Breakfast Briefing - Quote of the Week, Tweet of the Week, Video of the Week and more

Quote of the Week

“I’m running out of ways to describe how utterly bonkers this whole saga has become”James Hand suggested 'Boaty McBoatface' as the new name for a research ship which Britain's Natural Environment Research Council asked the public to name. His suggestion, obviously a joke, has gone on to receive nearly 30,000 public votes.Find out more here

Tweet of the Week

Evan Davis showed Nicky Morgan, Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities a graph produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which demonstrated the net gains and losses in the poorest and richest incomes, as a result of tax and benefit cuts over this Parliament.Tim Montgomerie of The Times sent the tweet after the conversation between the two became awkward with Davis arguing Morgan doesn't really know what the government is doing because she hasn't been presented with the data. Morgan replied saying she doesn't study the IFS figures.Click here or the image to view the tweet.

How Airbnb designs for trust

Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb, bet his whole company on the belief that people can trust each other enough to stay in one another's homes. How did he overcome the stranger-danger bias? Through good design. Now, 123 million hosted nights (and counting) later, Gebbia sets out his dream for a culture of sharing in which design helps foster community and connection instead of isolation and separation.To view the full video click the image or here.

Appointment of the Week

The AA has announced the appointment of Peter Laigaard Jensen as the new Head of AA Hotel Services.Peter Laigaard Jensen’s hospitality career began in hotels in his homeland of Denmark where he worked his way up from washing dishes. His career then took him to work around the world in a variety roles including, Executive Chef, General Manager, Director of Services for a North Pole airforce base, Country Operations Manager for an international hotel chain and most recently as the Chief Operating Officer for a chain of four and five star hotels in Azerbaijan. This breadth of experience will be a great asset as he looks to grow the services offered by AA Hotel Services.

Image of the Week

Brazil's rich draft a duck to protest president

The giant inflatable yellow duck captures the anger of rich and upper-middle class Brazilians who have taken to the streets to protest against President Dilma Rousseff.

The 40-foot duck is related to the saying "To pay the duck" which in Brazilian Portuguese means to unfairly pay for someone else's mistakes.Since Rousseff took office in 2011, Brazil's economy has gone from being one of the world's fastest growing major economies to one of its worst performers, contracting by 3.8 percent in 2015, as the commodities boom ended and a wide-ranging corruption scandal hit investor confidence.For more information click the image or here.

Global News from eHotelier

• Starwood announces groundbreaking expansion to Cuba
• Starwood receives “Superior Proposal”
• Lodging drives steady growth in U.S. travel market: report
• MSC Cruises partners with celebrity chef Roy Yamaguchi
• Cunard announces new details on remastering of Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria
• Ritz-Carlton launches First Drop coffee brand

Business News This Week

Starwood receives "Superior Proposal" from Chinese-led consortium of investors

• An 11th-hour bid from a Chinese-led consortium of investors has knocked back the £8b deal by Marriott International to acquire Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.
• Starwood has informed Marriott that it intends to terminate the merger agreement, announced in November 2015, unless the two parties can agree on a revised deal which would be “superior” to an offer of $13b (£9.2b) made by a group of investors led by Anberg Insurance Group. The deal involves nearly 1,300 hotels across around 100 countries.

Poor beer quality costs pubs over £300m in lost profit

• According to the latest Beer Quality Report, only 29% of beer lines are perfectly clean, with one in three pints served to UK consumers via an unclean beer line. The average difference in beer volumes between a pub that cleans its lines regularly to one that doesn’t equates to the loss of 50 barrels per year, worth £50,000 a year at retail selling price.
• The research, conducted by Vianet and Cask Marque, combines data from a consumer survey by Cask Marque and annual visits to 20,000 pubs.
• They warns that poor beer quality is costing operators £111 million in pouring yield and a potential 2% improvement in till yield worth £222 million, with British pubs missing out on an average profit of £6,416 per pub every year.

For more information on EP please contact Ben Butler