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The U.S.-based units of a Singaporean hotel real estate trust have obtained bankruptcy court approval of their sale procedures, despite concerns from business partners that the process is being controlled by lenders at the expense of other stakeholders, Reuters reported. Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi in Delaware signed off on the sale procedures for Eagle Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust’s U.S. entities during a remote hearing on Tuesday afternoon, saying he had no evidence that lenders are running an insider deal. The U.S. debtors, represented by Paul Hastings, have lined up a lead bid for their assets from an affiliate of Monarch Alternative Capital LP for $470 million.

Caesars Entertainment Inc. sued a group of insurance carriers, accusing them of declining to cover an estimated loss of more than $2 billion because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. The casino and hotel company alleges in the lawsuit that it had purchased property insurance coverage to protect against “all risk of physical loss or damage” and resulting business interruption. Most of the policies don’t exclude loss or damage caused by a virus or pandemic, Caesars said in the lawsuit filed Friday in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nev. The company said that it has paid more than $25 million in premiums to secure the all-risk policy portfolio providing more than $3.4 billion in coverage limits. Caesars, which was formed as a result of Eldorado Resort Inc.’s combination with Caesars Entertainment Corp. last year, swung to a loss of $1.76 billion in 2020. The suit is the latest case of a company trying to recover lost business during the pandemic through insurance. The insurers have had the upper hand so far. Of the more than 200 rulings in suits pitting businesses against insurers, more than 80% have been in favor of insurers, according to a COVID-19 litigation-tracking effort at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

Cineworld’s U.S. chain Regal will reopen next month after prolonged closures caused by the pandemic, in time for big-budget release “Godzilla vs. Kong”, it said today as it laid out an exclusivity deal with Warner Bros., Reuters reported. The world’s second-largest cinema operator, whose reopening plans follow larger U.S. rival AMC’s, said its multi-year deal with Warner Bros. will allow it to run the studio’s movies exclusively in U.S. cinemas for 45 days, with certain provisions, starting next year. With capacity limits rising to 50% or more across most U.S. states, Cineworld will be able to operate profitably in its biggest markets, he said. In the United Kingdom, Warner Bros. and Cineworld have agreed to an exclusive theatrical window of 31 days before the film goes to premium video on demand, with an extended window of up to 45 days for films that open to an agreed upon box-office threshold. 

Student tour company WorldStrides said it engaged financial adviser Alvarez & Marsal to help raise financing as the travel industry continues to face headwinds, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Worldstrides parent company Lakeland Tours LLC, which owns the largest accredited travel program in the U.S., has faced a slow recovery since completing a bankruptcy restructuring in September as some restrictions on international travel remain in place. The company provided programs to more than 550,000 students annually to over 100 countries before the pandemic, which devastated the business, forcing tours to be cancelled and customer deposits refunded. The bankruptcy process shaved $105 million in debt from Worldstrides, leaving it owing $663 million in loans upon its exit from chapter 11. Europe, a key market for WorldStrides, is still largely closed to American travelers, as are many other regions worldwide. Washington D.C., a popular domestic destination, has also seen declining interest from student tour groups following the Capitol Hill riot, which led to the installation of protective fencing and a heightened security environment. To weather the slowdown, Worldstrides has been seeking financing until the travel industry recovers further. A Worldstrides spokesman said Thursday the company had engaged Alvarez & Marsal to help raise a $40 million revolving credit line.

Restaurant and hotel bookings are up. Airplane tickets are selling fast. Consumers spent more on gyms, salons and spas in recent weeks than they have since the coronavirus pandemic began. The U.S. economic recovery is picking up steam as Americans increase their spending, particularly on in-person services that were battered by the coronavirus pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. The rising number of COVID-19 vaccinations, falling business restrictions, ample household savings and injections of federal stimulus funds into the economy are fueling the surge, economists say. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this month raised their average forecast for 2021 economic growth to 5.95%, measured from the fourth quarter of last year to the same period this year, from a 4.87% projection in February’s survey. The higher figure would mark the fastest such pace in nearly four decades.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. plans to have nearly all of its U.S. theaters open by Friday, marking a symbolic milestone for a chain that skirted bankruptcy during the depths of the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The last remaining theaters it has left to reopen are mostly in Southern California, where a surge in cases prevented health officials from recommending cinemas resume work. With those screens coming back, 98% of AMC’s U.S. theaters will be operating by March 19, with 99% online by the following week, AMC said in a statement yesterday. The reopening comes after the cinema chain’s toughest year ever, in which AMC repeatedly came close to filing for chapter 11 and saw most major new films delayed because of the pandemic. The Leawood, Kansas-based company lost $4.6 billion in 2020. It came up with a rescue package early in the year that allowed it to survive for most of 2021, even if the business doesn’t improve. “It was exactly one year ago that we closed all AMC locations in the United States,” Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron said in the statement. With the focus now on reopening, AMC is “operating with the highest devotion to the health and safety,” he said. All 23 locations of AMC’s locations in Los Angeles County, the largest moviegoing market in the U.S., will be operational by Friday. And all but two of its 54 California locations will reopened by March 22. Reopened theaters will still have capacity restrictions to allow customers to social distance. In both New York and Los Angeles, officials have said auditoriums can only be 25% full, while the theater has implemented other changes like requiring visitors to wear masks.

The bankrupt Fairmont San Jose hotel in Silicon Valley reached a restructuring deal with secured lender Colony Credit Real Estate Inc. and said it hopes to rebrand as a Signia Hilton, JW Marriott or Grand Hyatt, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A two-tower, 20-story and 805-room luxury hotel that has frequently hosted technology conferences, the Fairmont San Jose is the latest lodging property to file for bankruptcy as a result of a downturn in business during the coronavirus pandemic. The owners of the hotel closed the property earlier this month amid a fight with Fairmont, which managed the hotel. The chapter 11 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., lists roughly $185 million in debt, nearly all of it owed to publicly traded real-estate investment trust Colony Credit. Colony Credit is managed by publicly traded investment firm Colony Capital Inc., which also owns roughly a third of the REIT. Though normally a profitable property, the privately owned hotel said its average occupancy rate during the pandemic has been 8%. Conventions and other events, usually major revenue generators, currently aren’t being scheduled, it said. Losses last year exceeded $18.6 million and are projected to surpass $18.8 million this year, the hotel said. The business said in a court filing that it asked whether Fairmont was willing to provide financing to help get the hotel through the pandemic. Fairmont declined, but at the same time has fought efforts to end its management contract or take its name off the hotel, which opened in 1987 and was expanded in 2002, the filing said.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. said the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines and the release of major movies, including Walt Disney Co.’s “Black Widow”, would boost sales this year, sending the company’s shares up 9%, Reuters reported. AMC’s shares have more than doubled in the last 12 months, with the recent surge coming as a result of being one of the so-called “stonks” — a term used to describe stocks with convoluted prospects that are popular with retail traders on online forums. The health crisis devastated the film industry last year, forcing AMC and its rivals to raise new capital to stay afloat, but analysts polled by Refinitiv expect AMC’s revenue to more than double this year. The cinema chain’s move to implement COVID-19 safety protocols encouraged more than eight million customers to return to its theaters during the fourth quarter, AMC said. AMC added several major releases that were delayed would hit AMC’s big screens May onwards, with films such as “Godzilla vs. Kong”, “Top Gun: Maverick”, “Black Widow” and “F9” expected to boost sales in the coming months.