From the Daily Herald | Schaumburg officials said construction on its 26th hotel is moving forward, as hotel occupancy in the Northwest suburbs continues to rebound. The new hotel will be a Cambria Suites, a business-oriented hotel chain, will be built at the northwest corner of Roselle Road and I-90.
Filed under: Hotels
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Search for McCormick Place manager begins
The state-mandated McCormick Place revamp moved into a second phase Wednesday with the launch of a search for a private management firm to run the convention center.
This comes on the heels of broad moves to cut exhibitors’ costs for electrical and food services and to give them greater leeway to do their own booth work. Get the full story »
Local firm sues Martha Stewart over bedbug product
Martha Stewart is getting under the skin of a Northbrook-based company.
JAB Distributors LLC , which markets patented mattress products under its Protect-a-Bed name, on Thursday filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. over a bedbug-fighting product. Get the full story »
Hyatt workers prepare for Friday strike
Hyatt workers in Chicago are preparing to go on strike on Friday over unsuccessful contract negotiations.
The work stoppage, which is planned for an undisclosed Hyatt hotel in the Chicago area, will be the first strike of its magnitude since contracts for 6,000 hotel workers in Chicago expired in August 2009. Unionized hotel workers have staged other protests during the protracted contract negotiations, including brief walkouts at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers and the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago. Unite Here, the union representing hospitality workers, has focused on Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp. and the Pritzker family, which controls the chain. Get the full story »
2-hour walkout at Sheraton Chicago
About 200 workers at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers walked off the job for two hours this afternoon to protest layoffs and understaffing at the hotel.
According to hotel union Unite Here Local 1, in recent months, workers have filed grievances with hotel management regarding staffing cuts and a growing reliance on subcontracted services. Get the full story »
Chicago business, civic leader Heytow dies
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Eugene Heytow, who headed Amalgamated Bank, the McCormick Center Hotel and the forerunner to the McPier board, has died at 76.
Aug. 24, 2010 at 4:02 p.m.
Filed under: Hotels, Jobs/employment, Labor, Outsourcing, Unions, Updated, Work culture Union, clergy join forces on Hyatt boycott
Hyatt Hotels Corp. faced the wrath of religious leaders Tuesday as hotel workers called for a boycott of three Hyatt branded Chicago hotels.
“I think it is immoral. It’s immoral. It’s immoral for Hyatt to be treating its workers the way they are treating them: A year without a contract,” Rev. Calvin Morris boomed into a microphone outside Hyatt’s downtown headquarters. “We’re going to boycott these hotels, and we do so with good conscience.”
The world’s largest group of Jewish Clergy, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, has pledged its support for the worker-led boycotts, which with the addition Tuesday of Hyatt Regency Chicago, Hyatt O’Hare and Park Hyatt in Chicago, now number 10 at Hyatt properties across the country. Approximately 250 rabbis, cantors and other Jewish leaders have also signed a pledge in support of the boycotts. Get the full story »
Hyatt changes Penny Pritzker’s board status
Penny Pritzker, one of America’s richest and most powerful businesswomen, is no longer considered an independent director of Hyatt Hotels Corp., the publicly traded company that her family controls.
Hyatt disclosed that change in its proxy statement in late April, when the list of independent directors no longer included the 51-year-old Pritzker, who was national finance chair for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and leads several companies that are part of her family’s business empire. Get the full story »
Spa Chakra in Palmer House closes
Spa Chakra at the Palmer House. (Tribune file photo)
Spa Chakra at the Palmer House Hilton closed last week, along with the chain’s other locations across the country.
A recording at the Chicago location informs callers that all Spa Chakra’s operations ceased Aug. 20. The company also operated spas in Indianapolis, New York City, San Francisco and Marina del Rey, Calif. Get the full story »
Jewish leaders pledge support for Hyatt boycott
With support from hundreds of Jewish leaders, Chicago Hyatt workers are calling for a boycott of “one or more” Hyatt hotels in the Chicago area, according to Unite Here, the hotel workers’ union.
The properties will join seven other boycotts announced by the union at Hyatt properties. The union would not say which hotels are planned for the boycott, which is scheduled to be announced Tuesday afternoon in front of Hyatt Global Headquarters. Get the full story »
Hilton workers OK strike at 4 Chicago hotels
Hilton Hotels workers in Chicago voted Thursday night to authorize a strike at the Chicago Hilton, Hilton O’Hare, the Palmer House Hilton and the Drake, according to Unite Here Local 1 and Local 450.
The union said 96 percent of its members voted in favor of a strike, which authorizes the bargaining committee to call a strike, if necessary. They are the third group of hotel workers in nine months to hold such a vote in the wake of unsettled contract negotiations between Chicago hotels and the union. Get the full story »
Film paints Pritzkers as obstacle to recovery
Workers at the Union Tank Car plant. (Show Us The Tax Breaks)
A short film produced by the hotel workers’ union and screened Wednesday evening in Chicago holds up the city’s wealthy Pritzker family as poster children for corporate decision-making that they say has contributed to the downfall of the economy.
“Show Us the Tax Breaks” attacks the family, and Penny Pritzker in particular, for the decision to close East Chicago’s Union Tank Car plant in 2008. The plant was one of the largest employers in East Chicago, Ind., and when it closed, hundreds of workers were left unemployed. Get the full story »
Chicago Hilton workers to take strike vote
Unionized Hilton workers in Chicago will vote this week on whether to authorize a strike, making them the third group of workers in nine months to hold such a vote in the wake of unsettled contract negotiations between Chicago hotels and the union.
The vote authorizes the union’s negotiating committee to call a strike if it is deemed necessary. In October, Chicago hotel workers voted to authorize a strike at five downtown Starwood hotels affecting 1,500 workers, followed by a vote last month covering 1,600 Hyatt hotel workers, who also agreed to authorize a strike. So far, none have called for a strike. Get the full story »
Aug. 17, 2010 at 4:31 p.m.
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Filed under: Commercial real estate, Construction, Development, Hotels, Housing, Litigation, Real estate, Updated $600M Trump Tower construction loan extended
Donald Trump and his lenders have inked a new loan agreement that resolves long-standing litigation related to the development of his Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago.
Trump and his lenders, led by Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas and Fortress Credit Corp., last week agreed to extend the term on an approximate $600 million construction loan for five years. So, all litigation between the parties has been dismissed. Get the full story »
Aug. 16, 2010 at 1:34 p.m.
Filed under: Commercial real estate, Construction, Hotels, Litigation, Real estate Talbott Hotel sues nearby Elysian
One luxury hotel off Michigan Avenue is suing a new competitor in the neighborhood, charging that the latter’s construction hurt business and damaged its reputation.
The Talbott Hotel, 20 E. Delaware Pl., said in a suit filed Thursday that the construction of the adjacent Elysian hotel interfered with its operations.
Guests complained about the noise, dust, fumes, vibration and debris, and the Talbott had to reimburse some guests, the hotel said. Some guests also gave the hotel bad reviews on Web sites such as Orbitz and Hotels.com, the Talbott said.
The Talbott sued the Elysian owners as well as the general contractor and project manager in Cook County Circuit Court. A spokeswoman for the Elysian said she could not immediately comment but would look into the matter. Get the full story »
