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Times are tough, so many people are searching for hotels with free continental breakfasts. Problem is, some of those eating aren't guests, says Hampton Inn manager front desk clerk Alfonso Tobenas. That's right. Folks walk into tourist hotels and pose as guests to gain access to morning chow. Who would do such a thing? Lots of people, according to local hotel insiders. "It is what it is, bro, times are tough and they're hungry," Tobenas says. "They're just trying to beat the system and save a buck. The first time you're going to get away with it, the second and...

Just as students head back to college and families finish summer vacations comes the latest bad news from pest control companies: Bedbug infestations are getting worse and becoming more common in some places, including dorms, hotels, nursing homes, hospitals, office buildings, and schools and day-care centers. According to a survey released Wednesday by the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky, pest control companies say there has been double-digit growth in infestations in the past year. About 54 percent of pest companies reported treating bedbugs in college dorms, compared with 35 percent in 2010; 80 percent reported treating...

Its not a done deal yet, but lawmakers in Sacramento want a new law that would force all California hotels to start using 'fitted sheets.' The law, is designed to cut back on hotel health problems for maids. Supporters of the law - claim many of the injuries are preventable - if hotels started using fitted sheets and made other changes in the work load for hotel maids. The California State Senate has passed a bill proposed by Sen. Kevin de LeÏŒn (D-Los Angeles) that would help prevent or reduce housekeeper injuries. "A representative of the hotel industry, led by...

Dirt-caked bathtubs, molding refrigerators and mystery stains are just a few of the horrors travelers say they’ve found at the Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. In the past year, disgruntled and disturbed guests have called the hotel everything from “cockroach heaven” to a “filthy, disgusting dump” and have plastered the Internet with sordid photographic evidence to prove it. That’s bad news for the Grand Resort Hotel since generally the number one reason guests don’t return to a hotel is because of cleanliness issues, says Howard Adler, director of Purdue University’s Center for the Study of...

A recent article in the Jakarta Globe states that some backpacker hostels in Singapore are going upmarket, to cater to a rising number of backpackers with bigger budgets.   Well, this isn't entirely true.   It isn't just backpackers looking for reasonably priced place to stay but businessmen and tourists as well who have been looking for a decent place to stay without having to pay an arm and a leg. If you are looking for a hotel room in Singapore expect to pay anywhere from S$200 (US$165) to S$600 (US$493) a night.  On the high end, Singapore has some of...

Federal authorities are warning hotels in major U.S. cities to be vigilant after intelligence recently obtained in Somalia shows Al Qaeda was planning to launch a “Mumbai-style” attack on an upscale hotel in London, England, Fox News has learned exclusively. The intelligence came from computer accessories and other materials gathered at the checkpoint in Mogadishu where Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the Al Qaeda operative who masterminded the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, was killed Saturday, according to sources. Al Qaeda was working on what one senior U.S. intelligence official described as an “aspirational” – but possibly operational – plot...

A New York assemblyman says he wants the state to require hotels to provide their housekeepers with an emergency "panic button" that would help protect them from sexual assaults on the job. Assemblyman Rory Lancman, a Democrat from Queens, said he will introduce the bill Monday. The move comes a week after former International Monetary Fund Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged with sexually assaulting a Manhattan hotel maid. "We send hotel workers, housekeepers into rooms by themselves without any other staff, without any other security," Lancman said at a news conference Sunday outside the Sofitel Hotel, the site of Strauss-Kahn's...

Fitted or flat? That’s the weighty question facing the California Legislature, which is considering a bill that would regulate what type of sheets can be used on hotel bed mattresses across the state. Supporters of the bill argue it will reduce worker injuries by eliminating the need for workers to repetitively lift extremely heavy mattresses when making beds. They contend that flat sheets cause workers to strain their backs, shoulders and wrists, and are often responsible for repetitive motion injuries. State Bill 432, sponsored by Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), also calls for the use of long-handled tools like...

My husband and I are traveling to Gettysburg this month and currently are considering where to stay. I am looking at the Fairfield Inn, which is outside Gettysburg in Fairfield and looks lovely, including is from the year 1750s with a gorgeous tavern. But the reviews online are poor. Has anyone stayed there to give me any information? My husband prefers the Gettysburg Hotel, which is right in Gettysburg and has a lot going for it besides location, including a jacuzzi, fireplace and lovely restaurant, but is an old bank converted and to me doesn't seem to have the charm...

An Oregon developer plans to build a 22-story hotel near the L.A. Live entertainment center to serve a growing number of visitors to downtown Los Angeles. Marriott International Inc. would operate the proposed 377-room hotel on Olympic Boulevard under two of the company's brands: Residence Inn by Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott. Construction on the nearly $120-million project is set to begin next March and be completed by 2014. "Financing would be through the federal EB-5 program, which provides green cards to immigrant investors who put up a minimum investment of $500,000 for development in targeted areas. The immigrants would...

Boycott Urged of Hotels at March for Life Backing Planned Parenthood Washington, DC -- A pro-life group that monitors corporate donations to Planned Parenthood is urging pro-life people attending the March for Life to not make reservations at hotels that support the abortion business. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/01/13/boycott-urged-of-hotels-at-march-for-life-backing-planned-parenthood/

A Stockholm hotel has launched a new pilot security system enabling guests to open their rooms, and even check in and out, with the help of their mobile phones, the participating companies said Tuesday. Starting this week the Clarion Hotel Stockholm provide a number of guests with telephones equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The chosen clients will not only be able to reserve their rooms and receive confirmation on the devices, they will have the option of checking in even before arriving at the hotel and have their electronic room key ready in the phone when they get...

As a hotel housekeeper, Amelia Acosta hustles to make the beds, vacuum the floors, scrub the toilets and empty the wastebaskets in at least 15 guest rooms a day. The smallest oversight — a soiled towel left on the bed — can be the difference between a reprimand from her boss and a generous tip from a guest. "I'm personally dedicated to my work," she said in Spanish, wiping smudge marks from a bathroom mirror at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites in downtown Los Angeles. Though Acosta sees herself as just another hardworking single mother, she is also one...

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....

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...

If I told you I found an Invisible Tree House would you believe me? I mean after all, if it is truly invisible how is I could find it?  Which really leaves me in a conundrum because if you cannot see it, then how can I prove it exists?  Well in Sweden there is a company that just built an eco-friendly hotel in a tree they claim is invisible. However, If truth be told this tree house is no more invisible then the Statue of Liberty was after David Copperfield supposedly made it vanish in a magic trick. Just...

One concierge was asked to fill in on a blind dateThe next time you forget to pack your toothbrush, hold your head high when requesting a spare from the hotel, confident in the knowledge that someone before you asked for something far less conventional -- 30 pig eyes on ice, say. That's just one of more than 100 extraordinary guest requests documented in an internal Fairmont Hotels document obtained by Postmedia News. Reading like the world's weirdest scavenger hunt, the concierge report -- which includes accounts from across Canada, the U.S., Europe and Asia -- catalogues everything from late-night handcuff...

If I told you I found an Invisible Tree House would you believe me? I mean after all, if it is truly invisible how is I could find it?  Which really leaves me in a conundrum because if you cannot see it, then how can I prove it exists?  Well in Sweden there is a company that just built an eco-friendly hotel in a tree they claim is invisible. However, If truth be told this tree house is no more invisible then the Statue of Liberty was after David Copperfield supposedly made it vanish in a magic trick. Just...

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...

The scariest pool in the world, 55 stories above ground The "Sands Skypark" in Singapore is a pool, greenway and casino with an usual location. The whole thing sits atop not one, but three skyscrapers that make up the Marina Bay Sands hotel. The infinity pool itself is nearly 500 feet in length and features no discernible edge. So what would happen if you swam over? Don't worry, you wouldn't just plummet to the streets below. Instead, you'd fall where the rest of the water does: a basin that also acts as a filter for the water and sends it...

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...

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...

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.

SNIPPET: "This past Sunday, six terrorists were captured in Medan, North Sumatra province, by Indonesia's counter-terrorist unit, Special Detachment 88. All were thought to be linked to a paramilitary camp in Aceh that was raided in February and two of them, Pandu Wicaksono Widyan Putro and Bayu Sena, were said to be tied to the twin hotel bombings in Jakarta last July." SNIPPET: "Special Detachment 88 will likely continue its raids in and around Aceh to round up those camp members that have thus far evaded the police dragnet."

A perfect storm of overbuilding and a depressed economy is threatening a growing number of Dallas-Fort Worth hotels with foreclosure. In the first four months of 2010, more hotel foreclosure filings have been recorded in North Texas than in all of last year. And the industry outlook is for defaults to increase. So far this year, Foreclosure Listing Service has recorded 43 hotel and motel foreclosure filings in the four-county area. That's up from 41 for all of 2009 and just 18 in 2008. Worst since 1930s. Income from hotel properties has taken a big hit. From late 2006 to...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The so-called complimentary breakfasts at many hotels in Tennessee have stirred the appetite of state revenue officials. The state wants to tax the lodging businesses for the food they offer as part of free breakfasts that are included in their room rate.

HONOLULU – A new report says hotels in Hawaii lost $741 million last year, $1.1 billion since the tourism slump began in 2008. The report by the industry consulting firm Hospitality Advisors LLC says hotel occupancy throughout the state averaged 66.5 percent in 2009. That's down from 70.5 percent in 2008. Hospitality Advisors says last year's rate was the lowest since it began reporting hotel data in 1987.

"Six arrested over hotel terror plot" (UKPA) – 1 day ago SNIPPET: "Pakistan police have arrested six suspected Taliban militants with a suicide vest and hand grenades allegedly on their way to attack a five-star hotel and kill Americans in the country's cultural capital. The militants arrested on the outskirts of Lahore included a 14-year-old boy and a prayer leader from Pakistan's Khyber tribal area near the Afghan border, said police official Zulfikar Hameed. The prayer leader was wearing a vest packed with explosives. They told police they were targeting Americans at the Pearl Continental hotel, he said."

Hotel Photo Fakeouts What you see on a hotel’s slick Web site or in a glossy marketing brochure isn’t always what you get. Here are 11 examples of rooms where the reality is far different from the hype. _________________________ Misleading and deceptive hotel marketing photos are all over the web. Below is a series of cases where Oyster's undoctored photos revealed dramatic differences between the flattering images you'll see on these hotels' own websites and the reality guests find when they arrive.

Like many home owners, hotels are starting to drown in debt. They have been enticing travelers all year with sweet deals: credits for in-house spas and restaurants, up to 50 percent off five-star rooms, even free nights. But all that discounting hasn't stopped occupancy from dropping an average of 10 percent. The result? Hotel loans have begun falling into delinquency faster than any other kind of commercial real estate debt. The rising defaults paint a grim picture... The oversupply means room rates should stay low for at least another year, good news for consumers but not so great for hotel...

Sorry about not putting up an image last week -- circumstances intervened. But I had already come up with this idea, and I think it's appropriate for a holiday (at least in the U.S.) week where there are a lot of travelers. Also, this is a user participation thread. I invite readers to find other examples and post them here. If you've never done that before, if you find an image, you can (in Windows) click on it and get an option to "Copy Image Location". If you do that, then in a response you use HTML code: img src="image...

SNIPPET: "Search at Grundy County plant called part of ongoing probe" SNIPPET: "But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago. Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said."

<p>An explosion rocked the compound of a four-star hotel just off a main boulevard in Pakistan's garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday and there were reports of casualties, police said. "According to initial reports the blast took place in the compound of the hotel. Our teams are there, they are updating us on the details," police officer Mohammed Akhlaq told AFP by telephone.</p>

Illegal Immigrants To Be Held In Former Hotels Nursing homes would also be used as Napolitano aims to reform detention Oct . 6, 2009 WASHINGTON - Illegal immigrants awaiting deportation would be confined according to the risk they may pose under a new plan being proposed by the homeland security secretary. Former hotels, nursing homes and other sites would be used to hold nonviolent, non-criminal immigrants as part of a larger plan to reform immigration detention, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The alternative sites are intended to cut the costs of detaining immigrants, which reached nearly...

Hotel Bel-Air Closes For Renovations, Laying Off 250 Union Workers The hotel has refused to commit to rehiring the employees, many of whom are immigrants, when work is done in 2011. Many are worried about losing affordable health coverage. By Hugo Martín and Patrick McDonnell October 1, 2009 The Hotel Bel-Air closed quietly Wednesday, shutting for two years of renovations without agreeing to a severance package with its unionized employees. The resort -- for more than 60 years a retreat for presidents, movie stars and others -- has refused to commit to rehire 250 union employees after its multimillion-dollar face-lift...

Stadiums, Hotels Put On Alert Amid Terror Probe Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009 in New York. Associated Press Writers Tom Hays And Devlin BarrettNEW YORK – The government expanded a terrorism warning from transit systems to U.S. stadiums, hotels and entertainment complexes as investigators searched for more suspects Tuesday in a possible al-Qaida plot to set off hydrogen-peroxide bombs hidden in backpacks. Police bolstered their presence at high-profile locations. Extra officers with bulletproof vests, rifles and dogs were assigned to spots such as Grand Central Terminal in New York. Plainclothes officers handed out fliers at a nearby hotel with a warning...

26 August 2009 INDONESIAN BOMBING SUSPECT A JIHAD MAGAZINE PUBLISHER AND WEBMASTER As of today he's in the custody of Detachment 88. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. First the news reports: • Preacher's son arrested: Mohammad Jibril runs his father's company, Ar-rahmah Media, which publishes religious books and JihadMagz, a glossy 148-page magazine devoted to Islamic fighters and wars across the world. He also set up the militant website, arrahmah.com, which posts news in Bahasa Indonesia and English on the Islamic struggle to preserve and spread their religion.

SNIPPET: "Indonesian police confirmed that DNA tests proved that wanted terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top was not killed during last week's raid on a farmhouse in Java in Indonesia." SNIPPET: "DNA tests confirmed that the body of the person killed was that of another wanted terrorist named Amir Ibrohim. Ibrohim, who is also known as Amir Abdullah, worked as a contractor for the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels and is said to have aided in the July 17 attacks. He was reportedly seen on tape escorting one of the suicide bombers during the July 17 attacks. Ibrohim is also believed...

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Olympic organisers are "very alive" to the threat of a cyber attack on the London 2012 Olympics, made more challenging because of its evolving nature, senior Interior Ministry officials said on Tuesday. Ticketing systems, the transport network and hotel bookings as well as security are among potential targets. Olympic security officials are also planning for the possible diversion of aircraft to protect airspace around the venues from terrorist attacks, the officials said. The greatest threat to security at the Games is international terrorism, the government's latest "Safety and Security Strategy" report said.

Jakarta, Indonesia (AP) - Explosive material recovered from the scene of two suicide bombings at hotels in the Indonesian capital is "identical" to that used by the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah in earlier attacks, police said. An unexploded bomb left in a room of the J.W. Marriott in Jakarta resembled devices used in attacks on Bali and one found in a recent raid against the network on an Islamic boarding school in Central Java, national police spokesman told a news conference Sunday.

At least four people have been killed in two separate explosions at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, say reports. The country's Metro TV reported that one blast hit the Ritz-Carlton and the other, the Marriott Hotel. Television footage showed the facade of one of the hotels had been torn off by the blast. The BBC's Karishma Vaswani, outside the Marriott, said ambulances are present and security is extremely tight. South Jakarta police Col Firman Bundi said the four who died were foreigners, reported AP. "There were explosions heard from two separate places, one the JW Marriott, the other...

The number of California hotels in default or foreclosed on jumped 125% in the last 60 days. The state now has 31 hotels that have been foreclosed on and 175 in default... With 19.6% of the total, San Bernardino County leads the state in foreclosed hotels. Riverside County follows with 16.1% and San Diego County has 12.9%. Los Angeles County, with 12% of the total, has the most hotels in default. San Bernardino County is next with 9.7% and San Diego County follows with 8.0%. Non-franchised hotels account for a disproportionate number of foreclosures. They make up about 87% of...

Extended Stay Hotels has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, buckling under debt as its revenue dries up in the recession. The Spartanburg, S.C.-based company filed its Chapter 11 petition Monday in the Southern District of New York. Extended Stay - which operates under the brands of Extended Stay America, Crossland Economy Studios, Extended Stay Deluxe and Homestead Studio Suites — operates 15 hotels in the Orlando area. According to the filing, Extended Stay had about $7.1 billion in assets and $7.6 billion in liabilities at the end of 2008. Lakewood, N.J.-based Lightstone Group bought Extended Stay from Blackstone Group...

Travel and hotel groups are braced for a turbulent ride today as stock markets react to fears over the strain of swine flu that was reported to have killed up to 71 people and closed much of public life in Mexico at the weekend. Analysts said that the news would revive memories of the 2002-03 severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak. Although the disease, first noticed in southern China in November 2002, was short-lived, it caused the deaths of 774 people worldwide and had a devastating impact on the Asian economy — particularly in Hong Kong — and on the...

Watching Pbama deliberately destroy the economy is an eyeful, the political equivalent of Plan 9 from Outer Space. That nasty glare, that sneer, that haughty lifted shin, the whole package that says, "I won. Now do as I say!" Today He hectored us -- the people who pay the bills -- about how wasteful business travel is, in His opinion. He really meant business, period, but won't get to damning that until next week. Today He damned airlines, hotels, and the travel industry for wasting money by supporting business travel. The Community Organizer had no trouble spending $ 120,000 of...

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Some of the guests at the Crestwood Suites Hotel, where an alleged meth lab exploded Wednesday morning, currently receive FEMA housing benefits. Shockingly, some of those benefits go all the way back to Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana on August 29, 2005. "They have kids here," said one resident. "They got people that really live here. It's a hotel that people stay at every night. They got people that actually live here, kids that ride the bus every morning from here." FEMA reports 136 families are currently receiving federal assistance to use motels and hotels...

MUMBAI: Police and security agencies here have got a specific alert — from the police of a north Indian state — about RDX having been smuggled into the country as part of a cement consignment from Pakistan and the target being an oil refinery. Officials said the high alert sounded at vital installations like railway stations and hotels in Mumbai last December was not a reaction to the 26/11 carnage but had its basis in this specific intelligence input. Officials also told TOI that more RDX could be coming in as part of cement or other consignments. But the alert...