baltimore hotels

A four-day conference of Maryland's Fraternal Order of Police officially opens with a reception Sunday night. But those convening at the Hyatt in Baltimore were greeted first by protesters Sunday afternoon.

Baltimore's self-image seems at odds with the relentless optimism of Under Armour founder Kevin Plank. Plank wants – perhaps needs – the city to shed its inferiority complex if he is to keep growing the thriving company and lure thousands more employees to the city.

Hotel's food truck showcases its chefs' street-food creations

Judging from the rush of developers to produce new apartments and the surge of office and hotel construction, Baltimore is seeing what looks like a new renaissance — fueled by two generations of urban dwellers who have come on the scene since the renaissance of 1960-80, when the city was re-invented by the "crown jewel" of the Inner Harbor.

Failinger's Hotel Gunter is the grande dame of lodging in Frostburg with its polished oak staircase, Victorian settees and zillions of artifacts and displays that evoke the history of the so-called "Mountain Side of Maryland."

The Baltimore Running Festival consistently generates about $40 million in economic impact each year, according to official estimates, and at its peak, the Grand Prix of Baltimore pumped $47 million into area hotels, restaurants and stores. But city officials say this week's Star-Spangled Spectacular — which marks 200 years since troops in Baltimore beat back a British invasion in 1814 — could surpass all those totals.

More than a million visitors were expected to land in Baltimore this week to commemorate the bicentennial of the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner, many of them from out of state and in need of a place to stay.

A Days Inn hotel on Baltimore National Pike in Catonsville destroyed by an electrical fire during the renovation of an elevator in 2011 recently reopened its doors Aug. 7 as a Holiday Inn Express & Suites hotel.

Menu items are inspired by, or at least named for, personalities and events of the historic battle.

As the nation's eyes turn to Baltimore for commemoration of the War of 1812 bicentennial next week, businesses leaders are capitalizing on what one official called "the largest tourism event in our city's history" and on the chance to showcase the city in three live national television broadcasts.

The former beverage manager at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore is suing the hotel¿s operator for wrongful or abusive discharge, harassment, gender discrimination and for creating a hostile work environment. In the suit, Tiffany Dawn Cianci claims she was harassed repeatedly by her superiors and ultimately terminated after refusing to sell alcohol that she believed was acquired outside of Maryland law. She also cites what the suit called ¿humiliating¿ practices related to pumping breast milk for her infant.

Baltimore's long and at times fraught efforts to bring gambling to the city finally succeed with the Horseshoe Casino opening on Tuesday. Observers will watch how it does in an increasingly saturated casino marketplace.

When Ray Chism, 74, bought the Relay Hotel in 1972 with his wife Diana Chism he wanted to learn more about the history of the building, where he has lived with his family for more than 30 years.

Woody Harrelson will co-host charity dinner at Fells Point's The Inn at the Black Olive, a Baltimore restaurant he co-owns

An aquatics instructor at a summer camp for youngsters at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore has been charged with sexual solicitation of a minor, police said.

An aquatics instructor at a summer camp for youngsters at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore has been charged with sexual solicitation of a minor, police said.

Four former drivers for Baltimore-based ZBest Limousine have filed a federal lawsuit alleging the company and an international hotel chain discriminated against them by acquiescing to a racist staffing request from members of the Saudi royal family.

Much of the information on the Internet about the long-gone Laurel Sanitarium is riddled with errors, and repeats old rumors and myths. The truth about this legendary Laurel landmark is quite a story.

Silicon Valley software giant Oracle Corp. announced a deal Monday to buy Micros Systems for $5.3 billion, eyeing the Columbia firm for its niche supplying technology to hotels, restaurants and retailers around the world.

Baltimore officials on Wednesday approved a $3.4 million deal to build a luxury hotel on a Fells Point pier after chiding a developer for trying to include campaign contributions to local politicians as part of the project's costs.

A historic YMCA in Mount Vernon, once home to confessed Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers and a hotel run by the former Baltimore International Culinary college, is to become a 197-room Hotel Indigo, one of the new owners said.

Visitors trying to shake off a particularly snowy winter and rainy spring could give a boost to Maryland's tourist destinations this summer compared to last year.

Calendar of what to see and do this summer on the shore

You don't have to travel far to find a Hobbit hole, a lighthouse or other unique accommodations within driving distance of Baltimore.

Berlin, just outside Ocean City, opens up on to another world.

Book chronicles the rise and fall of a worldwide footwear manufacturing center

The developers of Harbor East dipped their toes back into the condominium market this week, presenting the city with new plans for long-stalled premium residences on top of the Four Seasons hotel.

Baltimore's hotel market is at a crossroads as investments pour into properties new and old amid a nationwide pickup in business and leisure travel. As new hotels open, older properties scramble to remain competitive in a market in which demand for rooms remains healthy but has yet to rebound to pre-recession levels.

The management of the Sheraton Baltimore City Center warned the state Tuesday it expects to lay off the majority of its workforce by the end of May and the large Fayette Street hotel could close entirely.

Harford County is close to receiving elusive state authority to levy a tax on hotel and motel room rentals, thanks to a backdoor legislative tactic deployed by the leader of the Maryland Senate, with the blessing of a leading candidate for county executive.

The city-owned Hilton Baltimore spent nearly all of the $2.8 million in hotel occupancy taxes the city set aside last year to help the struggling convention center hotel make its debt payments, officials said.

The Annapolis Film Festival will feature films about a troubled family created by filmmakers who are also related.

Sondra Harrison McGee, who co-owned and managed her family's Pier Five seafood restaurant on Pratt Street, died of a heart attack March 17 at her Marco Island, Fla., home. She was 71 and had lived in the Hampton section of Towson.

The celebrity and John "Jack" Dwyer, chairman of the family of Capital Funding companies, purchased the property for $4.5 million in a 50-50 venture in January after being connected by Dimitris Spiliadis, whose family opened the 12-room hotel in 2011 and lost it to foreclosure last summer.