Business

GM is increasing the price of its electric Hummer by $6,250, effective Saturday.
The announcement comes after several automakers hiked the cost of their electric vehicles in recent weeks.
Reservations for GM’s EV Hummer have topped 77,500, according to GM, a number that has exceeded the company’s initial expectations.

GMC Hummer EV Edition 1
Michael Wayland | CNBC

GM said Friday that it is increasing the price of its electric Hummer by $6,250, effective Saturday.
The company blamed higher prices for parts, technology and logistics.

All reservations placed before Saturday are exempt from the increase, the company said. The Hummer EV pickup truck currently goes for about $80,000 to $100,000.
The announcement comes after several automakers hiked the cost of their electric vehicles in recent weeks. The war in Ukraine and ongoing supply chain challenges have jacked up the the prices of the raw materials necessary for EV batteries, causing Tesla, Rivian and Cadillac to raise the prices of their electric vehicles.
Reservations for GM’s EV Hummer have topped 77,500, according to GM, a number that has exceeded the company’s initial expectations.
GM said in March that it would ramp up production of the Hummer EV.
The Hummer EV pickup truck is for sale, but new orders are unlikely to be fulfilled until 2024 due to the number of current reservations, a company executive previously told CNBC. The Hummer EV SUV, which GM unveiled last year, isn’t expected to arrive until next year.
— CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this article.

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Casino stocks have underperformed the S&P 500 as consumers grapple with inflation and recession concerns.
Derek Stevens, who owns three Las Vegas properties, said his customers are scaling back spending on amenities and are gambling less at the tables and slots.
“Every weekend has been worse than the prior weekend,” he told CNBC.

Shares of casino companies have plummeted even as inflation has soared at rates not seen in four decades and fears of a recession rattle consumers and investors alike.
Caesars Entertainment stock has plummeted 50% so far this quarter. Bally’s has dropped 40% over the same time period, and Penn National Gaming and MGM Resorts shares have declined 35%. To compare, the S&P 500, which recently entered a bear market, is down nearly 19% this quarter.

Yet, the nation’s commercial casinos just had their best April ever, according to the American Gaming Association. The industry posted $4.99 billion in revenue, up 12.4% year over year. It’s the second-highest grossing month ever, following March of this year.
On earnings calls in April and May, casino executives collectively denied seeing any slowdown in customer spending, in spite of soaring gas, housing and food costs, except in the very lowest demographic of customer.
In a note published this week, Jefferies gaming analyst David Katz wrote that meetings with management teams in Las Vegas provided “evidence of the dichotomy between the current operating strength and the markets’ expectation of a recession.”

Danny Owens of Sacramento, Calif. plays a slot machine in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, June 4, 2020.
Steve Marcus | Reuters

Katz wrote that MGM, Caesars, Wynn Resorts, Boyd Gaming, Golden Entertainment, and Red Rock Resorts, which owns Stations casinos, say business levels continue to be “very strong” in the second and third quarter, with demand pricing and volume levels above 2019 and strong bookings into 2023, as conference business and international travel rebound in Las Vegas.
But Derek Stevens, owner of three downtown Las Vegas properties, including Circa, is telling a different story. In April, he told CNBC he was beginning to see the impact from inflation based on the amount of cash being withdrawn from casino ATMs.

There has been no letup since then, he told CNBC this week.
“It’s just really accelerated,” Stevens said. “Every weekend has been worse than the prior weekend.”
He described it as a downward spiral: Bars have suffered the biggest percentage decline, and gaming has seen the biggest impact as slots and table games have experienced a slowdown.
And yet, Stevens said, demand for travel is still there: Reservations at his Las Vegas hotels are holding steady, without any room discounts. Hotel guests are limiting their spending elsewhere, he added, noting that customers are spending less on restaurants and extra amenities at the pool and other discretionary items.
“If you’re on the West Coast, you might have felt it a little bit quicker because gas prices,” Stevens said, referring to California’s super-high fuel costs. “You can immediately see it in discretionary consumer spending.”

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WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon is stepping back from his duties as the company’s board investigates alleged misconduct by the executive.
The announcement comes after The Wall Street Journal revealed the WWE board was probing a $3 million hush payment from McMahon to a female former employee over an alleged affair.
Stephanie McMahon, McMahon’s daughter, will take over as interim chairman and CEO.

WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon speaks at a news conference announcing the WWE Network at the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas.
Getty Images

WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon is stepping back from his duties as the company’s board investigates alleged misconduct by the executive, the company announced Friday.
The announcement of the move and the special board committee probe comes two days after The Wall Street Journal reported that the WWE board was looking into McMahon for paying a former employee $3 million to keep her quiet about an alleged affair between the two of them.

The report said the probe also dug up previous nondisclosure agreements with former female WWE employees who alleged misconduct against McMahon and another executive, John Laurinaitis, who used to wrestle under the name Johnny Ace. The board’s investigation began in April, the Journal had reported.
“I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the Special Committee, and I will do everything possible to support the investigation,” McMahon said in a press release Friday. “I have also pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are.”
McMahon will remain involved in the wrestling media company’s creative content, according to the release.
McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon, will take over as interim chairwoman and CEO. Stephanie McMahon said in May that she was pulling back from the bulk of her duties as a WWE executive to spend more time with her family.
“I love this company and am committed to working with the Independent Directors to strengthen our culture and our Company; it is extremely important to me that we have a safe and collaborative workplace,” Stephanie McMahon said in the release. “I have committed to doing everything in my power to help the Special Committee complete its work, including marshaling the cooperation of the entire company to assist in the completion of the investigation and to implement its findings.”

The announcement didn’t mention whether Laurinaitis, the company’s head of talent relations, would also step away from his duties while the investigation unfolds. The WWE didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment. In its release, the WWE said, “The Company and the Board do not expect to have further comment until the investigation is concluded.”
Vince McMahon, 76, is married to Linda McMahon, a former CEO of the wrestling company who worked as the head of the Small Business Administration under then-President Donald Trump, a WWE Hall of Famer.
While the WWE is a publicly traded company, McMahon, a flamboyant executive who has routinely acted out wrestling drama storylines in front of the camera, is effectively the controlling shareholder. He bought the company from his father 40 years ago and has orchestrated its growth into a global, arena-packing brand that has media partnerships with Fox, Hulu and NBCUniversal’s Peacock, among others.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

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Social influencers focused on financial education for the Black community are emphasizing a message of financial freedom this Juneteenth.
“I definitely feel the Juneteenth remembrance should have a level of economic understanding as a part of it,” Rashad Bilal of the Earn Your Leisure podcast.
Bilal and others are working to help Black Americans contend with a wide wealth disparity with white Americans.

Troy Millings, left, and Rashad Bilal of Earn Your Leisure
Source: Earn Your Leisure

Social influencers focused on financial education for the Black community are emphasizing a message of financial freedom this Juneteenth as the nation commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
“I definitely feel the Juneteenth remembrance should have a level of economic understanding as a part of it,” Rashad Bilal of the Earn Your Leisure podcast told CNBC. “But I think the problem with holidays is that no matter what it is Christmas, Easter, New Year’s, everything is just made as a celebration, and you lose the meaning of it.”

Bilal, a former financial advisor, added: “The importance of freedom both economically and social on Juneteenth is something that people should keep in mind every single day.”
Earn Your Leisure, which is focused on financial literacy, has more than 1 million followers on Instagram and is part of a growing movement of content creators providing insight and tips on the markets, real estate,  crypto currency, entrepreneurship and more.

“Let’s see where it goes. Maybe it’s not just this holiday or a week or Black History Month. What if we can have this economic conversation on a daily basis?” said Earn Your Leisure’s Troy Millings, a former physical education teacher.
They’re also making an explicit link between goals of financial freedom today and the economic impact slavery had on America and its Black citizens.
“Understand that  people literally died for finances. That’s what slavery was really about. It was a financial system that was put in place for free labor,” Bilal said. “So when you see our ancestors actually sacrificed their lives and that was done for economic empowerment, it forces you to look at your finances. You don’t want to just waste your money. You can actually use that money to change the trajectory of your family.”

Black Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to wealth. According to a Federal Reserve study released in 2020, the median net worth of Black families in the United States was about $24,000. The approximate median net worth for white families was $188,000.

Ian Dunlap aka Master Investor, center, with Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal.
Source: Ian Dunlap

Other influencers spreading the economic emancipation message this Juneteenth include Ian Dunlap aka The Master Investor, Kezia Williams, the Wall Street Trapper, Philip Michael and Ross Mac. They have millions of social media followers, and each has their own niche but the same goal of helping the Black community balance their books and build wealth.
Dunlap told CNBC that he thinks economic freedom is just as important as social justice. “If we have don’t have economic freedom and financial literacy we truly do not have justice,” he said.
Dunlap is urging Black Americans to pay special attention to a 2017 report that forecasts the median wealth of Black households will fall to $0 by 2053 and look for opportunities to invest. “I don’t want our people, our kids, our grandchildren to become destitute and that’s the challenge we face if we don’t collectively take action,” he said.

Kezia Williams
Kezia Williams | Black upStart

Elsewhere, Williams calls herself an “emancipation activist” as well as an influencer. Williams is the CEO of Black upStart, a company that provides education and support to early stage entrepreneurs.
In previous years, Williams has urged Black consumers to view Juneteenth as an opportunity to support Black businesses and post their receipts with the hashtag #myBlackReceipt.
“Invest in those Black entrepreneurs who will use those dollars that you spend with their business in order to give back to their communities and create products and services that our community needs and also build wealth for their family that can yield generational returns.” Williams said.
Michael, meanwhile, has a goal of helping 100,000 Black people become millionaires by 2030 through real estate. He boasts a $250 million dollar real estate portfolio created from $850,000 in seed money from a relative.
“The asset class that has created more millionaires than any other is real estate. That’s one of the ‘easiest’ ways to get that point,” Michael told CNBC. “Really, what I want to do is normalize those conversations in a casual format where we can talk about our investment portfolio just as easy as we talk about a trip we went on or shoes we bought.”

Philip Michael
Source: Philip Michael

The Earn Your Leisure podcast is considered a pioneer is the emerging space of financial influencers and has scored many high profile people in the world of business, sports and entertainment to discuss their financial plans, mistakes and goals. Those guests have included Mark Cuban, Shaquille O’Neal and Steve Harvey.
The hosting pair also created the hashtag #AssetsOverLiabilities that has become the philosophy of their content and a motto used on t-shirts and other merchandise. Bilal and Millings, started their podcast in January of 2019 with the goal of demystifying Wall Street for the Black Community.
“We wanted to make learning about finance and generational wealth a cool thing, we wanted to make it a commonplace conversation. I didn’t grow up with conversations like that at the dinner table. But imagine if we did? Imagine if at the barbershop we weren’t arguing about the best basketball player, but we were talking about the top companies, what that could do to a neighborhood.” Millings said.
Bilal and Millings now believe Earn Your Leisure has evolved from creating content to truly educating the Black community about wealth creation.
“Educating is something that is sustainable over the long term. In the formal setting the way you understand somebody’s learning is you assess.” Millings said. “Our assessment is when we hear the feedback when we go out, and we see the people and they tell us about the stories or when they send us emails and saying, ‘this changed my life.'” More

The FBI says investment fraudsters pose a “significant threat” to LinkedIn.
Users around the country tell CNBC they lost small fortunes after connecting with someone on LinkedIn who they believed was giving them sound financial advice.
The company acknowledges a recent increase in fraud and says it removed 32 million fake accounts last year.

SAN FRANCISCO — Fraudsters who exploit LinkedIn to lure users into cryptocurrency investment schemes pose a “significant threat” to the platform and consumers, according to Sean Ragan, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento, California, field offices.
“It’s a significant threat,” Ragan said in an exclusive interview. “This type of fraudulent activity is significant, and there are many potential victims, and there are many past and current victims.”

Sean Ragan, FBI special agent in charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento field offices.
Source: CNBC

The scheme works like this: A fraudster posing as a professional creates a fake profile and reaches out to a LinkedIn user. The scammer starts with small talk over LinkedIn messaging, and eventually offers to help the victim make money through a crypto investment. Victims interviewed by CNBC say since LinkedIn is a trusted platform for business networking, they tend to believe the investments are legitimate.
Typically, the fraudster directs the user to a legitimate investment platform for crypto, but after gaining their trust over several months, tells them to move the investment to a site controlled by the fraudster. The funds are then drained from the account.
“So the criminals, that’s how they make money, that’s what they focus their time and attention on,” Ragan said. “And they are always thinking about different ways to victimize people, victimize companies. And they spend their time doing their homework, defining their goals and their strategies, and their tools and tactics that they use.”
Ragan said the FBI has seen an increase in this particular investment fraud, which is different from a long-running scam in which the criminal pretends to show a romantic interest in the subject to persuade them to part with their money. The FBI confirmed it has active investigations but could not comment since they are open cases.
In a statement, LinkedIn acknowledged there has been a recent uptick of fraud on its platform, telling CNBC that “we enforce our policies, which are very clear: fraudulent activity, including financial scams, are not allowed on LinkedIn. We work every day to keep our members safe, and this includes investing in automated and manual defenses to detect and address fake accounts, false information, and suspected fraud.”

“We work with peer companies and government agencies from across the world with the goal of keeping LinkedIn members safe from bad actors. If a member encounters or is the victim of a scam we ask that they report it to us and to local law enforcement.”
LinkedIn’s senior director of trust, privacy and equity, Oscar Rodriguez, said, “trying to identify what is fake and what is not fake is incredibly difficult.”
“One of the things that I would really love for us to do more is get into proactive education for members,” Rodriguez said. “Letting members know or basically allowing them to understand the risks that they might face.”
The company says it removed more than 32 million fake accounts from its platform in 2021, according to its semiannual report on fraud. From July to December 2021, its automated defenses stopped 96% of all fake accounts — that includes 11.9 million that were stopped at registration and 4.4 million that were proactively restricted, the report said. Members reported 127,000 fake profiles that were also removed.
LinkedIn said its automated defenses caught 99.1% of spam and scams, a total of 70.8 million, in that same time period. Another 179,000 were removed after members reported them. LinkedIn said it doesn’t provide estimates on how much money has been stolen from members through its platform.
The company cautioned users in a Thursday night blog post on its platform against sending money to people they don’t know and responding to accounts with a questionable work history or other red flags, such as poor grammar.
That’s little comfort to Mei Mei Soe, a Florida benefits manager who says she lost $288,000 — her entire life savings — to a scammer on LinkedIn. It started out innocently enough with someone whose profile said he was a manager at a Los Angeles fitness company seeking to connect with her last December. They began chatting first over LinkedIn and then on a messaging app, and she said she was intrigued by his offer to help her make money.

Mei Mei Soe, fraud victim.
Source: CNBC

“He asked me if I’m on LinkedIn for professional networking or if I’m looking for a job,” Soe said. “I never trust anybody, but we began talking and over time he gained my trust.”
Soe said when the conversation eventually turned to investing, “he showed me how he’s profiting from his investments and told me I should start investing with crypto.com which I know is a legitimate website. I started with $400.”
The fraudster convinced her to move her investments to a site he controlled. Over several months, Soe would make a total of nine transactions, which included bank loans and money borrowed from friends, hoping to use her earnings to start a small business. But Soe would soon learn that the connection she made on LinkedIn wasn’t who he said he was. In the end, she lost all of her funds.
“I still remember the day,” Soe said. “Once I realized I had been scammed, I tried to contact him but couldn’t find him anywhere. I work hard, and every single dollar I save, I work hard to save that. It hurts.”
She said she never thought she would get scammed on LinkedIn.
Crypto.com said it immediately takes down accounts that it finds are linked to a scam.
“We take a proactive approach to managing and protecting against external threats, including scam and phishing campaigns,” it said in a statement to CNBC. “As with all financial transactions, fiat or crypto, it is critical to ensure the account receiving funds is legitimate and its owner is identified and trustworthy prior to the transfer.”
Soe’s story is not unique. A group of victims defrauded on LinkedIn which meets regularly over Zoom recently invited a CNBC reporter to join the session, as long as the participants’ faces were concealed and their names not revealed. Their losses ranged from $200,000 to $1.6 million.
“We just never thought there could be such malicious intent behind a LinkedIn profile,” one victim who lost $350,000 said.
“The fraudsters hide behind successful companies,” another victim who lost $200,000 said. “One of the biggest reasons I accepted the invite was the person stated on their profile that they worked for a legitimate company.”
“We’ve lost a lot of money,” a victim who lost $700,000 said. “And it’s not just all of our savings, people have lost their houses and their car loans. It’s life destroying and soul crushing.”
Ragan said he understands the victims’ pain, but they should not blame themselves.
“It’s not their fault that they were victimized,” Ragan said. “It’s the perpetrator’s fault. It’s the criminal’s fault. They spend their nights and days thinking about ways to victimize and defraud people. That’s how they make their money through illicit gains. And the people that fall victim to it, they’re victims.”
The Global Anti-Scam Organization, a victim advocacy and support group, has traced the majority of the perpetrators to Southeast Asia.
“They usually target victims on LinkedIn by showing that they have some entrepreneurial spirit,” Grace Yuen, Global Anti-Scam Organization spokesperson, said. “They may claim they graduated from a well-known university, then they say they’re in finance or in investment. Sometimes they even pretend to be in the same industry as you.”

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Sustainable Energy

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In a statement Thursday, Swedish energy firm Vattenfall said some of the wind turbines at the 1.5 gigawatt Hollandse Kust Zuid facility would use Siemens Gamesa’s RecycableBlades.
The issue of what to do with wind turbine blades when they’re no longer needed is a headache for the industry. That’s because the composite materials that blades are made from can be difficult to recycle, which means that many end up in landfills when their service life ends.
With governments around the world attempting to ramp up their renewable energy capacity, the number of wind turbines worldwide only looks set to grow, which will in turn increase pressure on the sector to find sustainable solutions to the disposal of blades.

A wind turbine at the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm, in the Irish Sea. With governments around the world attempting to ramp up their renewable energy capacity, the number of wind turbines worldwide only looks set to grow, which will in turn increase pressure on the sector to find sustainable solutions to the disposal of blades.
Ashley Cooper | Corbis Documentary | Getty Images

A major offshore wind farm being built in waters off the Netherlands is set to use recyclable blades from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy — the latest in a line of companies attempting to tackle an issue that’s proved to be a challenge for the wind energy sector.
In a statement Thursday, Swedish energy firm Vattenfall said some of the wind turbines at the 1.5 gigawatt Hollandse Kust Zuid facility would use Siemens Gamesa’s RecycableBlades. These blades, Vattenfall said, use “a resin type that dissolves in a low-temperature, mildly acidic solution.”

That, it explained, enables the resin to be separated from other components within the blade — carbon fiber, wood, fiberglass, metal and plastic — “without significantly impacting their properties.” The components can then be recycled and used again.
Offshore construction on Hollandse Kust Zuid, which will use 140 wind turbines, began in July 2021. It is jointly owned by Vattenfall, Allianz and BASF and commissioning is planned for 2023.

Industry headache

The issue of what to do with wind turbine blades when they’re no longer needed is a headache for the industry. That’s because the composite materials that blades are made from can be difficult to recycle, which means that many end up in landfills when their service life ends.
With governments around the world attempting to ramp up their renewable energy capacity, the number of wind turbines worldwide only looks set to grow, which will in turn increase pressure on the sector to find sustainable solutions to the disposal of blades.

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Vattenfall is one of several companies looking into recycling and reusing wind turbine blades — an aim that feeds into the idea of creating a “circular economy” in which waste is minimized and products repurposed and reused.  

Earlier in June, Spanish energy firm Iberdrola said it had jointly established a company with FCC Ambito that plans to recycle components used in renewable energy installations, including wind turbine blades. FCC Ambito is a subsidiary of FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente.
In a statement at the time, Iberdrola said the company, known as EnergyLOOP, would develop a blade recycling facility in Navarre, northern Spain.
“The initial objective will be the recovery of wind turbine blade components — mostly glass and carbon fibres and resins — and their reuse in sectors such as energy, aerospace, automotive, textiles, chemicals and construction,” the company said.

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View from the Gulf

Brunches in Dubai are legendary and have always been unapologetic in their sheer extravagance.
Traditionally starting at around 12.30 p.m. and finishing some time after 4.30 p.m., these all-you-can-eat and drink get-togethers bolster Dubai’s image as a Champagne bottle popping, sunshine soaking, lobster cracking, party playground.
Hotels are doing all they can to woo back big-spender brunch clientele and their efforts appear to be paying off.

The UAE is tackling this issue of work-life balance and the government recently rolled out a 4.5-day working week for Emirati government employees.
Laszlo Szirtesi | Getty Images News | Getty Images

They say it’s risky playing with a winning formula — especially when that formula results in massive revenue for Covid-battered restaurants and is one of the pillars of a country’s tourism offering.
So, when the UAE government announced it was shifting its weekend from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday to align with global markets at the start of the year, Dubai’s hotels were quick to reassure its fun-loving residents that their greatest fear hadn’t been realized — brunches weren’t “over,” they were just moving to Saturday.

Brunches in Dubai are legendary and have always been unapologetic in their sheer extravagance. Traditionally starting at around 12.30 p.m. and finishing some time after 4.30 p.m., these all-you-can-eat and drink get-togethers bolster Dubai’s image as a Champagne bottle popping, sunshine soaking, lobster cracking, party playground.
In reality, brunches are a much-anticipated end-of-week treat for the city’s hardworking residents — and make no mistake, despite the designer labels and bumper to bumper supercars, this is a city where people work extremely hard for their tax-free dirhams.
In a recent study by mobile tech company Kisi, Dubai came out highest for most overworked population in the category of work intensity, meaning full-time employees often work 48 hours per week.
The UAE is tackling this issue of work-life balance and the government recently rolled out a 4.5-day working week for Emirati government employees, meaning they now get a half day Friday with time for worship and family gatherings on the Islamic holy day.
However, most of the expat dominated private sector will still work the full day on a Friday — hence restaurants switching brunches to a Saturday — a change that Dubai’s foodies appear to have adjusted to with a shrug.

In fact, the only serious problem hungry weekenders now have is which brunch to choose from, with lashings of new options right across the emirate such as Bleu Blanc at the newly opened The St. Regis Downtown Dubai. Guests there can tuck into extravagant creations such as a wagyu beef doughnut with truffle mayo and enjoy endless Champagne for 700 UAE dirhams ($191) a head.
Not to mention old school “classic” brunches like Bubbalicious at The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi resort, where diners can unleash their tastebuds across three restaurants and an enormous outdoor terrace for 695 dirhams with unlimited fizz, including an enormous fresh seafood display topped up with lobster, crab, prawns, mussels, and piles of freshly shucked oysters.
“I don’t think people needed the slightest encouragement to go back to brunches after the weekend change,” David Tully, head of media at Dubai’s Middlesex University, told CNBC.
“They could switch brunches to Tuesdays and folks would find a way — Dubaians just can’t say no to a pricey, excessive smorgasbord. Covid can’t destroy a time-honored tradition, nothing breaks the brunch stride in this town.”
The American expat added: “I think Aristotle called it Catharsis — after the slog of the work week, people need a little Dionysian excess on the weekend to let off some steam.”

Brunches are a much-anticipated end-of-week treat for the city’s hardworking residents.
Karim Sahib | Afp | Getty Images

Meanwhile, Stephanie Hughes, the British managing director of a Dubai communications firm who has been an avid brunch-goer since moving to the UAE in 2014, says the new Saturday brunch is a good thing.
“It’s better because we now go to brunch and enjoy a great day out and then have a relaxed, traditional Sunday roast the next day to recover from the festivities,” she told CNBC.
She added: “There now also seems to be more brunch choice, better quality of food and different timings to choose from.” 
Swedish expat Victoria Stevenson, who goes to brunch most weekends with her Scottish husband, says she’s also noticed Dubai venues have upped their game to pull in the punters.
“I think entertainment has become more a part of the brunches; when we go back to Europe for a visit, we’ll really miss the scene,” she told CNBC.
Although some brunches did continue during the height of the pandemic, most were dramatically pared down and included safety measures such as table spacing, hourly table sanitization, screens, and table service as opposed to the usual buffet set up.
Many of the stricter protocols have now been dropped by Dubai’s hotels — although it may be some time before table service gives way to the usual buffet and multiple food stations set up.
Not that it matters.
Hotels are doing all they can to woo back big-spender brunch clientele and their efforts appear to be paying off with bookings soaring in recent weeks in what appears to be a spinoff of so-called “revenge tourism” — a recent concept that refers to consumers being more eager to travel after lockdown restrictions.
“There has certainly been higher demand this year,” Elif Yazoglu, general manager at DoubleTree by Hilton in Dubai’s beachfront Jumeirah Beach Residence, told CNBC.
“There’s a need for everyone to go back to normal, be social, share a meal with family and friends, have casual conversations, and a lot of laughter — brunch is a relaxed weekend option to do that.”
Yazoglu says the hotel’s brunch moving to a Saturday has been smooth sailing in terms of guest acceptance.
“Since the weekend itself shifted for everyone, those who were previously off work on a Friday but now work that day obviously prefer Saturday brunches.”
She added that after a tough couple of years for the hospitality industry due to Covid, 2022 has been upbeat — supported by great weather, the excitement round Expo 2020, and travel trends going back to normal.
“We have also noticed that there’s a great demand for outdoor spaces — if weather supports — and our biggest advantage is our large garden space with its fabulous views of Ain Dubai [Dubai’s iconic observation wheel] and Bluewaters Island,” she said. More

The rate of cancellations and delays is higher this year than 2019.
Airlines have struggled with bad weather, staffing shortfalls and a surge in travel demand.
Transportation Secretary Buttigieg urged airlines to make sure they fly reliably this summer.

Passengers line up at John F. Kennedy International Airport after airlines announced numerous flights were canceled during the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant on Christmas Eve in Queens, New York, December 24, 2021.
Dieu-Nalio Chery | Reuters

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged airline CEOs on Thursday to ensure they can fly their schedules reliably this summer after a rise in delays and cancellations this year, according to a person familiar with the call.
The secretary asked airlines what steps they were taking to ensure that disruptions that occurred over Memorial Day weren’t repeated during July 4 weekend and the rest of the summer, the person said. Buttigieg also pushed airlines to improve customer service so that passengers can rebook quickly, the person said, describing the call as “productive and collaborative.”

Airlines have struggled with routine disruptions such as weather alongside staffing shortfalls and a surge in travel demand. JetBlue Airways, Delta Air Lines, Spirit Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines have already scaled back their spring and summer travel schedules to give themselves more room to handle disruptions.
More than 7,100 U.S. flights were delayed and nearly 1,600 were canceled as multiple thunderstorms snarled travel to and from some of the country’s busiest airports, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.

The Thursday meeting came after Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) earlier this month wrote to U.S. airlines’ industry group, Airlines for America, pressing for more information about disruptions over Memorial Day weekend.
“We appreciated the opportunity to meet with Department of Transportation Secretary Buttigieg to discuss our shared commitment to prioritizing the safety and security of all travelers as they reunite with friends, family and colleagues this summer,” Nick Calio, CEO of Airlines for America, which represents large U.S. carriers, said in a statement.
Airline executives have occasionally placed blame on air traffic control.

The Federal Aviation Administration last month called carriers to Florida for a meeting about recent flight disruptions in the state, where flight hurdles include frequent thunderstorms, military exercises and space launches, as well as a surge in demand.
The FAA, which participated in Thursday’s meeting, had said it would increase staffing at a key air traffic facility in Florida, among other measures.

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