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Israeli hotel owner and operator Fattal Hotel Group has agreed to buy six hotels from investment firms KKR and Dunas Capital for approximately 165 million euros ($166.6 million), with the deal due to be completed by the end of the year.

The six properties comprise 1,119 rooms and are located in the Balearic Islands destinations of Ibiza and Mallorca, currently operating under the Alua Hotels & Resorts brand. The deal is a joint venture with investors Menorah, Harel and Leumi, and after investment of about 20 million euros, it is expected the properties will then fall under one of Fattal’s in-house brands, Leonardo, Leonardo Royal or NYX.

The Chinese special administrative region of Macau has closed all of its hotel-casinos for at least one week to offset a rise in COVID-19 cases after 59 new cases were reported on July 10, according to Bloomberg. The city’s casinos have not closed down since a 15-day lockdown in February 2020 when the world first learned about the coronavirus.

The news agency said “gaming revenue has already fallen more than 50% every month since March amid a dearth of visitors after mainland China rolled out strict curbs.” It added shares fell across Macau’s six licensed casino operators, with Sands China shares falling 8.2% and Wynn Macau’s falling 6.7%. Gaming contributes approximately 80% of Macau’s government revenue and is a huge employer.

Hoteliers across the industry are waiting for sure signs of the business travel recovery, but more guests are booking on Sundays and Thursdays to extend their business trips with leisure time, HNN's Sean McCracken reports. There's also more anecdotal evidence that business travelers are out in hotel lobbies and other public spaces getting work done.

Vanessa Claspill, senior vice president of sales for Pivot Hotels, the lifestyle division of Davidson Hospitality Group, said her company is now estimating that 15% to 20% of travelers heading to business conventions are extending their stays to add some leisure travel to company-sanctioned trips. She said that type of demand is hitting across the board right now.

"Last year, I would have said it was beach destinations, but as we've trended into 2022, it's all our destinations, in general," she said. "It's the Nashvilles of the world. All the places people want to go and where people are also doing business. Both traditional convention properties and urban hotels are benefiting greatly."

Officials at London Heathrow Airport, the busiest airport in the United Kingdom, have asked airlines to cancel more flights — including 61 on Monday — and indicated more cancellations are inevitable across the summer to "cope with soaring demand," the BBC reports.

Tens of thousands of passengers have been affected this year by canceled and delayed flights, and confusion and delays around baggage return, as the airport struggles to recruit staff following roles being lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Airport authorities said most consumers have not been affected, and John Holland-Kaye, the London Heathrow Airport's CEO, said, “I am very proud of the way that our team is rising to the challenge of growth, and giving excellent service to the vast majority of passengers.”

India’s Central Consumer Protection Authority has demanded that regional tax collectors enforce hotels and restaurants to standardize and publicize service-charge rules and processes. This comes after a spate of complaints that consumers are pressured into paying extra charges that they legally do not have to and that additional charges are identified as service charges but are not clear.

The CCPA has ordered hotels and restaurants to “clearly inform consumers that service charge is voluntary, optional and at consumers' discretion and they can also not restrict entry or deny services based on collection of service charge," according to the Economic Times of India.

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