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CRIME
Aberystwyth
hotel arsonist
sentenced to
21 years
The man who pleaded guilty to starting
a fire at the Belgrave House Hotel in
Aberystwyth that killed one guest, has
been sentenced to 21 years.
Damion Harris, 31, of Llanbadarn Fawr,
admitted to the manslaughter of Juozas
Tunaitis, arson and inflicting grievous
bodily harm. He was given a 16-year
custodial sentence and five years on
license at Swansea Crown Court.
CCTV footage shows Harris
deliberately hide a fire extinguisher
before starting two separate fires at
around 2am on 25 July 2018. The fire led
to firefighters rescuing nine adults and
three children from the blaze, however
one person was unaccounted for.
Due to the damage of the property
it was not until seven weeks after
the blaze that the remains of Juozas
Tunaitis, who had been working at
Aberystwyth University as a fire safety
officer, were recovered.
Judge Paul Thomas told the court Harris
had entered the hotel for a “malicious
purpose,” telling Harris: “Having set those
fires you then deliberately removed a fire
extinguisher. That, Mr Harris, was a wicked
thing to do.”
Nadine Radford QC, representing
Harris, read a letter to the court which
said he was “very sorry for the pain and
grief” he had caused.
April 2019
ACQUISITIONS
Airbnb acquires
hotel booking site
HotelTonight
Airbnb has announced a deal to
acquire hotel booking site HotelTonight
for an undisclosed sum.
HotelTonight, which was valued
at £354m in its last fundraising
round in 2017, helps hotels fill vacant
rooms to last-minute travellers at
lower prices.
Airbnb said the acquisition forms
part of its aim to build a full end-to-end
travel platform ahead as it prepares
for a potential public float this year. It
also added it means it will help to meet
the “enormous demand” from and for
boutique hotels.
The HotelTonight app and website
will continue to operate separately.
Brian Chesky, Airbnb co-founder and
CEO, said: “A big part of building an
end-to-end travel platform is serving
every guest, whether they plan their
trip a year or a day in advance.
“Working with the incredible team
at HotelTonight, we will offer guests
an unparalleled last-minute travel
experience that provides unique,
memorable hospitality on every trip, on
any schedule, at any time.”
Sam Shank, co-founder and CEO
of HotelTonight, said: “We started
HotelTonight because we knew
people wanted a better way to book
an amazing hotel room on-demand,
and we are excited to join forces with
Airbnb to bring this service to guests
around the world.
“Together, HotelTonight and Airbnb
can give guests more choices and the
world’s best boutique and independent
hotels a genuine partner to connect
them with those guests.”
Once the acquisition is complete,
Airbnb announced Sam Shank will
report to Greg Greeley, Airbnb’s
president of homes, and lead its
boutique hotel category.
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INVESTMENT
Crerar Hotels
unveils £15m
investment into
‘future of Scottish
hospitality’
Crerar Hotels is “reinforcing its
commitment to Scotland” by investing
£15m to position its portfolio in the “top
end of Scottish hospitality”.
Crerar said the move is being made
to meet the “growing demand” from
affluent UK custom and to meet
demand from the “significant growth in
high value tourism from the emerging
Asian markets”.
To match demand, the group is in the
final stages of phase one investments
at a numbers of its hotels, including
Oban Bay, Loch Fyne (Inveraray), Golf
View (Nairn), Glencoe Inn (Glencoe)
and Isle of Mull Hotel (Mull), with
committed spend to date in the region
of £10m.
It added that each hotel noted is
now at or set to achieve a minimum
of high four-star status. The remaining
retained hotels in its portfolio will follow
the same investment route and market
positioning, with phase two investment
of £5m.
The company revealed the
investment so far has been self-
financed by trading profits and profit
from asset disposal. The final phase
will also be funded from trading and,
potentially, from the sale of up to three
more hotels, which were announced
last week.
It’s simply our duty to
put our heart and soul
into giving every visitor as
good an experience as we
possibly can
Controlling shareholder and
chief executive, Paddy Crerar CBE
www.hotelowner.co.uk
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