July 20, 2012, (Written by AH&LA) – The General Services Administration (GSA) is seeking to reduce travel costs by changing the way it calculates per diem rates (GSA sets hotel per diem rates for the federal government). Smith Travel Research (STR) provides GSA with room rate data from hotels throughout the United States. GSA determines hotel average daily rates (ADR) by including rates from hotels in the “mid-price range.” Those rates are gathered from independent, midscale, upscale, upper upscale properties. GSA omits rates from economy and luxury hotels from the data as it considers them outside the mid-price range (too low and too high, respectively).
News Release Category: Industry News
Speak Out Against Proposed ‘Per Diem’ Change
July 20, 2012 (Written by Waldorf Astoria) – Your help is needed in opposing a proposed change in the way federal per diem rates are calculated. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is considering removing “upper upscale” hotels (which would include the Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Embassy Suites brands, among others) from its per diem rate formula calculation. This could reduce the lodging per diem rate for federal travelers as much as 30% in major markets, which could cause all brands to see less government revenue. In urban core markets, full-service hotels will likely be priced out of range for federal travelers.
Casino giant hedging its bets on gambling expansion in Florida
July 23, 2012, (Written by Mary Ellen Klas – Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau) TALLAHASSEE — The Genting Group, the Malaysian casino giant, is seeding its bets across Florida’s political spectrum this election year as it continues to secure the foothold it needs to build a Miami casino empire. The company, which bought the Miami Herald building in downtown Miami with $236 million in cash in 2011 and tried unsuccessfully to get destination resort casinos approved by lawmakers this year, has spent $1.3 million so far in the 2012 election cycle and has embarked on a two-pronged political strategy.
Casino giant’s election year strategy: big checks, many bets
July 22, 2012, (Written by Tampa Bay Times) – Genting Group, the Malaysian casino giant, is seeding its bets across Florida’s political spectrum this election year as it continues to secure the foothold it needs to build a Miami casino empire. The company, which bought the Miami Herald building in downtown Miami with $236 million in cash in 2011 and tried unsuccessfully to get destination resort casinos approved by lawmakers this year, has spent $1.3 million so far in the 2012 election cycle and has embarked on a two-pronged political strategy.
Florida’s June unemployment rate stalls
July 20, 2012, (Written by Brent Kallestad – Associated Press) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The percentage of jobless in Florida stalled in June, remaining at 8.6 percent for a second straight month. The seasonally adjusted rate for June was unchanged from the May figure and nearly 800,000 Floridians remain jobless, the Department of Economic Opportunity reported Friday. Florida’s unemployment remains above the national average of 8.2 percent and 15 of 67 counties reported double-figure unemployment, compared to eight counties a month ago.
Florida gains 9,000 jobs in June, but unemployment rate doesn’t budge
June 20, 2012 (Written by Gray Rohrer – The Florida Current) Florida added 9,000 nonagricultural jobs in June, but the unemployment rate remains at 8.6 percent, according to figures released Friday by the Department of Economic Opportunity. The new jobs were not enough to move the jobless rate, even though the number of unemployed workers stayed level at 795,000. In the past 12 months, Florida has gained 70,900 jobs, an increase of 1.0 percent, slower than the national pace of 1.4 percent in the same time.
RESTORE Act ‘monumental’ to coastal economies
July 23, 2012 (Written by Travis Pillow – Florida Capital Bureau) The first checks remain a long way off, and much is uncertain, but federal and Florida legislation committing billions in fines from Deepwater Horizon operator BP will mean unprecedented cash windfalls for eight Florida counties, Wakulla and Franklin among them. As much as $20 billion in fines for the 2010 rig explosion and oil spill offers the chance to change the nature of Florida’s northern Gulf coast after the fisheries, resorts and people were threatened by more than 200 million gallons of spilled oil.
Obama flies to S. Florida to court seniors,
July 19, 2012 (Written by Tony Man – Sun Sentinel) WEST PALM BEACH— President Barack Obama, whose hopes of winning re-election may hinge on Florida, flew into South Florida on Thursday evening to court two key constituencies: seniors and Jews, groups that may determine if he gets a second term in the White House.At the retiree-rich Century Village condominium community west of West Palm Beach, Obama took aim at Republican challenger Mitt Romney with one of the most potent weapons in the Democratic arsenal: protection of Medicare. Romney, the president warned, “plans to turn Medicare into a voucher program.”
Cut Taxes to Boost US Economy: Florida Governor Scott
Jaunuary 15, 2012, Written by Justin Menza – Scott pointed to efforts to lower taxes, reduce regulation and streamline permit approvals, which he said were key factors in helping revive Florida’s business environment. In a partisan shot, he added that his party’s leaders at the state level have a better track record with job creation. “The states with Republican governors, they’ve done better than states without Republican governors as far as job growth,” Scott told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday.
Florida’s minimum wage to hit $7.79 in
October 15, 2012, Written by Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald – Inflation will boost Florida’s minimum wage by 12 cents an hour next year, to $7.79, the state’s labor agency announced Monday. Each year, Florida recalculates the minimum that employers must pay workers, using a federal measure of inflation to see if the wage must increase. Workers who receive tips have a different minimum wage, and that will increase from $4.65 an hour to $4.77 as of Jan 1, 2013.