The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Montego Bay.
WESTERN BUREAU:ANOTHER LEGAL battle is raging between two of the major players in the island's tourist industry.
Ritz-Carlton, which operates the Rose Hall Resort-owned 420-room hotel in Montego Bay, has been restrained from making any withdrawals or lodgements to its accounts outside of the ordinary course of business without prior written consent by the owners, the Rollins family.
The restraining order is to remain in effect until 20 days after an arbitration panel is constituted to deal with the dispute between the Rose Hall Resort, owned by the Rollins family of Atlanta and the Ritz-Carlton, a brand of the Marriott chain of hotels.
The Ritz has managed the Montego Bay hotel for the last nine years under its renowned brand.
In copies of court papers obtained by The Sunday Gleaner, it is stated that on September 4, the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta granted Rose Hall Resort, L.P (Rose Hall's) emergency motion or application for a temporary restraining order.
The order restrains both parties from removing or disabling any personal property of Rose Hall at the resort including books, furniture and equipment, except that either party has the right to obtain copies of the books and records to which they are entitled to access under the terms of the 'operating agreement'.
In addition, Ritz-Carlton and its agents are restrained from soliciting past or present customers away from the resort, from making disparaging comments about the owner of the resort, the owner's new management company, the condition of the resort or its service standards.
The court order also states that where Ritz-Carlton wishes to make disbursements to Ritz-Carlton or its affiliates, this may only be done after Ritz-Carlton has given the owner of the resort or its representatives five days prior written notice.
Both parties are restrained from recruiting or soliciting the resort's employees without a written mutual agreement on a statement to be made to the employees and Ritz-Carlton and its agents are restrained from preventing the owner of Rose Hall from telling or communicating to the resort employees.
Ritz-Carlton is restrained from operating the resort outside of the ordinary course of business in accordance with the 'operating agreement' without the prior written consent of the owner.
Ritz-Carlton is also restrained from denying the owner of the resort from accessing any of Rose Hall's property while the resort owner will not have access to Ritz-Carlton's proprietary information.
The Sunday Gleaner has been informed that US-based luxury chain Salamander Hospitality is to take over management of the 428-room hotel as early as next month.
female billionaire
Salamander Hospitality, which operates three properties in the United States, is owned by Sheila C. Johnson, who became the first African-American female billionaire in 2000 when she and her former husband, Robert, co-founders of Black Entertainment Television (BET), sold the network for US$3 billion.
"The takeover could be as soon as the next 30 to 60 days and it could be as long as six months. If we can make the transition in short order, we would want to start in October," said the Sunday Gleaner source.
Janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com