Search: aviara dispute

Aviara To Become Park Hyatt Aviara Resort

by The Editors on April 21, 2010

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It’s been 13 months since Carlsbadistan’s Aviara Resort owner BRCP HEF Hotel Tenant LLC first tried to get out of its management contract with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in what we called the Battle of Aviara. BRCP claimed Four Seasons was not living up to its contractual obligations and Four Season disagreed.

Now, after lockouts, and checkpoints, and accusations from both sides it appears that arbitration has worked, according to a story on the San Diego News Network. Four Seasons is out and Hyatt Hotels is in.

Hyatt Hotels has been selected to take over management of the Aviara Resort in Carlsbad from Four Seasons Hotels, it was announced Tuesday. . . Hyatt plans to brand and manage Aviara Resort as part of its luxury Park Hyatt group on June 21, when it will become the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort, according to the company.

According to the story, the arbitration panel agreed with Four Seasons that no management agreements were broken, however they apparently decided that Four Seasons should no longer be involved with the property.

For the entire BRCP HEF Hotel Tenant LLC press release regarding the change please follow the jump.

[Link: San Diego News Network]
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Aviara Arbitration Continued Until June 17

by The Editors on May 29, 2009

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In an arbitration meeting today the Four Seasons’ management company and Broadreach Capital Partners (the owners of the Aviara resort) decided that the entire matter should be continued until the week of June 15, 2009, according to Four Seasons Director of Public Relations Tony Pistillo.

“At the direction of the arbitration panel, we have no further comment,” Pistillo said in an email.

The meetings, set to resolve a dispute in which the resort’s owners are attempting to replace Four Seasons as the property’s management company with the New Jersey based Dolce Hotels and Resorts, came on the heels of the resort’s most visible event of the year, The Wall Street Journal’s D7 | All Things Digital Conference. The event, which featured titans of the digital and media business, brought Carlsbadistan, an unbelievable amount of press.

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Aviara Under Seige: Part IV

by The Editors on May 13, 2009

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In the Battle of Aviara press release war over The Four Seasons Aviara, the Four Seasons management group has now upped the ante with the longest press release so far which is loaded with shots across the bow of BRCP HEF Hotel Tenant, LLC like this one:

As illogical as it may sound, the Owners have threatened to stop funding operations, including salary payments to employees, yet expect to continue to collect and hold revenues from ongoing operations. Under the management agreement, the Owners are obligated to fund all required working capital, including debt service payments. . . the Owners re-financed the asset in 2006, significantly increasing the debt service significantly and making it impossible for the Resort to service its debt level in the current economic downturn.

That seems to make sense. Follow the jump for the entire release.
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Aviara Under Seige Part: III

by The Editors on May 12, 2009

Aviara PoolAs much as we would like to do actual reportage on the Battle of Aviara, just posting the press releases from the two sides is becoming quite fun in and of itself.

Here’s a taste of what you can read from Aviara ownership group BRCP HEF Hotel Tenant, LLC in full after the jump:

“Our client, the owners of the resort, have terminated Four Seasons — and believe that Four Seasons is occupying the resort without authority to do so,” says William A. Brewer III, partner at Bickel & Brewer and lead counsel for the owners. “Upon being notified by Four Seasons that it would physically oppose owners’ efforts to install a new management company, our clients chose not to risk a confrontation.”

Apparently, the Four Seasons has turned back to owners for the time being. Stay tuned.
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The Battle of The Four Seasons Aviara

by The Editors on May 11, 2009

Four SeasonsA “showdown” was scheduled for today at 1 PM in a dispute between BRCP HEF Hotel Tenant LLC, the owner of the Four Seasons Resort Aviara and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the Toronto-based company that manages The Four Seasons Aviara, according to a story in the North County Times.

The struggle dates to Friday, March 27, when the hotel’s owner attempted to extricate itself from a contract with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, a Toronto-based company that manages Aviara and dozens of other luxury resorts around the world. . . But instead of waiting for an arbitration panel’s directions, representatives of BRCP HEF Hotel Tenant LLC, the Delaware company that owns the resort, entered the hotel around 1 a.m. the following Sunday, picked the locks in a manager’s office and posted private security guards outside, according to legal documents that Four Seasons filed in San Diego federal court Monday morning.

Last week BRCP HEF Hotel Tenant reportedly named the New Jersey company Dolce Hotels and Resorts as the new managers of the resort property. Wonder how long it will take them to get all the signs, letterhead, menus, plastic cups, and keys swapped out with the new name? Whatever that will be.

[Link: North County Times and San Diego Union Tribune]

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The Four Seasons Responds

by The Editors on May 11, 2009

This afternoon we got an email from Tony Pistillo, the director of public relations at the Four Season’s. It contained a statement that was released on May 9, 2009 regarding the battle for Avaria. Here it is:

Four Seasons announced today that it has no intention to voluntarily relinquish its role as manager of Four Seasons Resort Aviara in Carlsbad CA. Four Seasons has managed the Resort since 1997.

Very recently, a dispute arose with regard to the 2009 operating budget for the Resort and the Owner’s obligation to provide working capital necessary to fund debt service. That dispute is currently the subject of an arbitration proceeding, which Four Seasons fully respects and will abide by. Four Seasons has fulfilled all of its obligations under the relevant management agreements. Four Seasons intends to vigorously defend its rights in the arbitration process currently underway.

Four Seasons will also seek substantial damages from the Owner (which is beneficially owned Broadreach Capital Partners and asset-managed by Maritz, Wolff & Co.) and its counsel for their conduct in damaging the operation and reputation of the Resort and of Four Seasons.

Without knowing any of the back story we’ll just say it looks like this might get a little more involved before everything is settled.

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