Hotels

Determined to prevent the Mongols motorcycle club from using a Lancaster motel to host its annual meeting this weekend, the city's mayor has taken steps to shut down the establishment. Mayor R. Rex Parris said the members of the Mongols, which law enforcement agencies consider a violent biker gang, are not welcome in Lancaster because they "are engaged in domestic terrorism . . . and they kill our children."

Bill Hoffman has logged more than 1.5 million airline miles in his travels to troubled hotels, office buildings and other business properties. As a court-appointed receiver who takes care of distressed commercial real estate, Hoffman has a long way to go to catch up with George Clooney's ambitiously nomadic character Ryan Bingham in "Up in the Air." But Hoffman is adding mileage points fast. These are boom times for receivers. With the brutal real estate market causing owners to lose their buildings to their lenders, more professionals like Hoffman are being tapped to look after properties until they can be resold.

Move over, Tyra Banks. Bellmen, bartenders and concierges are the latest inspiration for fashionistas, who are outfitting hotel workers in name-brand designer duds. Gone are the red jackets with gold buttons and starchy white maid uniforms. In their place: wrap dresses by Diane von Furstenberg, trendy bubble skirts and Michael Kors slacks and shirts so stylish that workers don't need to change their clothes before hitting the bar after they punch out.

Has a state's psyche ever rested so completely on a single resort complex? In recession-ravaged Las Vegas, the flashy opening last week of Aria -- the hotel-casino centerpiece of CityCenter -- was regarded as either a sign of the Strip's economic rebound or another symptom of its ailments. Most Nevadans are praying for the rebound. The punditocracy cast the unveiling of Aria -- a 4,004-room, Cesar Pelli-designed hotel with a Maya Lin sculpture above the front desk -- in terms more suitable to heroism.

America met Baghdad at the outset of the 1991 Gulf War with CNN correspondent Peter Arnett's live coverage from atop the Al Rasheed Hotel. A dozen years later, the beginning of another American war in Iraq came to us largely from reporters broadcasting live from another hotel, the Palestine. Those hotels -- complete with correspondents in the eerie light of antiaircraft fire -- have become landmarks in our collective memory. But the hotel that captured, or at least housed, the collective soul of a generation of correspondents in Iraq's wars was a stubbier, scruffier cousin, the Al Hamra.

I named her Sol because she was up every morning, peering through my window just like the scorching Brazilian sun, reminding me it was time for room service. I'd get out of bed, walk to the window, take a banana from the fruit bowl on my table and hand it to Sol, a full-grown woolly monkey. You're not supposed to feed the monkeys at the Ariau Amazon Towers Hotel, but the management underestimates the wave of charity that hits you when staying at one of the most fascinating hotels in the world.

Arriba , arriba! The economy remains sluggish, but some airlines are expanding services and celebrating at more than 30,000 feet. Virgin America, the 2-year-old airline based in San Francisco, said Tuesday that it would add nonstop flights from California to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida. The airline will begin Nov. 18 with two daily nonstops each from Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport. Not to be outdone, JetBlue Airways announced the same day that it would also add daily nonstop service from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale, beginning Nov. 17. JetBlue has run a daily nonstop between Long Beach Airport and Fort Lauderdale since 2003.

Thor Equities, which redevelops urban real estate, said it had bought the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago from Hilton Hotels Corp. for $230 million and would spend more than $100 million to renovate the property. Thor's renovation of the hotel, which Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton purchased in 1945, will include the addition of a retail center, the companies said. Hilton, based in Beverly Hills, will continue to manage the hotel.

While hotels across the country continue to struggle with slumping occupancy rates and sliding revenue, industry data released Tuesday show signs of improvement in several regions, including Southern California. The hotel occupancy rate nationwide dropped 5.4 percentage points to 59.8% in the first week of October, compared with the same period last year, while revenue per available room fell 12% to $59.28, according to Smith Travel Research Global, an industry research firm. The numbers are the latest in a series of reports chronicling one of the worst slumps in decades for the hotel industry.

Parking lots within LAX's Central Terminal (which has about 25,000 spaces) haven't raised their rates in the last year, according to LAX spokesman Tom Winfrey. But in a few cases, some of the established private garages in the area have raised their prices in 1998-99. Parking rates at hotels may vary for guests and non-guests. The Department of Airports runs long-term parking lots B (about 6,000 spaces) and C (about 8,000).

Struggling to cope with a severe budget crisis, the Los Angeles City Council will consider a proposal Wednesday that would strip the municipal arts agency of the guaranteed funding it has enjoyed since 1989. The idea of cutting off a direct pipeline between hotel tax receipts and arts funding drew an immediate outcry from arts supporters, reminiscent of one in 2004 that stopped then-Mayor James K. Hahn from eliminating the Department of Cultural Affairs and putting arts operations under the Recreation and Parks Department instead.

America met Baghdad at the outset of the 1991 Gulf War with CNN correspondent Peter Arnett's live coverage from atop the Al Rasheed Hotel. A dozen years later, the beginning of another American war in Iraq came to us largely from reporters broadcasting live from another hotel, the Palestine. Those hotels -- complete with correspondents in the eerie light of antiaircraft fire -- have become landmarks in our collective memory. But the hotel that captured, or at least housed, the collective soul of a generation of correspondents in Iraq's wars was a stubbier, scruffier cousin, the Al Hamra.

It was lucky for us that the suicide bombers struck first at two other hotels, and that the one who targeted our hotel was forced by security guards to fight his way into the compound. Alerted by the two explosions minutes earlier on Monday, and then the popping of automatic gunfire immediately outside, most staffers of the Los Angeles Times bureau had taken cover in an inside corridor when the bomber detonated his vehicle outside. The blast left a 30-foot crater in the tarmac, destroyed walls and windows around us and demolished at least two houses nearby.

Suicide bombers struck almost simultaneously at three landmark Baghdad hotels Monday, killing 37 people, nearly half of them after a shootout between security guards and militants outside the residence of several major Western news organizations. The midafternoon attacks -- which authorities quickly blamed on Al Qaeda associates and loyalists of the Baath Party that ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein -- echoed three large-scale suicide bombings last year in which assailants' coordinated strikes sowed panic and chaos in the capital.

Bill Hoffman has logged more than 1.5 million airline miles in his travels to troubled hotels, office buildings and other business properties. As a court-appointed receiver who takes care of distressed commercial real estate, Hoffman has a long way to go to catch up with George Clooney's ambitiously nomadic character Ryan Bingham in "Up in the Air." But Hoffman is adding mileage points fast. These are boom times for receivers. With the brutal real estate market causing owners to lose their buildings to their lenders, more professionals like Hoffman are being tapped to look after properties until they can be resold.

The newest downtown hotel complex buzzed with activity this week as carpenters, electricians and gardeners hustled to put the finishing touches on the $970-million skyscraper that rises over the Los Angeles Convention Center and the L.A. Live entertainment center. But when the glass-sheathed tower that houses the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels opens next month, it will face one of the worst slumps in years for the hospitality business. Hotel foreclosures in California more than quadrupled last year as business travelers and vacationers cut back spending and commercial real estate values sank, forcing owners into default.

The latest addition to the downtown Los Angeles skyline is expected to debut with a big splash -- make that a big flash -- tonight, when lights in the city's newest high-rise snap on for the first time. Owners of the 54-story Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott tower are rigging lights on the top 27 levels to flick on floor by floor in a rising wave to celebrate completion of the hotel, the last piece of the massive L.A. Live entertainment complex. The attention-grabbing stunt will cost about $100,000; by no means a pittance but still a fraction of the $2.5-billion overall cost of L.A. Live, which sits next to Staples Center and is already home to Nokia Theatre and other attractions.

Before he arrived at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in North Hollywood, Rick Mitchell had heard it was undergoing a makeover, part of a companywide plan to standardize every room in the chain. But the new curtains, linens and shower heads weren't what caught his attention. It was the choice of firm or soft pillow on each bed. "I've never encountered that in another hotel I've stayed in," said Mitchell, a wedding officiant from Ohio who was in Southern California on vacation recently.

Has a state's psyche ever rested so completely on a single resort complex? In recession-ravaged Las Vegas, the flashy opening last week of Aria -- the hotel-casino centerpiece of CityCenter -- was regarded as either a sign of the Strip's economic rebound or another symptom of its ailments. Most Nevadans are praying for the rebound. The punditocracy cast the unveiling of Aria -- a 4,004-room, Cesar Pelli-designed hotel with a Maya Lin sculpture above the front desk -- in terms more suitable to heroism.

Hundreds of hotel workers rallied along the Sunset Strip on Friday, warning Los Angeles-area employers that they would not accept pay cuts, reduced benefits or other givebacks. "We should be earning more, not less," said Morena Hernandez, a maid at the Andaz, the upscale hostelry that was targeted in Friday's protest. "We can't afford a cut in benefits." The noisy but peaceful protest organized by Local 11 of Unite Here took place on the narrow sidewalk in front of the Andaz, formerly the West Hollywood Hyatt, which reopened in January after Hyatt refurbished the property.