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March 10 (Bloomberg) -- MGM Mirage Chief Executive Officer James Murren said investors betting on a U.S. economic recovery are returning to casino debt and equity.

MGM Mirage, the biggest casino owner on the Las Vegas Strip, yesterday sold $845 million of bonds to repay some loans under an arrangement it previously struck to extend the maturity on borrowings.

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Travelers staying in hotels might want to carefully check their credit card statements for fraudulent charges in the months following the stay. According to recent reports, cybercriminals across the globe have a new favorite target: the wireless networks of hotels.

While financial services companies used to receive the bulk of hacker attacks, last year hotels emerged as the new choice target among hackers-out of 218 breaches in a total of 24 countries, 70 of those breaches took place through hotel networks, according to a report by security firm Trustwave SpiderLabs.

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Drive-in hamburger chain Sonic Corp. (SONC: 9.88, 0, 0%) reported Wednesday an expected decline in same-store sales for the coming quarter of 12% to 14% due to bad weather and cutbacks in consumer spending.

Approximately one-third of Sonic stores are based in Texas and Oklahoma, where snow storms and severe rains were common during the first part of the year. Thanks to a drop in consumer spending, the company may also see sales tax collections down by double digits.

The company has implemented new advertising and promotional strategies and improved product quality in an effort to boost sales in the third and fourth quarter of 2010.

The Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco has escaped looming foreclosure as owner Millennium Partners and a new equity partner have paid down a significant amount of the debt on the property.

Millennium and private equity group Westbrook Partners have paid down the mortgage on the Four Seasons San Francisco from $90 million to $55 million. Under the agreement Westbrook becomes two-thirds owner of the hotel while Millennium holds on to a one-third ownership interest in and continues to asset manage the hotel.

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Sharon, Pa. - The Quaker Steak & Lube board of directors named John H. Longstreet president and CEO, effective April 1, 2010. He succeeds Ken Cole, who stepped down at the end of February to focus on opening Quaker Steak & Lube franchise restaurants and other business opportunities. Longstreet, a Quaker Steak & Lube board of directors member for six years, is president of Hospitality Leaders Group, LLC, a Texas firm which consults on organizational development, service delivery, food and beverage operations, corporate culture, leadership effectiveness and team development. Previously, Longstreet was executive vice president of operations for Dallas-based ClubCorp. "John will be a great fit for The Lube," said Mike Stack, Quaker Steak & Lube's chairman of the board. "His experience and expertise in running high volume operations - combined with his understanding of our concept - will allow him to maximize Quaker Steak & Lube's growth potential."

MARYVILLE, Tenn., Mar 09, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (NYSE: RT) today announced that same-restaurant sales for Company-owned restaurants were -0.8% to -1.0% in the third quarter ended March 2, 2010, compared to the same quarter of the prior year. Severe weather during the quarter is estimated to have reduced same-restaurant sales by 1.5-2%. Same-restaurant sales at domestic franchised restaurants decreased 5.3-5.5% in the third quarter compared to the same quarter of the prior year.

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Andrew "Randy" Kwasniewski, the president and chief operating officer of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas has died March 9 of an apparent suicide.

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A group of seven individuals filed suit against Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and others for fraud, negligence, accounting and other counts regarding a hotel condominium complex in Baja.

The plaintiffs are seeking at least $10 million dollars in damages.

In court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, the lawsuit states, "Plaintiffs are a group of individuals who were duped into buying hotel-condominium units that were never built. With the complicity of defendants, the developers of the units depleted Plaintiff's deposits - even though they never broke ground on the project, much less obtained the necessary building permits or construction loans.

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Casino operator MGM Mirage said Tuesday it will sell $845 million in new bonds due in 2020, looking to build a healthier balance sheet amid a gambling industry slump.

MGM, the world's second biggest casino operator, is seeing gamblers make fewer trips to its resorts and spend less money when they do.

Last month the company said it had reached a deal with lenders to extend the deadline for paying off about $3.6 billion worth of debt to February 2014. In all, the company owes almost $13 billion.

MGM said it will offer the new bonds in a private sale. The notes will be backed by a mortgage on the MGM Grand Las Vegas resort with the proceeds used to pay off bank debt, the company said

Warning bells rung yesterday for this nation's gaming sector following Jamaican lawmakers' approval of amendments to its Gaming and Casino Act — reinforcing the need to review old regulations, say industry executives.

Head of the Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA) Robert Sands said the move in the neighboring country will go a long way in decreasing this nation's competitiveness unless actions are taken to allow permanent residents and people on work permits in The Bahamas - at the very least - to patronize the local casinos.

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MARCH 08, 2010 -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts' artsy Le Meridien brand this year by a hair ended JW Marriott's three-year reign atop the upper upscale tier in Business Travel News' 2010 U.S. Hotel Chain Survey, which tabulated ratings from 387 buyers.

The upper upscale tier had the most varied and heated results, and other tiers saw a mix of familiar winners and newly emergent top brands. Among multibrand hotel companies, InterContinental Hotels Group and Hilton Worldwide fared the best, with the former boasting at least a third-place finish in all eligible tiers and the latter garnering three of the top five upscale slots and nearly sweeping the midprice tier with its Hampton brand.

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Penny-pinching consumers flocked to McDonald's Dollar Menu in February, helping drive up the fast-food chain's monthly sales figures.

On Monday, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based restaurant operator said that sales at restaurants open at least one year jumped 4.8% in February, its best monthly same-store sales gain since May of 2009. The closely-watched performance indicator, declined through the last two months of 2009, before rising 2.6% in January and showing continued improvement in February.

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London is leading European hotels out of the recession, according to business advisory firm Deloitte.

While hotels throughout Europe will see a growth in occupancy, average room rates and revenue per available room (revpar), it will be difficult to surpass pre-recessionary levels this year, explained Alex Kyriakidis, global managing partner of tourism, hospitality and leisure at Deloitte.

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MARYVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (NYSE: RT - News) today announced that same-restaurant sales for Company-owned restaurants were -0.8% to -1.0% in the third quarter ended March 2, 2010, compared to the same quarter of the prior year. Severe weather during the quarter is estimated to have reduced same-restaurant sales by 1.5-2%. Same-restaurant sales at domestic franchised restaurants decreased 5.3-5.5% in the third quarter compared to the same quarter of the prior year.

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Hotel groups continue to lead the way for hospitality in the latest UK Business Superbrands list, with Hilton ranked highest against its closest rivals Marriott and Sheraton.

The UK Business Superbrands 2009 honours the strongest business-to-business brands in the UK. The list was topped by Microsoft this year, but renowned tyre company and foodie guide Michelin, which last year featured at number eight, fell off the list completely.

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More than a year after the $120 million Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences opened to considerable fanfare, a dozen firms that designed and built the ultraluxury project say they haven't been paid in full.

They have recorded claims totaling more than $34 million against the downtown Seattle building. The largest lien, for $23.7 million, was filed in August by Lease Crutcher Lewis, the project's general contractor

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MIAMI, Mar 09, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Burger King Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BKC) today announced that U.S. and Canada segment comparable sales were severely impacted during the months of January and February 2010 by adverse weather conditions in the Central and Eastern portions of the U.S., where over 75 percent of this segment's company- and franchise-owned restaurants are located. The U.S. and Canada segment reported comparable system sales of negative 8.2 percent in the two-month period ended February 28, 2010, compared to positive 3.1 percent in the same period last year. Based on its analysis, the company believes inclement weather negatively impacted January and February U.S. and Canada company comparable sales by approximately 3.0 percentage points during the period. Therefore, the company expects third-quarter fiscal 2010 U.S. and Canada total revenues, company restaurant margin and income from operations to be lower than the prior year period.
Worldwide comparable sales for the two-month period ended February 28, 2010, were negative 5.4 percent, partially offset by positive results in the EMEA/APAC business segment, compared to worldwide comparable sales of positive 2.5 percent in the prior year period.

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The state wants to tax the lodging businesses for the food that they offer as free breakfasts as part of their room rate.
The budget-strapped state hopes to get an estimated $10 million for its coffers from the sweet rolls, coffee and such that hotel patrons enjoy at no charge from the Smoky Mountains to Graceland.

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More than a dozen armed State Police officers conducted simultaneous raids last week on three popular Philadelphia bars known for their wide beer selections. The cops confiscated hundreds of bottles of expensive ales and lagers, now in State Police custody at an undisclosed location.

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Billionaire Pepe Fanjul was robbed at his suite at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel at the height of Oscar week. The Cuban-born sugar baron -- one of the world's richest men -- and his wife, Emilia, were robbed by a man posing as a hotel worker Friday night. A source told us, "They were riding up in the elevator when a man in a blue uniform with 'hotel' written on his shirt started to talk Spanish to Pepe

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