[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s1EOY8P__4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL]
David Heckaman, VP of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, walks us through some of the cool features built into their new Hotel in Las Vegas. the technology is by Control4, Guestlink, Saflok and Axxess. The system adds security, huge Energy savings and provides Guests with the best in-Room experience they can possibly have.
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Filed under Guest Issues, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology, Training
The Westin Resort & Spa Whistler is continuing their quest to become one of Whistler’s most sustainable properties with the recent addition of new environmentally sustainable operations and programs.
For more:Â http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article50999.html
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Filed under Green Lodging, Guest Issues, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology
Housekeeping is vital to the success of any hotel. It will be worth the extra time and attention it takes to refine practices and enhance productivity. Improved housekeeping 
makes for a tighter overall operation, along with relief to your hotel’s budget.
For more:Â http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article50864.html
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Filed under Health, Injuries, Labor Issues, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
The Four Seasons’ former lead massage therapist alleged in a recent lawsuit that he was demoted after complaining that the hotel’s general manager was romantically involved with a masseuse and had sought favorable treatment for her.
John B. Henning said he was instructed in August 2009 to make sure that certain massage therapists were not paid more than a masseuse who “was engaging in a romantic relationship†with general manager Thomas Gurtner.
Henning said he refused to comply with the instructions and instead told the hotel’s assistant human resources director that Gurtner was favoring the woman. One month later, Henning alleged, he was demoted and “constructively terminated†from his job. Henning said a supervisor explained that the hotel wanted “to move forward with a more positive team.â€
A spokeswoman for the 270-room resort hotel declined to comment.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks unspecified general and punitive damages, plus legal fees and other costs. It accuses the hotel of retaliation for reporting sexual harassment, defamation and wrongful termination.
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Filed under Insurance, Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
Law enforcement officers learned last week how easy it is to have one’s identity stolen when a cybercrimes expert powered a $30 machine and intercepted some of the wireless 
transmissions coming from their smart phones as they sat in a UNLV conference room.
“It’s absolutely an arms race,†said Feffer, who also investigates cybercrime for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. “You see vulnerabilities in software exploited by criminals. Then you see the software companies patch those vulnerabilities and then the criminals develop new ones. That’s why you have to make sure everything is up-to-date and currently patched. What was good last year is by no means safe this year.â€
As cybercriminals seek new ways to outsmart police and the public, crime-fighting agencies are increasingly turning to cyber-experts to show them the latest high-tech equipment used in identity theft scams.
One of those experts is Justin Feffer, who conducts seminars for identity theft detectives nationwide on behalf of the FBI and LifeLock, an Arizona company that specializes in identity theft protection.
“It’s absolutely an arms race,†said Feffer, who also investigates cybercrime for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. “You see vulnerabilities in software exploited by criminals. Then you see the software companies patch those vulnerabilities and then the criminals develop new ones. That’s why you have to make sure everything is up-to-date and currently patched. What was good last year is by no means safe this year.â€
That’s the reason nearly 100 officers from Metro Police, North Las Vegas, Henderson, the state Gaming Control Board and other agencies attended the conference.
It included a demonstration of skimming devices that criminals use to steal credit and debit card information, including PIN numbers, from card-swiping machines that have become increasingly present at Las Vegas restaurants and retail outlets.
Speaking outside the conference room, LifeLock spokesman Mike Prusinski emphasized the importance of training. “Most of the individuals in that room have absolutely no idea what a skimming device looks like or what the wiring looks like. We’re opening their eyes to these things.â€
The interview took place outside the room because the FBI and LifeLock don’t want the public — including the media — to know what law enforcement is learning about the tricks of identity thieves.
Nevada has been a hotbed of identity theft for years. The state last year ranked fifth in the nation with 106 complaints per 100,000 residents — 2,802 complaints total — that were fielded by the Federal Trade Commission. That’s down from 130.2 complaints per 100,000 residents in 2005, when Nevada ranked second. The agency did not explain why the numbers for Nevada are down.
The FTC data paint only a partial picture of the problem because many victims file complaints only with police instead of also with the commission. But the number of identity theft crime reports filed with Metro from January through Nov. 13 — 2,063 — is down from the 2,440 filed during the same period in 2009.
For more:Â http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/dec/15/pickpockets-strike-through-ether/
Filed under Guest Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology, Theft
On or about August 13, 2009, Plaintiff suffered an injury to her right shoulder area when a co-worker, Banquet Manager, Gus Garza, suddenly and without warning struck her while opening a door which was intended to be an exit door instead of an entrance door as 
he was using it,” the suit filed Dec. 7 in Jefferson County District Court states.
She claims the defendant companies — HTL Operating doing business as Elegante Hotel and Investment Corporation of America — did not carry workers’ compensation insurance at the time of the incident. As a result, Howard claims she should be entitled to all common-law damages.
A Beaumont woman has filed suit against the owners of a hotel where she claims she was injured while working as a banquet server. Sharon Howard alleges she was performing her duties as a banquet server at MCM Elegante Hotel in Beaumont on Aug. 13, 2009, when she sustained injuries to her shoulder.
Because of the incident, Howard suffered a severe and permanently disabling injury to her right shoulder and has not been able to work, according to the complaint.
She blames the hotel for causing her injury and for the pain and suffering she endured, as well as the medical costs she incurred.
The hotel’s owners negligently failed to enforce proper safety procedure and failed to properly equip doors, according to the complaint.
In her suit, Howard is seeking a judgment in excess of the minimum jurisdictional limits of Jefferson County District Court, plus pre- and post-judgment interest, costs, attorney’s fees and other relief the court deems just.
John Werner of Reaud, Morgan and Quinn in Beaumont will be representing her.
For more:Â http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/231951-hotel-server-sues-over-shoulder-injuries
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Filed under Claims, Injuries, Insurance, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
The suit alleged that the company denied an employee a promotion because of her gender, and “due to its discriminatory and stereotyped assumptions regarding [the 
worker’s] ability to do the job because of her status as a woman with young children.â€
“Making assumptions about a woman’s ability to perform a job which are not grounded in fact, but instead on stereotyped assumptions about her inability to work long hours due to her child care responsibilities, is unlawful discrimination,†said EEOC Regional Attorney Mary Jo O’Neill.
The owner of Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel & Spa has agreed to pay $105,000 to settle a sex-discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the EEOC announced Wednesday.
The agency filed the suit on July 20 in U.S. District Court in Denver against Brown Palace owner Denver Hotel Management Co. Inc.
Discrimination based on a woman’s caregiver status is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC said.
At the time the suit was filed, Marcel Pitton, the hotel’s managing director, said the agency’s allegations were “unfounded,†and no admission of guilt was announced Wednesday.
“The Brown Palace Hotel is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a workplace free of unlawful discrimination. We are proud of our diverse workforce and the talent of our staff in delivering exceptional hospitality,†Pitton said in a July statement.
According to an EEOC statement, Denver Hotel Management has agreed “to revamp its discrimination policies and conduct training for all of its employees to explain how stereotypes concerning a person’s family responsibilities can constitute illegal sex discrimination.â€
Read more: Brown Palace owner settles EEOC suit | Denver Business Journal
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Filed under Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
Hyatt spokesman Pete Hillan says the hotel has emptied the fountain and erected a barrier around the 29-inch-deep trough where the boy was found.
The barrier will serve as a temporary solution, as hotel officials look to permanently change the fountain’s design.
A toddler found floating in a fountain at a downtown hotel suffered life-threatening injuries.
The unidentified boy remains hospitalized, a day after officers pulled him from a decorative fountain at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and revived him using CPR.
The officers went to the hotel after the 18-month-old boy’s mother reported him missing. Fire officials tell the San Francisco Chronicle the incident appeared to be an accident.
Hyatt spokesman Pete Hillan says the hotel has emptied the fountain and erected a barrier around the 29-inch-deep trough where the boy was found. The trough serves as the fountain’s drain.
For more:Â http://www.wsbt.com/news/ktla-fountain-toddler,0,1847787.story
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Filed under Guest Issues, Injuries, Insurance, Liability, Pool And Spa, Risk Management, Training
The H-2B program for unskilled non-agricultural migrant workers is one of the nation’s many alien worker programs, and one that, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report, is subject to extensive fraud and abuse.
The H-2B program is both smaller than the H-1B program, for high tech workers, and subject to considerably less attention. In terms of visa issuances, one measure of the size of these programs, there were 44,847 H-2B visas issued in FY 2009, compared to 110,367 H-1B visas. These numbers are from the annual Report of the Visa Office at the State Department.
Since the H-1B program displaces American workers with college degrees, and depresses wages where the high-tech workers are concentrated, it secures a lot more public attention that the H-2B program, which operates at the other end of the labor market, where employers hire landscapers, forest workers, waiters, and other less-skilled workers.
GAO’s report on the troubles with the program are based on a solid foundation; the agency’s auditors found ten closed criminal and civil cases in which courts had decided that employers had misused the program and abused their alien workers. The highlights of these cases, as quoted in the report, are as follows:
Hotel owners forced H-2B workers to work in substandard conditions, confiscated workers’ passports, and threatened workers that they would be sent home in a ‘box’ if they disobeyed orders . . .
Workers from India paid at least $20,000 for H-2B visas to enter the U.S. but were never employed by the construction company . . .
Conspirators fraudulently obtained H-2B certifications from Labor for over 3,800 individuals, leased workers to undisclosed businesses not listed on the visa petitions, [and] defrauded the government of $7.4 million in payroll taxes . . .
The nation would do just fine without any H-2B program at all; the only “cost” would be that some marginal employers would have to increase their wages a bit to attract workers to their jobs.
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Filed under Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
 In negotiating the new contract the owners and operator initially hoped to slash more than $500,000 from their operating costs; the union, meanwhile, sought to guard employees’ insurance, eight-hour workday and paid vacation.
“It was very, very challenging because the owners were spending more than a million dollars a year in benefits,†says Jane Howard, Chief People Officer for Joie de Vivre Hospitality. “We needed to work together to get the cost of that down some, and we were 
able to do that.†The hotel ultimately accepted an insurance plan proposed by the labor union that is expected to save it $130,000 annually.
The owners and operators of Santa Cruz’s Dream Inn can rest easy now that the unionized employees at the hotel have finally ratified a contract following nearly a year of negotiations and union demonstrations. The employees, represented by UNITE HERE Local 483, voted to accept a new four-year contract last Tuesday, Nov. 30.Â
The Dream Inn is jointly owned by the Southern California real estate developer Ensemble Investments and AEW Capital Management and operated by Joie de Vivre Hospitality, which manages a number of other properties around the state.
The final agreement, which will allow employees to keep their insurance and eight-hour work day but not their paid vacation time, was reached in arbitration with an outside mediator that took place at the hotel on Nov. 23. A week later, the employees voted with a 91 percent majority to accept the contract; had they failed to ratify, the union would have moved to strike.
“I think we made some progress,†Michael Roberts, a bartender at the Dream Inn’s Aquarius restaurant, said. “We definitely got a reasonable contract, but for me, a lot of it came down to the fact that I didn’t feel like the membership would have supported a strike if it came down to that. They were willing to do certain actions, but I don’t think a strike would have been supported.â€
The new contract covers 85 workers at the hotel, who, under its terms, will keep a generous benefits package that includes health, dental, vision and life insurance—all free—for the employee’s entire family. “It was very, very challenging because the owners were spending more than a million dollars a year in benefits,†says Jane Howard, Chief People Officer for Joie de Vivre Hospitality. “We needed to work together to get the cost of that down some, and we were able to do that.†The hotel ultimately accepted an insurance plan proposed by the labor union that is expected to save it $130,000 annually.
The insurance policy was ultimately the most important factor for Roberts, although he sympathized with longtime employees who, under the new contract, will lose paid vacation time accrued over many years of service. “I’ve only worked there for three and a half years, but we have employees who have worked there for almost 20 years who are taking hits for vacation—like losing a week or more days—so it was a very big deal for them.â€
“That was painful for us, we really didn’t want to have to move on vacation,†says Lizzie Keegan, a representative for UNITE HERE who was present throughout negotiations. “There were some things that obviously stung a little bit, but overall we ratified with over that 90 percent because everybody feels that, in this economic recession, we will have to [make some concessions] and it will be hard, but we’re really proud that we have really good insurance and it covers us and covers our families.â€
For more:Â http://news.santacruz.com/2010/12/07/dream_inn_hotel_workers_keep_bennies
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Filed under Health, Insurance, Labor Issues, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
