News round-up
Hotels could do better for women in business
Most women business travellers feel uncomfortable eating and drinking alone in hotel restaurants and bars, according to research.
The Company Barclaycard Travel in Business Survey, released last week, shows that almost 50% of women don't like eating by themselves in hotel restaurants, and almost 80% do not like drinking alone in hotel bars.
Three-quarters of women said they avoided hotel restaurants and bars because they felt uncomfortable sitting alone, while 26% said they did not like attention from other hotel guests.
One-third said they felt safer in their hotel rooms.
Just fewer than half of the female business travellers surveyed said that they also felt that they received poorer service than their male counterparts, although the same proportion of male respondents said that they thought women travellers received a better service.
Rhodes in rumours of Compass collaboration Celebrity chef Gary Rhodes is in talks with Compass "about possible projects", but a spokesman for the contract caterer denied rumours that a deal had been agreed.
In January Rhodes pulled out of a six-year partnership with rival contract caterer Sodexho, which spawned Michelin-starred restaurants City Rhodes and Rhodes on the Square, both in London.
City Rhodes has closed and Rhodes on the Square is to close at the end of the month.
Catering Forum 2003 floated This year's Catering Forum will take place aboard the MV Aurora, docked in Southampton, on 11-14 June.
The forum, one of the most important annual gatherings for senior hospitality and catering decision makers, provides a structured arena for establishing new business contacts, networking with peers and debating the industry's hot topics and latest innovations.
For more information, visit the website at www.cateringforum.com.
Contract wins for Aramark Aramark has won or kept three Ministry of Defence contracts worth a total of £1.4m. It has retained a five-year deal with a police training centre in Essex, extended its contract at the Balmacara House training centre on the Isle of Skye for three years, and gained a £300,000 contract in Glasgow to provide catering at four sites.
Aramark has also started a new contract to provide hotel services for the LG Barge, a floating hotel for offshore oil and gas workers in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. The contract has an annual turnover of £800,000.
Dalhousie Castle Dalhousie Castle and Spa in Edinburgh has been sold to Von Essen Hotels by the Edinburgh office of Christie & Co, and not by Knight Frank, as stated in our 1 May issue. Knight Frank acted for Von Essen Hotels.
