Hilton Worldwide wins a contract

Hilton Worldwide announced plans Tuesday to operate a new 500-room convention center hotel in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

The Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority picked McLean-based Hilton to market and manage the facility on Oct. 6. The decision came nearly three months after five competitors responded to the authority’s request for proposals.

Hilton beat out the other finalist, Bethesda-based Marriott International Inc., to operate the hotel, which is expected to open in the fall of 2012.

“The two were neck and neck,” Authority Chairman John Christie told Columbus Business First, a sister publication, of the finalists’ qualifications. “We could not have made a mistake.”

The authority also approved the sale of $160 million in bonds to finance construction. The term of the bonds could extend 34 years. Under the 15-year initial management contract with the hotel chain, Hilton will contribute $2.5 million toward the total cost of the project.

“After carefully analyzing all proposals on the table, we made the decision to go with Hilton Worldwide because their proposal was the best fit financially and programmatically for our project,” said Bill Jennison, executive director of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority.

The 1.7 million-square-foot Greater Columbus Convention Center is already served by another convention headquarters lodge.

“With the additional room nights, we will now be able to compete for 92 percent of our target market in the industry,” said Jennison.

The selection of a hotel management company marks the final major contract before the start of construction in summer 2010. In July, the convention facilities authority approved Turner Construction Co. and Smoot Construction Co. as construction managers.

The hotel is expected to have a large atrium in the lobby, 54 suites and 30,650 square feet of banquet and meeting space.

The losing company in the Columbus bid, Marriott, has been tapped to operate D.C.’s convention center hotel deal. But that deal is the focus of a lawsuit filed Sept. 4 by an entity controlled by The JBG Cos., arguing that D.C. taxpayers deserve a better deal than they are getting.

D.C. wants the court to expedite its consideration of the suit to minimize further delay of the long-stalled hotel.

In 2002 the city picked Marriott to build the 1,167-room Marriott Marquis, which would sit across the street from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The Ambacang Hotel in downtown Padang has become a macabre meeting place.

Every day since Wednesday's devastating earthquake, hundreds of locals have braved searing heat, swirling dust and the stench of rotting corpses to gather outside the ruined Dutch-era colonial hotel to watch authorities work through the rubble.

Although thousands of buildings were badly damaged in the quake, it is the Ambacang - a well-known local landmark - that has captured the most attention, both from locals and foreign news crews.

Occasionally, a body is pulled out, loaded into a waiting ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital morgue for identification.

Four days after the quake, it's believed scores of bodies are still trapped inside. After several hot days, the stench is worsening. Many people wear surgical masks or hold their sleeves over their noses as they watch on.

But authorities believe some people may still be alive inside.

Onlookers have their fingers crossed.

"A lot of victims are still in there," Josie, 23, says.

"We're hoping they're still alive."
But does she really believe its possible people have survived so long?
"If they're still alive, they will be badly hurt, and very weak from hunger and thirst."
Eri, 38, also believes it's possible.

"I believe many people are still inside, because at the time the hotel was very crowded," he says.

"God willing, some have been saved."
Others, perhaps, have more morbid motivations for coming to the Ambacang. Eri's seven-year-old son, Haikal, "wants to see some victims". Teenagers use their mobile phones to take photos as bodies are pulled out.

Sherim, a local who is staying at a nearby hotel, is frustrated by the focus on the Ambacang.

Her university campus was badly damaged in the quake, and 80 young people are believed to be trapped inside, including many of her friends.

"There's suffering all over, why do people only care about the Ambacang?"
Authorities do not believe any Australians are trapped inside the hotel but it could be quite some time before that is confirmed.

Meanwhile, international search and rescue teams, including an Australian team, had sprung into action on Saturday.

Their first task was to assess more than 2000 sites where people may be trapped to decide if there is any possibility of finding people inside, alive or dead.
The international aid response was also gaining momentum, with relief supplies arriving from 14 countries, including Australia.

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