Hotels

Contract negotiations are seldom easy, but this could be a new low. Talks between Disney and one of the resort's biggest unions are stalled for an unlikely reason: The parties have spent two months trying to agree on a meeting place. Union leaders believe that rancor over a dispute about housing for workers in the Anaheim Resort District has spilled into talks between Walt Disney Co. and employees at three Disney hotels.

U2's Bono helped persuade President Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to increase African aid and cancel a portion of Third World debt. But Ireland's most famous rock star is finding it harder to charm Dublin preservationists as he seeks to expand the 177-year-old Clarence Hotel. The singer failed to win over opponents with several bottles of wine and lunch at the Clarence in September, said Michael Smith, former chairman of An Taisce, an independent planning watchdog.

Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo announced Thursday that his office had reached a $1-million settlement with the owner of two skid row residential hotels accused of illegally forcing residents out of their rooms before the one-month point to keep them from becoming legal tenants. Authorities also accused the owner of moving out more than 200 occupants in order to convert units into upscale lofts without paying proper relocation assistance fees.

A lawsuit filed by seven hotels seeking to avoid paying a higher minimum wage has cost roughly 2,000 workers a combined $4.7 million in lost income, according to a report to be released today by a pro-union nonprofit group. The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which last year persuaded the City Council to pass a $10.

The check will be in the mail -- and billboard queen Angelyne knows exactly where to find it. Even though her Hollywood office was demolished to make way for a new luxury hotel, the busty blond and mail-order entrepreneur will get to use her old Selma Avenue address anyway.

Hilton Hotels Corp., the Beverly Hills-based U.S. hotel chain, hired two executives from rival Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. to boost expansion into luxury accommodations.

Police on Monday were trying to find out how a woman wound up naked and barely conscious in a Costa Mesa hotel hot tub. The unidentified 20-year-old woman, a guest at the Ramada Limited & Suites, was found Sunday about 7 a.m. when a hotel employee went to unlock the spa area for another guest, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Paul Dondero. Police responded to a report of a possible drowning, but when they arrived they found the woman breathing and floating face up in the water, he said.

Summer in Las Vegas means triple-digit temperatures and torrid travel deals. And this year, the discounts may sizzle. That's because, reversing the trend over the last several years, Sin City's tourist business is slipping. Through March this year, gaming revenue and hotel rates dipped about 3% from the same period last year. Conventional wisdom blames high oil prices, the mortgage meltdown and a sluggish U.S. economy.

MGM Mirage Inc. has announced plans for a joint venture on a nongambling hotel in mainland China. The mixed project in Tianjin, China -- to be led by the Las Vegas-based casino company's hospitality arm -- would include a luxury hotel, condominiums, a spa, offices and restaurant facilities. The Chinese partner is Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Lerner said the deal could generate about $200 million in yearly cash flow for MGM.

This tourism season's buzzword may be "staycation" -- as in, it's too expensive to drive or fly anywhere -- but neither analysts nor hoteliers expect soaring gas prices and the struggling economy to spoil the debuts of a rash of new Los Angeles hotels. Kimpton's trendy Hotel Palomar and the London West Hollywood, which boasts Gordon Ramsay's first West Coast restaurant, both recently opened.