A round-up of the weekend's news affecting the hospitality industry...

Whitehall to bid for InterContinental hotels
Whitehall, the property investment company owned by bank Goldman Sachs and US venture capital group Blackstone, is among a number of opportunity funds that have tabled first-round offers to buy the £1.4b hotel portfolio put up for sale by InterContinental. The hotelier has appointed Citigroup to auction two hotel parcels. The larger parcel is worth up to £1.2b and comprises 72 Holiday Inns. The smaller one involves three hotels, two of which are located at London's Heathrow airport. It is thought the two portfolios will be sold as one lot. – Sunday Times, 31 October

Hilton makes Blackpool number-one casino target

Hilton has identified Blackpool as the location for its first £200m Las Vegas-style casino. Hilton, which already has a hotel in Blackpool, wants to team up with a property company to build the gaming and leisure complex. Trevor Hemmings, the leisure entrepreneur, is already working on an ambitious plan to build a gaming resort in Blackpool, but he will require the support of a strong partner. – Sunday Times, 31 October

Whitbread threatens to ditch TGI Friday’s
Whitbread is likely to ditch the TGI Friday’s restaurant chain unless it performs significantly better. The company has indicated that the franchised 41-strong chain is under threat if it does not deliver profits of more than £10m. – Mail on Sunday, 31 October

Another bidder emerges for Laurel Pub Company
The majority shareholder in Earls Court and Olympia, St James Place Capital, is the mystery third bidder for the £150m Laurel Pub Company, owner of the Hogs Head and Casa bar chains. St James faces competition from property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz and from venture capital group GI Partners. A winner is expected to be announced before Christmas. – Sunday Times, 31 October

Call for Kent pub company to stop family feuding
Shepherd Neame shareholders yesterday called for an end to the family dispute that has been fermenting at the Kent-based brewer for over a year. One shareholder at the annual meeting in Faversham said: "It is about time a line was drawn in the sand." The speaker, from stockbroker James Sharp, which holds just more than one million shares in Shepherd Neame, was met by applause from the 500 shareholders present. – Daily Telegraph, 30 October

Fast-food chain boss jailed for tax evasion
A fast-food chain operator was jailed for three years yesterday by a Belfast court and ordered to repay more than £1m he had defrauded the Inland Revenue. James McCorry, the 56-year-old founder of the Julie's Kitchen fast-food chain was ordered to pay more than half the money within a fortnight, but given two years to repay the remainder. – Irish Independent, 30 October

Super-casinos will be limited to 20
The number of new super-casinos in the UK is to be limited to fewer than 20 as part of a series of concessions on the Government's Gambling Bill being drawn up by ministers. Restrictions on advertising will also be proposed, with a ban on posters promoting online casinos in railway stations and on the London Underground. – Sunday Telegraph, 31 October

Leading investor in Belhaven to sell stake
Standard Life is believed to be preparing to sell its stake in Belhaven, the Scottish pub company, because of fears over the effects of a possible ban on smoking in public places. Standard Life is one of Dunbar-based Belhaven’s biggest investors with a 3.9% stake. Earlier this month it sold 0.8% of the company. – Scotland on Sunday, 31 October

Call for Scotland to encourage budget airlines
Tourism chiefs should use this week’s review of the national tourism strategy to tackle failures in marketing and encourage more budget airlines to fly to Scotland, according to the Scottish Chambers of Commerce. The news comes ahead of an announcement this week on the Tourism Network Scotland scheme when 14 area tourist boards will be replaced with the same number of tourism hubs, and brought under the authority of VisitScotland. – Scotland on Sunday, 31 October

Scotttish pubs will ignore any smoking ban
Pub owners will ignore a ban on smoking in public places and condemn any new law to failure, says the Scottish Licensed Trade Association. Its comments come less than two weeks before First Minister Jack McConnell is expected to confirm his support for banning smoking in public places. – Sunday Herald (Scotland), 31 October

Scottish smoking ban will be political suicide
Scotland’s first minister Jack McConnell is coming under pressure from John Reid, the UK health secretary, to ditch plans for an outright smoking ban in Scotland. Reid believes that a blanket ban, similar to that introduced in Ireland earlier this year, would be political suicide so close to a general election. – Sunday Times (Scottish edition), 31 October

The Ritz buys £100,000 wine collection
New owners of The Daily Telegraph the Barclay twins found £100,000 of fine wines in the paper's Canary Wharf headquarters when they took it over in the summer. Distancing themselves from the extravagant days of Lord Black, they have sold the Telegraph wine cellar at valuation price to the Ritz hotel - which they also own. – The Observer, 31 October

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