 |
May 9, 2008 |
|
|
|
 |
HILTON HOTELS: To Terminate Lease Pact for Tobago Unit on May 15 Hilton Hotels Corp. has reached an agreement with Hilton International to terminate the lease agreement for Hilton Tobago Golf & Spa Resort on May 15, 2008, bringing to an end the management of the resort property by Hilton Hotels, Breaking News reports, citing Vanguard Hotel Limited. Breaking News notes that Hotel Tobago will remain open and operational under the management of Hilton Hotels until May 15, 2008. The hotel will then stop operating under the Hilton brand. Vanguard Hotels will assume management of the property under a new brand on May 16, 2008. According to Breaking News, the termination of the lease accord was decided to facilitate a complete refurbishment of Hotel Tobago. As reported in the Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America on April 2, 2008, the Cabinet in Trinidad & Tobago authorized a US$45 million face-lift for Hilton Tobago, which has deteriorated to an extent that it needs a significant injection of state funds. The US$45 million fund is part of a government- negotiated deal to take over full ownership of the Hilton unit. Breaking News relates that the government authorized Evolving TecKnologies and Enterprise Development Company Limited a.k.a. e TecK, the state company which owns 47% of Vanguard Hotels, to repair and renovate Hotel Tobago. Hotel Tobago will keep its employees, who will have the option to continue working for the property under the new management arrangements. Hilton Hotels' reservations systems will continue to handle bookings for accommodation through May 15, 2008, while bookings for accommodation beyond May 15, 2008 will be handled by Hotel Tobago's new operating management, Breaking News states. Kevin Kenny -- executive director of properties at Angostura Holdings Ltd., a board member of Vanguard Hotels -- told The Trinidad Guardian that Hotel Tobago suffered from the effects of the 9/11 bombings that destroyed the World Trade Center towers in New York as Hilton Tobago was new at that time. After the bombings, people stopped booking flights and airlines stopped coming to Tobago, Mr. Kenny added. Mr. Kenny commented, "It took quite a while before Tobago reacted to that situation. Only countries that put mechanisms in place had regular flights to their countries." Headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, Hilton Hotels Corp. -- http://www.hilton.com/ -- together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership, management, and development of hotels, resorts, and timeshare properties, as well as in the franchising of lodging properties in the United States and internationally, including Australia, Austria, Barbados, Costa Rica, Finland, India, Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago, Philippines and Vietnam. * * * As reported in the Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America on Oct. 29, 2007, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Hilton Corporation's Corporate Family Rating and senior unsecured ratings to B3 and Caa1, respectively. |
|
|
||
|
Today's Top Stories have been selected from the Troubled Company Reporter - Latin America. To receive the Full TCR-LA please CLICK HERE.
