The city of chicago’s planned $14 billion
expansion for O’Hare International Airport has run up against
opposition from public officials who favor building a new airport
in the city’s southern suburbs. A competing proposal calls for a
privately financed airport, to be named for Abraham Lincoln, which
would open in 2009.
Diners Club North America and MasterCard
International have announced they will pursue an alliance
to strengthen their global acceptance. Diners Club cards issued in
North America will carry the MasterCard brand and will be accepted
by all of the same merchants who accept MasterCard. The deal is
expected to boost Diners Club merchant acceptance from 8.3 million
to 30 million worldwide.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. is looking to hoist
its flag in Las Vegas. Simon Cooper, president of the luxury chain,
was in Vegas in late April on a scouting trip and said the chain’s
clients are clamoring for a Ritz property on the Strip. Cooper did
not divulge any other details, except to say it would be a midsize
hotel.
Steve Bova, CAE, has been named executive
director of ICPA, formerly known as the Insurance Conference
Planners Association. The move comes after ICPA’s board switched
management from its Vancouver, B.C.-based staff to Chicago-based
association management giant SmithBucklin.
Bravo Productions, a Long Beach, Calif.-based
event-planning firm, has opened additional offices in Olympia,
Wash.; Trinidad, Colo., and Las Vegas.
The 512-room Hilton Arc de Triomphe in Paris
opened May 10. The property, which has eight meeting rooms, a
ballroom and a spa, was originally scheduled to open in April, but
was postponed after the hotel was flooded a week before the
opening.
The Radisson SAS Birdland Resort & Spa in
Bad Bük, Hungary, has opened with 208 guest rooms, an 18-hole golf
course, five meeting rooms and a large spa.
Travel Planners of Scandinavia, based in
Bergen, Norway, has joined Euromic, a consortium of 24 destination
management companies based in Paris.