From the LVRJ: Prestige Travel Inc. lost a U.S. Bankruptcy Court bid on Thursday to
have certain funds applied to customer hotel stays in the future,
potentially leading to an unhappy start to hundreds of vacations.
The
Las Vegas-based travel agency, one of the largest in Nevada, has
already had clients who showed up at local resorts only to be told at
the front desk that they would have to buy their rooms again.
Prestige
requested temporary restraining orders that would force about four
dozen hotels and resorts to use money from standby loans called letters
of credit to cover future guests instead of paying down debts incurred
by Prestige prior to bankruptcy. However, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge
Bruce Markell ruled that the hotels could not be forced honor to their
booking contracts with Prestige, especially when Prestige had already
defaulted on them.
The bookings were made through tripres.com,
Prestige's online division that has already been closed, although the
website still exists and routes bookings through a different company.
The company will attempt to reorganize around physical locations,
currently numbering 10 in Las Vegas.
Tripres would take traveler
payments, then forward them to the hotel after check in. However, in
many instances, the amount Tripres owes exceeds the amount available
from letters of credit though it holds cash in separate accounts. http://www.lvrj.com/business/bankruptcy-court-ruling-on-prestige-travel-may-snarl-travel-plans-176883711.html
This is going to significantly hurt Las Vegas. Not only are we going to lose visitors, they are going to tell their friends that Las Vegas hotels don't honor commitments. This has the potential to very big and very bad for Las Vegas.
Sunrise — 6:57.
2 hours ago
The bookings were made through las vegas tripres.com, Prestige's online division that has already been closed,
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