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Encore Boston Harbor was awarded five-star standing by Forbes Journey Information on Tuesday, making it the biggest U.S. gaming resort outdoors of Las Vegas to earn the celebrated score.
These 5 native accommodations are among the many world’s finest, in keeping with Forbes Journey Information
The property, which has 3,300 staff, achieved the designation regardless of been totally operational for less than 16 months up to now three years as a result of coronavirus pandemic, in keeping with Jenny Holaday, president of Encore Boston Harbor. Different native accommodations with a five-star distinction embody the Boston Harbor Lodge, 4 Seasons Lodge Boston, 4 Seasons Lodge One Dalton Avenue, and Mandarin Oriental, Boston.
“It’s simply by far my most proud profession achievement,” Holaday stated. “Nothing will high this. The truth that we bought [five stars], on this scale, our first yr, below these situations, is simply thoughts blowing to me.”
The situations included coping with a pandemic whereas juggling 5 working fashions for the reason that firm’s grand opening, she stated.
“That is our first full second quarter,” she stated. “So there are issues that you just study that the majority hoteliers round city and different resorts perceive about their seasonality and their market that we don’t perceive but as a result of we’re nonetheless studying. So it’s unusual and a bit of funky that in some methods we’re nonetheless very, very new.”
Encore Boston Harbor, which first opened in June 2019, wouldn’t see a full first yr in enterprise as a result of the pandemic pressured a shutdown in early 2020. Throughout the closure, employees ready for a reopening with restrictions.
“We are able to’t simply take away tables like a restaurant can,” she stated. “We needed to reconfigure all of our pits, all of our slot machines. We truly turned inner fabricators of plexiglass. It was loopy among the issues we found out as a crew in the course of the 4 months that we had been closed.”
Then Encore Boston Harbor reopened at 50 % capability and the resort was solely open 4 days every week, she stated. Holaday referred to as the staffing selections “heartbreaking.”
Encore Boston Harbor wound up furloughing 3,000 employees and shedding 385 staff.
That fall, a statewide enterprise curfew went into impact, the on line casino went on a 12-hour working mannequin, and the resort briefly closed.
“Casinos aren’t designed to shut,” she stated. “So closing every single day at 9 o’clock was bizarre, to say the least.”
The closing procedures took hours every night, she stated.
“However we bought via it. Our solely aim throughout these very darkish 4 months was to interrupt even and we did,” she stated.
Subsequent, Encore Boston Harbor totally reopened for twenty-four hours a day, however at 50 % capability, Holaday stated. Lastly, this previous September, the property was as soon as once more totally operational.
Company who go to this season will discover that well being and security measures stay in place.
“We are going to all the time have hand sanitizer stations all through the resort,” she stated. “Masks will all the time be accessible upon demand. We nonetheless use all the electrostatic cleansing gadgets in between stays within the resort rooms. I feel that simply could be the brand new regular in hospitality.”
The employees has needed to consistently pivot via every part of the pandemic, Holaday stated.
“That’s why the 5 star award is such an incredible achievement and recognition for this crew,” she stated.
Forbes Journey Information has been score luxurious hospitality for greater than 60 years. Forbes “incognito” inspectors secretly e book lodging and full an unbiased inspection technique of as much as 900 requirements primarily based on 75 % service and 25 % high quality of facility.
A number of the standards for a five-star property, in keeping with Forbes, are rooms with extra than simply luxurious beds for a restful night time’s sleep (together with blackout curtains and soundproofing measures), considerate visitor facilities (corresponding to jogging maps and yoga mats), and useful housekeeping that goes past cleansing, (a microfiber material in your sun shades and a bag of your favourite sweet, for instance). The property ought to provide memorable meals and distinctive drinks. And repair ought to be supreme. As Forbes places it: “Does the employees appear to magically know what you need, even earlier than you ask it?”
“Usually five-star resorts are very boutique,” Holaday stated. “To coach a employees to truly care that a lot and love caring for visitors that a lot, that’s a major endeavor for any operator. And so to take action on our scale was clearly daunting.”
Encore Boston Harbor’s spa additionally acquired a five-star score from Forbes.
The employees at Encore Boston Harbor is “utterly overjoyed and thrilled” by the five-star designation, she stated.
“This crew — I get choked up after I speak about this, you’ll have to forgive me — this crew has simply been via the ringer,” Holaday stated. “And I do know everyone in Boston has.”
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Boston Police are issuing an alert regarding a text message scam about an ‘unpaid parking invoice’ that’s been saturating Boston area codes since Saturday.
The fraudulent message from a Montreal area code, which uses the city’s logo, instructs people to pay $4.35 to avoid ‘late fees of 35$’.
It provides a link to a deceptive .com website that is not the boston.gov website.
At-large City Councilor Erin Murphy is among the growing list of people targeted by the scam over the weekend.
“At first glance, absolutely looked real. Could easily scam people,” said Murphy. “Almost everyone I talked to, they got it or someone in their household got it.”
Murphy said she’s heard directly from people who were tricked by the message and compromised their banking information.
“It’s scary to know that someone was able to send that many text messages out, and they were targeting Boston phone numbers,” she said.
Boston police are still trying to figure out what phone database the scammers accessed and exactly how many people received the text message scam.
“They definitely got a lot of people, and the amount, $4.35, a few people said that was the fee they paid at a parking meter,” said Murphy. “It directed them to a website that looked very similar to the city of Boston website.”
Boston 25 News spoke with a handful of people who received the fraudulent message.
Some said they too almost fell for it.
One person said they didn’t own a vehicle and knew it was a scam right away.
The message has some grammatical errors and uses a ‘$’ sign after the number 35.
Boston 25 News called the phone number it came from, and it went directly to a voice message in French.
“Don’t feel embarrassed if you did pay it,” added Murphy. “Let us know so we can help track to make sure there’s no fraud going on or no money taken.”
While city officials recently announced a significant drop in violent crime and other serious crimes, one of the crimes that remain on the rise is financial fraud.
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The Army Black Knights (6-8, 0-2 conference) went east to try and record their first conference win of the season when facing off against a perennial Patriot League powerhouse Boston University (7-8,1-1), but they dropped their second contest in as many games, losing 71-63.
It’s been an up-and-down campaign for Army.
They have dominated some of the lesser opponents on their schedule, while also getting blown out when stepping up in class, and losing some shootouts to teams who are roughly on the same level as them.
That brought Army into their first Patriot League matchup against Colgate (4-10, 1-0) with a 6-6 record, but after dropping that contest and now losing to Boston, they now sit two games under .500.
The first half against the Terriers was a shootout.
Army got out to a hot start, taking an 8-2 lead just under three minutes after tip, but once Boston found their footing a bit, it started to turn into a back-and-forth affair.
The Black Knights were able to take control during the middle portion of the first half, getting out to a double-digit lead at the 9:37 mark. But a strong four-minute stretch to close things out saw the Terriers erase a six-point deficit and head into the locker room up, 40-35.
This was a lead Boston never relinquished.
Army tried to nudge back in front at multiple points during the second half, going on a 9-0 run to make it a three-point game with roughly 14 minutes left and fighting back to get within one point with 7:14 remaining.
But, it wasn’t enough for them to win their first conference game of the year.
Senior guard Jalen Rucker led the way for Army in the scoring department, putting up 17 points on 7-for-18 shooting from the field and 2-for-5 from deep. He was joined in double figures by fellow starters Ryan Curry and Josh Scovens, who both had 13.
Michael McNair led Boston with 17 points of his own. Miles Brewster was the only other starter for the Terriers to score double-digits, but Ben Roy and Ben Palacios added 12 and 10 off the bench respectively.
Army was dynamic from deep, shooting 42.3% (11-26), but they struggled from the floor overall in comparison by going 40.7% (24-59).
Boston was able to outlast the Black Knights by shotting 50.9% (27-53) from the field and 39.1% from 3-point range (9-23).
Army will try to secure their first Patriot League win of the season when they welcome Loyola MD (6-7, 1-1) to Christl Arena on Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. EST with the game broadcasted on ESPN+.
A man was found dead in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood late Saturday night, according to police, who say he had been shot.
Boston police announced Sunday that there is a death investigation underway at 140 Main Street after officers responded around 10:33 p.m. the night before to a report of a pedestrian struck there and found an adult male lying on the ground in the convenience store’s parking lot.
Further investigation revealed the victim had been shot, police said, and he was pronounced dead on scene by Boston EMS. His name has not been released.
Police haven’t shared more information about the incident at this time.
The Boston Police Department’s homicide unit is actively investigating what happened, and anyone with information is strongly urged to contact detectives at 617-343-4470. Anonymous tips can also be called into the CrimeStoppers tip line at 1-800-494-TIPS, or texted to CRIME (27463) with the word “TIP.”
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