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1. Booking Holdings To Sue After EU Rejects Etraveli Deal
Executives at Booking Holdings, which owns online travel agency Booking.com, plan to appeal a European Commission ruling blocking a 1.63 billion euro ($1.7 billion) deal to buy Swedish competitor Etraveli Group.
A news release announcing the decision stated the company "strongly believes the Commission is wrong on both the facts of the case and the law applicable to this transaction, which was cleared unconditionally by multiple competition authorities, including the UK Competition & Markets Authority and U.S. FTC."
The statement continues: "The Commission has fundamentally misconstrued the highly competitive travel markets for flights and accommodations, and its decision is an unexplainable departure from the commission's own non-horizontal merger guidelines, which are legally binding on the Commission."
Reuters reports the Commission maintains Booking did not do enough to address concerns raised over how much power the combined company will wield in Europe.
2. Markets React To Fed's 'Higher for Longer' Promise
U.S. Federal Reserve officials said they expect interest rates to remain "higher for longer," and Reuters reports investors don't seem to be buying that premise just yet.
The central bank is now promising an interest rate of at least 5.1% at the end of 2024, but interest rate futures are pricing at a 4.65% rate. The news outlet points to three main reasons for the discrepancy: optimism over inflation, pessimism about the job's market and uncertainty within the Fed.
3. AutoCamp Leans In on Outdoor Corporate Retreats
Describing corporate group demand as his company's "bread and butter," glamping company AutoCamp's Vice President of Revenue Management Vinny Cuneo told HNN that unique experiences help drive that demand.
"That's really what gets groups to come out to AutoCamp," he said to HNN's Dana Miller. "We have really strong relationships with experience providers in all of our markets. We actually have a platform on our website, where even our leisure guests can go and book those, and they're hosted and managed through local relationships. We try to be the best partner we can in the communities we operate in and don't try to duplicate anything that exists there."
4. Miami Colonial Demolition Could Mark End of Era for Historic Hotels in Market
The Messenger reports RFR Holdings' plan to build a 104-story skyscraper in Miami includes the demolition of the YVE Hotel Miami, built in the 1920s as the Miami Colonial. This would mark the end of an era for a stretch of historic hotels along Biscayne Boulevard, the news outlet reports.
"The hotel once sat on a strip of historic hotels on Miami's Biscayne Boulevard that defined its once-iconic skyline," according to the Messenger. "The strip boasted famed hotels including The Columbus and Everglades."
5. Chinese Stocks Drop as Evergrande Struggles Deepen
The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index in China fell by more than 4% early Monday amid news that troubled real-estate developer Evergrande was delaying its debt restructuring meeting that was slated for today, CNBC reports.
The company pointed to softer-than-expected sales as a reason they needed to step back and "re-assess the terms of the proposed restructuring to meet the company's objective situations and the demand of the creditors."