignited a fire that gutted the two-story Atilano Pension House in downtown Zamboanga city late Sunday." SNIPPET: "Zamboanga city, a predominantly Christian trading hub 540 miles (860 kilometers) south of Manila, is located in a volatile region long troubled by a decades-long Muslim insurgency, extortion gangs and kidnap for ransom syndicates."

Why isn't someone tracking down Sharon's claim that Herman Cain upgraded her room at the Hilton 14 years ago???? Seems to me that if they can de-bunk that claim by her, he is home free as her story will completely crumble. The double standard our people face is unbelievable and highly depressing.

Falls Church, Virginia (CNN) -- Garrulous and active, 79-year-old Joy Bricker presides over her hotel suite in a manner befitting a grander home. She offers tea to the staff and media with the ease of a person schooled in proper etiquette. Like many hotel guests, Bricker has learned to make herself feel comfortable, making her room a home away from home. Only, Bricker has called the Towne Place Suites by Marriott, in Falls Church, Virginia, home for more than 10 years. A former pilot, the 5-foot tour de force is finally turning in her key card, as movers wait to...

A Lincoln Park man was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail after being charged with killing a LaCrosse, Wis., woman found stabbed to death in a boutique hotel this week, police said. Christopher Love, 23, has been charged with first-degree murder and soliciting for a prostitute in connection with the slaying of Sarai Michaels, 31, police said. A judge this afternoon set bond for Love at $1 million.

SNIPPET: "Dan Folk (21), an Israeli who was invited to the event in which over 100 students took part, ended up getting a business card and memento from Ahmadinejad. "It was at his hotel in Manhattan, we got there and had to wait in the security check line for nearly an hour," said the student, adding, "we gave them our cell phones and any kind of camera we were carrying. During the security check I showed them my Israeli driver's license and the Iranian security officer smiled at me." Folk said he had mixed feelings over the question of whether...

Afghanistan's National Intelligence Directorate (NDS) recently disclosed that it intercepted communications on June 28 between fighters who were assaulting the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and their Haqqani Network handlers based in Pakistan. In an intercepted phone call, Badruddin Haqqani, a top leader of the terror network, is heard directing one of the fighters and laughing during the attack that killed 11 civilians and two Afghan policemen as well as nine members of the attack team. On Aug. 31, NDS officials briefed reporters in Kabul on the phone intercepts between Badruddin, another Haqqani Network commander known as Qari Younis, and two...

A Muslim hotel valet in the United States has sued, saying he was barred from working on floors in which a delegation from Israel was staying, according to the Washington Post. Mohamed Arafi, a U.S. citizen from Morocco, says he was unable to work on two floors of the hotel in December of last year. All Arabs and Muslims were kept of the floor due to the Israelis' security concerns, Arafi claims. He is alleging unlawful discrimination.

Prosecutors are reportedly set to ask a judge to abandon the case against Dominique Strauss Kahn. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is preparing to ask that all charges against the former head of the IMF accused of attempting to rape hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo are dropped Tuesday. Such requests from the DA 'are never denied', an expert told the New York Post meaning Strauss-Kahn could finally return to his home country after being forced to remian in the U.S for months.

Yesterday Google launched Google Hotel Finder, a "search tool specifically designed to help you find that perfect hotel," explains Google software engineer Andrew McCarthy on Google's blog. This isn't exactly innovative on Google's part, plenty of hotel search sites exist--Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz, to name a few. And it's not like they're even the first search engine to integrate travel plans into their site. Bing has a travel section, where users can search for ideal lodging. What makes Google's new site different or better than what you're already using? We're here to help you figure that out, parsing the differences between...

The hotel maid who has accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of trying to sexually assault her in a New York City hotel room has broken her public silence in an exclusive broadcast interview with ABC News. "I want justice. I want him to go to jail," Nafissatou Diallo told ABC's Robin Roberts in an interview to air Monday on "Good Morning America" and "World News with Diane Sawyer" and Tuesday on "Nightline." "I want him to know that there is some places you cannot use your money, you cannot use your power when you do something like...

Last week, after a decade of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, President Obama announced a plan to begin withdrawing thousands of U.S. troops from the country this year. The war has been expensive -- a Brown University research project released Wednesday estimates the total cost of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq at nearly $4 trillion (a figure that includes the ongoing cost of veterans' care). The human cost is more difficult to quantify, as more than 2,500 coalition troops (1,644 of them American) have now been killed, and civilian casualties are estimated at well over 100,000. Canadian combat...

The atmosphere around the Downtown DoubleTree Hotel was in stark contrast this morning to the chaos that swirled at Third and Union after a Memphis police officer and a civilian were killed at the hotel Sunday night. Officer Timothy Warren, 39, and a still unidentified man were shot to death at the DoubleTree about 7 p.m. Sunday in what authorities say started as a "shots fired" call . A domestic dispute appears to have contributed to the incident.

The hotel maid who claims former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn raped her has been accused of working as a prostitute. Allegations have emerged that the 32-year-old cleaner was was taking extra money from male guests at the hotel for sex. 'There is information... of her getting extraordinary tips, if you know what I mean. And it's not for bringing extra f**king towels,' a source close to the defence investigation told the New York Post. The woman also had 'a lot of her expenses – hair braiding, salon expenses – paid for by men not related to her,' the source added....

Nature and extent of the blaze at Hilton on Park Lane is unclear Fire broke out Friday in a Hilton hotel in London, sending plumes of smoke billowing from the 28-story building. Photographs posted on social media sites showed people fleeing the London Hilton on Park Lane as smoke billowed high into the sky and at ground level. Sam Cunningham, a sports reporter for the Independent newspaper, said he was working in the hotel when the fire alarm went off and the building was evacuated swiftly. Cunningham told NBC News that a police officer said he had not heard of...

The sexual assault case against ex IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Khan is close to collapse, it was tonight revealed. The New York hotel maid who accused Strauss-Khan of raping her in his $3,000-a-night suite, lied to investigators, law enforcement sources told the New York Times. Despite a wealth of forensic evidence against the 62-year-old, prosecutors have dismissed a lot of what the maid said about the alleged encounter, according to the newspaper.

Just a headline for now. AP: The Taliban claim responsibility for the attack at the Intercontinental Hotel in telephone call to the AP. Gunshots heard from inside hotel.

Atlanta, Ga. - Saturday morning, two woman plunged 10 stories out of a window at the W Hotel in midtown Atlanta after a round of 'play fighting,' according to police. LaShawna Threatt, an aspiring model was celebrating her 30th birthday at the posh hotel when the incident occurred. She was killed as a result of the fall. Ciara Williams, the other woman involved in the 'play fighting,' also fell, but rolled off a ledge and then fell the remaining 20 feet onto the patio below. She remains in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta Police Department spokesperson Carlos Campos...

Summer is the season for Pride weeks around the nation, which potentially means travel for some members of the LGBT community. Seizing the opportunity, Millennium Hotels and Resorts, which partners with the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, sent out press releases reminding about the 15 percent discount it offers LGBT travelers who book lodging through a special page on the company's website ... The discounted rooms are limited but the rates are good at all 14 of the chain's hotels in cities across the United States.

Another vacant season winds to an end for the grand hotel formerly known as Trump. The yellow and blue tower, one of the few modern structures in Broward County designed by a world renown architect, should have been the throbbing heart of the renaissance on Fort Lauderdale Beach. It’s empty. As empty, perhaps, as the Trump brand that was used to lure investors into a condominium-hotel scheme that would collapse before a single guest signed the register. The architectural flourishes of the 24-story building, with great portholes looking out over A1A, were meant to evoke the old fashioned “elegance and...

ALBANY, GA (WALB) - A domestic dispute at an Albany motel left two people wounded. Police say the boyfriend wouldn't let his girlfriend leave the motel. She says she shot him in self defense. Police responded to room 201 at Americas Best Value Inn on North Slappey boulevard before midnight. The victim, Tereka Green, says she shot Willie Curry in the right shoulder. Green tells police Curry got angry with her. He pulled out a knife and cut her chest just below her right breast and inside her right hand. Green said she got a handgun and shot Willie Curry...

Reporting from Las Vegas and Los Angeles — The Sahara hotel-casino, a Rat Pack-era jewel of the Las Vegas Strip that age and a prolonged recession had tarnished, will close in May, owner SBE Entertainment announced Friday morning. Chief Executive Sam Nazarian, the Los Angeles nightclub impresario who purchased the Moroccan-themed casino in 2007 and vowed to restore its hipness, said in a statement that running the property was "no longer economically viable."

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Small explosion in Davos hotel, nobody hurtBy Emma Thomasson Friday January 28, 2011 DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Left-wing activists claimed responsibility for a small explosion on Thursday that broke windows at a hotel in Davos, close to where top executives and world leaders were meeting, but nobody was hurt. Devin Wenig, CEO of Thomson Reuters' Markets division, was in a breakfast meeting of senior executives at the hotel when the explosion happened shortly after 9 a.m. (0800 GMT). "A huge boom went off. The whole ceiling lifted. Everyone was convinced it was a bomb," he said, adding participants were told...

A bridge-and-tunnel partier tragically plummeted to his death at the Hotel Pennsylvania in Herald Square this morning after becoming locked out in the cold on a lower-floor roof, cops said. Moon Nam, 23, of Jersey City had checked into the Manhattan hotel with pals after spending a night on the town with pals, sources said. He woke up at 6 a.m. to head home. But he inexplicably took a freight elevator in an attempt to get to the lobby, police said.

Muslim employees of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington said they felt discriminated against after being barred over the weekend from floors where an Israeli delegation was staying, a Muslim advocacy group said. One hotel worker whose duties involve going to all the hotel's floors said he was preparing for his shift Friday when his supervisor told him to steer clear of the eighth and ninth floors, where Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his delegation had booked rooms. "I said, 'Why?' said the worker, who is Muslim and wanted to remain unidentified to protect his job. He said his...

A 15-story hotel in Shanghai, China was built in six days, according to ArchDaily. What's even more impressive is that this building is apparently "Level 9 Earthquake Resistant." CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR VIDEO OF ITs CONSTRUCTION

A 23-year-old Crete woman who was killed in an accident at a Halloween party at a downtown luxury hotel was a Chicago public schools special education teacher who was "ready to make a difference," according to her family. The accident happened at 10:30 p.m. Saturday as Megan Duskey, of the 3600 block of Melanie Lane was attending the party at the Palmer House Hilton, 17 E. Monroe St., police said. While police have opened a death investigation into the incident, preliminary details indicate she was attempting to slide down a stair rail from the mezzanine level when she lost her...

President Obama's aides have booked the entire Taj Mahal hotel ahead of the president's high-profile visit to the Indian city rocked by a terrorist attack two years ago, The Economic Times reports. The newspaper reported that the Obama administration has reserved all 570 rooms, as well as the hotel's restaurants, to ensure airtight security when the president and first lady Michelle Obama visit Mumbai early next month. Dozens of other rooms have been booked elsewhere in the city. The Times reported that downtown Mumbai will be under heavy security while the president is in town

Copenhagen - Police in Denmark arrested a suspected possible suicide bomber Friday following a small explosion at a hotel in central Copenhagen, media reports said. Danish daily Extra Bladet showed on its website a photo of the suspect, who had reportedly attempted to blow himself up. Police did not immediately confirm the report. No one was injured in the explosion at the Jorgensen Hotel. Police handcuffed the man after he was seen running away from the hotel and into the nearby Orstedsparken park. The park was evacuated and the surrounding streets were cordoned off as explosive experts were called in....

Chemical leak sickens dozens at Las Vegas poolBy the CNN Wire Staff August 27, 2010 7:01 p.m. EDT (CNN) -- A chemical leak in the pool area of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, sickened as many as 100 people Friday, sending 12 of them to local hospitals, according to a spokeswoman for Clark County. It was not immediately clear what kind of chemical was responsible for the fumes, which caused some of the hotel's guests to have difficulty breathing, said Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling. About 200 people were evacuated from the area, Welling said. Video of...

Belgian police have arrested a 29-year-old alleged member of the Basque separatist group ETA in the northern port city of Ostend, according to a statement by the Spanish Interior Ministry. Spain’s Interior Ministry says Belgian police have arrested an alleged member of Basque separatist group ETA in the northern port city of Ostend. A ministry statement says Luis Maria Zengotitabengoa was arrested early Saturday by police acting on information provided by their Spanish counterparts. The 29-year-old is the subject of a European arrest warrant issued by Spain’s National Court on suspicion of transporting explosives to Portugal on behalf of ETA...

ST. PETERSBURG — Police say it was shortly after midnight Thursday when the two men climbed over a security fence at the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel. Nearby was the pool. But Michael Cline, 19, and Andrew Harris, 18, weren't there to swim, police say. In fact, their actions forced the hotel to clean and bleach the pool. The two were watched by Vinoy security guards as they befouled the swimming pool with human feces. Guards called police, who found the men in the hot tub. Harris told police he wasn't a guest at the Vinoy and wasn't visiting anyone, but he...

Ever since the horrific public assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane at the Marriott Hotel in New York City in 1990, there has been a small, yet vocal group of individuals trying to get certain US authorities - both state and federal - to pay attention to his murder. Their many entreaties both for personal justice and for a wider investigation fell on deaf ears. Nonetheless, the ramifications from the inaction of these US authorities can no longer be ignored. This small group's personal pain at the rabbi's cold-blooded assassination fueled their initial anguished pleas. However, there was much more underlying...

ATLANTA - Atlanta police say a man killed while trying to rob an airport-area hotel apparently shot himself. Police say the man shot the clerk at the Travelodge Atlanta Airport in the abdomen during a robbery Sunday afternoon.

NOTE The following text SNIPPET is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Non-Specific Threat to Serena Hotel Islamabad CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS South / Central Asia - Pakistan 5 Aug 2010 U.S. Embassy Islamabad released the following Warden Message on August 5, 2010: This Warden Notice is to notify American citizens that access to the Serena Hotel in Islamabad has been temporarily halted while security officials investigate a non-specific telephonic threat. The Embassy has no further details at this time, but has advised personnel to avoid the area around the Serena...

NEW YORK (CBS) Portland police questioned former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in San Francisco Thursday regarding renewed allegations that he sexually assaulted massage therapist Molly Hagerty in 2006, according to t-v station KATU. On July 1, Portland police re-opened their investigation into the red-haired masseuse's claims that Gore, who was in Portland as part of a global warming speaking tour, attempted to sexually assault her during a massage at the posh downtown Hotel Lucia on Oct. 24, 2006. Police spokeswoman Mary Wheat refused to disclose the reason behind the case's re-opening after it was previously closed twice because of...

Cue up the music from "Life Styles of the Rich and Famous"! The Obamas are going to bring the kids to Spain. They will be staying in a city called 'Marbella'. You know it takes a lot out of a boy king to have to deal with oil spills, two wars, and JournoList! He has to go where he is loved and appreciated: Europe. So, any suggestions where they and the kids should eat? Any good Spanish/Muslim hang outs? How about deserts and soul food? Certainly freepers can come up with a few good suggestions. I found a site with...

Boy Survives Falling Off Balcony After Bouncing Off Palm Trees A four-year-old boy had a lucky escape after falling from a 17th floor hotel balcony only to bounce off palm trees and land with minor injuries. By Paul Thompson 06 Jun 2010 Rescuers found Joey Williams still alive after he bounced off a cluster of palm trees and landed on a dirt surface near the hotel's swimming pool. Apart from surviving the 80ft fall he somehow managed to land between two pipes jutting up from the ground. Less than four hours after the fall at his hotel in Miami, Florida,...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2010/harrison.ind.htm JULY 9, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BLACK MARKET TRAVEL AGENTS 38 DEFENDANTS INDICTED IN MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD LOCAL INVESTIGATION EXPOSES NATIONWIDE NETWORK THAT USED STOLEN IDENTITIES, CREDIT CARDS TO PURCHASE AIRLINE TICKETS KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that 38 defendants from across the United States have been charged in a series of indictments that allege an extensive network of black market travel agents who used the stolen identities of thousands of victims as part of a multi-million dollar fraud scheme...

A Portland massage therapist gave local police a detailed statement last year alleging that former Vice President Al Gore groped her, kissed her and made unwanted sexual advances during a late-night massage session in October 2006 in a suite at the upscale Hotel Lucia. The woman told investigators that she informed two friends and kept the clothes she wore that night, including her black pants with stains on them. But Portland police didn't contact any of the woman's friends, obtain the potential evidence or interview anyone at the hotel, records show. "The case was not investigated any further because detectives...

Talk about the enemy using our freedoms against us. This Muslim owned hotel is openly exploiting our 14Th Amendment. Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the...

Note: Photo included. # SNIPPET: "Two French security advisers helping the Somali government have been kidnapped in the capital Mogadishu, French officials have said. Gunmen who were wearing police uniforms entered the hotel where the two were staying and took them away, eyewitnesses said. The abductions took place in a government-held part of Mogadishu. Islamist rebels are battling troops from the UN-backed interim government for control of the city." SNIPPET: "The French foreign ministry said the two advisers were in Mogadishu on an official mission to provide help to the government. They were seized at the Sahafi Hotel, which has...

SNIPPET: "Young Muslims in the U.S. are becoming radicalized in a new way: on the Internet. Radical clerics such as Abdullah Faisal are directing young Muslim men to take up violent jihad. Faisal, who recently set up shop in Jamaica, has alleged ties to terrorist plots around the world." SNIPPET: "Faisal is one of the best known radical clerics on the Internet today." SNIPPET: "Faisal, 46, is a Jamaican convert to Islam..." SNIPPET: "We met him at an American hotel in Montego Bay. It became clear later that the Jamaican staff all knew exactly who he was and were rattled...

Less than a day after gun rights organization Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC) put the Marriott hotel chain on its “Don’t Buy” list, input to Marriott is coming in from around the country. After National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea, Seattle Gun Rights Examiner (and Senior Editor of “Gun Week”) Dave Workman, and Knoxville GRE Liston Matthews followed up on this writer’s original piece, anti-Marriott postings began appearing on gun forums such as The High Road nationwide. (Also see David's interview on "Trigger Sports Live"). As you recall in yesterday’s article, the Charlotte Marriott City Center first took the money...

90 million gun owners are a force to be reckoned with. The so-called "gun lobby" has its purpose, but it is not hiding under every bed in every case of speaking out. Individuals speak out in their own voice, because individuals suffer various indignities hardly none of us would really stand for. Gun owners put up with a lot of crap, nearly all of it illegal and certainly dangerous. How gun control goes, so goes the nation. How would you like to be ambushed for your political beliefs? Gun owner or not, how do you feel about courtesies and such...

Note: Video included. SNIPPET: "New information tonight about the man who confessed to setting fire to a Southeast Austin hotel. Arson investigators here say the man is a Moroccan National who went to school at St. Edward's in the 90's and who hasn't lived in the United States in eight years. His motive for setting the fire remains a mystery tonight. Flames and billowing black smoke poured out of the America's Best Value Inn Sunday. A day later, hotel guests relived the harrowing moments as they escaped the fire." SNIPPET: "Investigators say 33-year-old Mohamed Lahlou, who checked into the hotel...

This week the plush Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates rolled out the ultimate ATM machine in its lobby: It dispenses gold instead of cash. Guests can now get booty that comes in the form of 1-, 5- and 10-gram bars, as well as gold coins, at a price that the machine updates regularly, according to the website for Gold to Go.

A Pakistani man was detained at the U.S. Embassy in Chile yesterday after field tests detected explosive residue on his hands and personal items, the State Department said today. A U.S. official tells ABC News the man had been recently added to a U.S. terror watch list, and as a result his U.S. visa was in the process of being revoked. In accordance with U.S. law, the man had been notified of the intention to revoke his U.S. visa and he was at the embassy to discuss the matter.