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1. Mohegan Sun casino resort in Manhattan rejected
The application for a planned casino resort in Manhattan from Mohegan Sun has been rejected, CoStar News reports. The property, named Freedom Plaza, was denied by a 4-2 vote by a state-commissioned community advisory committee.
The project was proposed between 38th and 41st streets east of First Avenue. Freedom Plaza’s bid would have also included housing, about 5 acres of public park space, a food market, day care and a museum, including two hotels from Mohegan and the owners of Banyan Tree hotels and resorts.
A similar casino resort project proposed for New York City met the same fate earlier this month. This project, which included musician Jay-Z and the Caesars Palace brand, was proposed for the Times Square district of Manhattan.
2. 'Super-complaint' launched against travel insurance industry
Consumer-advocate magazine and website Which? has filed a “super-complaint” against the travel and home insurance industry. The BBC reports that “such a [legal action] is rare and only used by consumer advocates when they believe a large number of consumers are being significantly harmed by practices across a particular sector.”
The lawsuit from Which? is centered on how claims are managed and outsourced, how sales practices are conducted and on how the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority fails to provide adequate protection for consumers.
Issues in the travel and home insurance markets had been “tolerated for too long” by the insurance industry and the FCA, said Rocio Concha Galguera, director of policy and advocacy and chief economist at Which?.
It cited one incident in which an insurer refused to pay for a cancelled vacation “because the trip had technically started before the flight was turned back after two hours.” The Association of British Insurers told the BBC that “its members worked hard to ensure customers knew the details of policies and handled claims as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
3. Teenager arrested on suspicion of 2023 MGM Resorts cyberattack
Last week, a teenager surrendered himself to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in connection to an alleged involvement in the 2023 cyberattack on MGM Resorts International properties. The cyberattack reportedly occurred between August and October 2023 and cost MGM resorts on the Las Vegas Strip approximately $100 million.
According to SFGATE, “the costly heist of Vegas Strip resorts was shockingly simple: Someone allegedly found an MGM Grand employee on LinkedIn and impersonated them, calling the company IT department to ask for a password reset. Once the reset was granted, the hacker reportedly had access to MGM’s internal systems in 10 minutes.”
4. Knight Frank starts up Middle East, Africa advisory division
Knight Frank has founded a hotel and leisure capital markets division and team solely dedicated to the Middle East and Africa and based in Dubai, according to the business advisory. It will be led by James Wrenn, who for the last 12 years has been at Colliers, most recently as head of capital markets, Middle East and North Africa.
In a news release, Knight Frank said it has helped broker the sale of 12 out of the 18 hotels that have exchanged hands in the Middle East and North Africa in the last two years.
5. Yellow Tree snaps up Hoxton Southwark for estimated £150 million
Gibraltar-based investment firm Yellow Tree has acquired the 192-room Hoxton Southwark in London for a reputed £150 million ($202 million) or approximately £781,250 per key, according to HVS. The seller is London-based Norlake Hospitality, which has owned the property since it opened in 2019.
The hotel is in the burgeoning Bankside district of London on the south side of the River Thames, near the Waterloo train station and Tate Modern museum.