UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tells MPs that restaurants, pubs, hairdressers and hotels will reopen in England from 4 July as the 2m social distancing rule is being reduced to 1m plus. In Hotels empty minibars, buffet-free breakfasts and regular deep cleaning are among the measures being introduced by one of the biggest operators in…
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the UK furlough scheme to pay wages of workers on leave because of coronavirus has been extended to October. He further said the government-backed workers and companies going into the lockdown, and would support them coming out and confirmed that employees will continue to receive 80 per cent of their monthly…
FTSE100 giants Whitbread and Associated British Foods today lined up loans from the government as they handle mass store, hotel and restaurant closures. ABF which owns Primark which shut 186 stores, and Premier Inn owner, Whitbread who had been forced to shut 800 hotels, both said the Bank of England have confirmed they are…
As per data from AirDNA showed Airbnb bookings have collapsed by 40 per cent in China and European cities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, their plans for an initial public offering this year are seriously in doubt. The cancellation or suspension of big conferences and festivals such as South by South West in Austin, Texas…
Sir Frederick Barclay has threatened to sue members of his family if the Ritz hotel was sold for less than £1bn, as the intervention comes just weeks after he took legal action against his nephews over allegations that they secretly bugged a room in The Ritz to eavesdrop on his private conversations with his daughter…
Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay are selling the Ritz hotel for £750m to Sidra Capital a wealthy Saudi Arabian family investment business. The hotel in Piccadilly, built by Cesar Ritz in 1906, has been popular with stars since the age of Charlie Chaplin and Ballerina Anna Pavlova, is one of London’s most coveted property…
The original Singapore Sling was invented at the Raffles Hotel Singapore over 104 years ago by Hainanese bartender Ngiam Tong Boom, when the etiquette dictated that Ladies could not consume alcohol in public. Cad’s Alley as first lovated at the main hotel entrance where tables were strategically placed next to one another, so that male…
Soho House, the hotel and members’ club chain, has been valued at $2bn after raising $100m to help double its global footprint to 50 venues over the next four years. Nick Jones, founder and CEO said, “Expansion is definitely ramping up. We have the infrastructure to do it and we have the appetite People love…
The Barclay brothers David and Frederick Barclay, are pumping half a billion pounds into their ailing empire during a two-year cash-crunch at business that span the Telegraph newspaper and online retailer Shop Direct. The billionaire twins, who have turned 85 ye sterday, have spent £325m supporting operations in the past 18 months face a new…
Thomas Cook’s CEO Peter Frankhauser tells MPs that government refused to support rescue plan led the178-year-old travel company’s collapse. He had spoken to ministers in the government of Bulgaria, Spain, Greece and Turkey in Thomas Cook’s final week – but not the UK as the company tried to piece together a rescue plan. A committee…