Posts Tagged ‘Nevada’
Wednesday, December 12th, 2012
 If you’re looking for that special restaurant in which to wine and dine a potential big ticket customer, woo a business partner, or just to have a great meal while at home or on the road, OpenTable (NASDAQ: OPEN), a provider of free, real-time online restaurant reservations for diners guest management solutions for restaurants, has named the 2012 Diners’ Choice Award winners for the Top 100 Best Restaurants in the United States.
These awards reflect the combined opinions of more than 5 million reviews submitted by verified OpenTable diners for more than 15,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
All restaurants with a minimum number of qualifying reviews were included for consideration.
Qualifying restaurants were then sorted according to a score calculated from each restaurant’s average rating in the “overall” category along with that restaurant’s rating relative to others in the same metropolitan area and the average number of restaurants reviewed by diners who reviewed that restaurant.
Based on this methodology, the following restaurants, listed in alphabetical order, comprise the Top 100 Best Restaurants in the U.S. according to OpenTable diners.
2012 Diners’ Choice Award Winners for the Top 100 Best Restaurants in the U.S.
Acquerello – San Francisco, California
Addison at The Grand Del Mar – San Diego, California
Altura – Seattle, Washington
Andrea at Pelican Hill – Newport Coast, California
Annisa – New York, New York
Artisanal Restaurant – Banner Elk, North Carolina
The Ashby Inn – Paris, Virginia
Atelier Crenn – San Francisco, California
Auberge du Soleil – Rutherford, California
Bacchanalia – Atlanta, Georgia
The Belvedere – Beverly Hills, California
Bibou – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Binkley’s Restaurant – Cave Creek, Arizona
Bistro L’Hermitage – Woodbridge, Virginia
Blue Hill at Stone Barns – Pocantico Hills, New York
Bouchard Restaurant and Inn – Newport, Rhode Island
Bouley – New York, New York
Café Provence – Prairie Village, Kansas
Café Renaissance – Vienna, Virginia
Canlis – Seattle, Washington
Capital Grille – Kansas City, Missouri
Capital Grille – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Carpe Vino – Auburn, California
Castle Hill Inn – Newport, Rhode Island
Chachama Grill – East Patchogue, New York
Chama Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse – Downers Grove, Illinois
Charleston – Baltimore, Maryland
Charleston Grill – Charleston, South Carolina
Chez Francois – Vermilion, Ohio
Chez Nous French Restaurant – Humble, Texas
CityZen – Washington, D.C.
Commis – Oakland, California
Cottage Place Restaurant – Flagstaff, Arizona
Daniel – New York, New York
Daniel-Lounge Seating – New York, New York
Del Posto – New York, New York
Eleven Madison Park – New York, New York
Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant – Forestville, California
Fearrington House Restaurant – Pittsboro, North Carolina
Fountain Restaurant – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The French Laundry – Yountville, California
The French Room – Dallas, Texas
Geronimo – Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Goodstone Inn & Estate Restaurant – Middleburg, Virginia
Gracie’s – Providence, Rhode Island
Gramercy Tavern – New York, New York
Hannas Prime Steak – Rancho Santa Margarita, California
The Hobbit – Orange, California
Jean Georges – New York, New York
Joseph Tambellini – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
JUNGSIK – New York, New York
Kai – Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort – Chandler, Arizona
Keiko à Nob Hill – San Francisco, California
King Umberto – Elmont, New York
The Kitchen Restaurant – Sacramento, California
La Ciccia – San Francisco, California
La Folie – San Francisco, California
La Grenouille – New York, New York
L’Auberge Chez Francois – Great Falls, Virginia
Le Bernardin – New York, New York
Le Vallauris – Palm Springs, California
Le Yaca – Williamsburg, Virginia
L’Espalier – Boston, Massachusetts
The Loft at Montage Laguna Beach – Laguna Beach, California
Mama’s Fish House – Paia, Hawaii
Manresa – Los Gatos, California
Marcel’s – Washington, D.C.
Marinus-Bernadus Lodge – Carmel Valley, California
Menton – Boston, Massachusetts
Michael’s – South Point Casino – Las Vegas, Nevada
The Modern-Dining Room – New York, New York
n/naka – Los Angeles, California
NAOE – Miami, Florida
Nicholas – Red Bank, New Jersey
Norman’s at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando – Orlando, Florida
The North Fork Table & Inn – Southold, New York
o ya – Boston, Massachusetts
ON20 – Hartford, Connecticut
Orchids at Palm Court – Cincinnati, Ohio
The Painted Lady – Newberg, Oregon
Palace Arms at The Brown Palace – Denver, Colorado
Per Se – New York, New York
Perry Street Brasserie – Galena, Illinois
Providence – Los Angeles, California
Restaurant Alma – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Restaurant Iris – Memphis, Tennessee
Rover’s – Seattle, Washington
Rudy & Paco Restaurant & Bar – Galveston, Texas
Saint Jacques French Cuisine – Raleigh, North Carolina
Saison – San Francisco, California
Scalini Fedeli – New York, New York
ShinBay – Scottsdale, Arizona
Sonoma – Princeton, Massachusetts
Splendido – Beaver Creek, Colorado
Studio at Montage Laguna Beach – Laguna Beach, California
Tony’s – St. Louis, Missouri
Tosca Ristorante – Washington, D.C.
Vetri – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
VOLT – Frederick, Maryland
Woodfire Grill – Atlanta, Georgia
Diners can also read more about the Diners’ Choice Awards for the Top 100 Best Restaurants in the U.S. by visiting OpenTable Chief Dining Officer Caroline Potter’s “Dining Check” blog.
Tags: California, DC, Hawaii, Ill, Issouri, Kansas, MD, MN, NC, Nevada, New Mexico, NJ, Ohio, Open Table, Oregon, PA, RI, SC, Texas, TN, top 100 U.S. restaurants, Washington
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
 Interior of the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, Florida, the number one meeting hotel in the U.S., according to Cvent Cvent, the world’s largest cloud-based provider of event management and venue selection solutions, has named the top 100 hotels for meetings in the United States, according to meeting and event planners in the Cvent Supplier Network.
The Cvent Supplier Network is a free online marketplace that connects meeting planners with over 200,000 venues worldwide; it generated $4 billion in business for hotels in 2011 and projects more than $5.5 billion to be generated in 2012.
In addition, over 100,000 meetings were booked on the Cvent Supplier Network in 2011 alone.
The list of hotels was compiled from a pool of 80,000 hotels in the U.S. on the Cvent Supplier Network. The ranking was then determined by a set of qualifying criteria, some of which included:
- The number of electronic request-for-proposals (RFPs) the property received from the Cvent Supplier Network in 2011;
- The hotel’s average response rate to the RFPs sent through the marketplace;
- The number of meeting rooms available;
- The total square footage of meeting space offered at the hotel; and
- The amount of business the property was awarded in 2011 by meeting planners through the Cvent Supplier Network.
The list is comprised of venues from a variety of locales, spanning 17 states and the District of Columbia. Florida represents the largest number of meeting hotels in the top 100, taking nearly one-fifth of the list at a total of 19 properties.
Nevada comes in second with 14 properties, and the state of Texas takes third place with a total of 13 hotels on the list.
Top 10 Meeting Hotels in the U.S.
1. The Peabody Orlando, Orlando, Florida
2. Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee
3. Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia
4. Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, Florida
5. The Venetian and Palazzo Resort, Hotel & Casinos, Las Vegas, Nevada
6. Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland
7. Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin, Lake Buena Vista, Florida
8. The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta, Georgia
9. ARIA Resort & Casino at CityCenter, Las Vegas, Nevada
10. MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
For the complete list of Cvent’s Top 100 Meeting Hotels in the U.S. visit http://www.cvent.com/top100hotelsus.
Tags: Atlanta, Cvent, DC, Florida, GA, Gaylord Opryland, Hyatt Regency, Lake Buena Vista, Las Vegas, MD, Nashville, National Harbor, Nevada, Orlando, Rosen Shingle Creek, The Peabody, TN, top 100 meeting hotels, Venetian and Palazzo Resort, Walt Disney Wrold Swan and Dolphin, Westin Peachtree Plaza
Posted in Studies, surveys, reports, Tennessee, Washington, DC | No Comments »
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
 One thing marketers always have to take into account is where their consumers are and more of them moved to the sunbelt last year than to any other states.
Texas gained more people than any other state between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011 (529,000), followed by California(438,000), Florida (256,000), Georgia (128,000) and North Carolina (121,000), according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates for states and Puerto Rico.
Combined, these five states accounted for slightly more than half the nation’s total population growth.
“These are the first set of Census Bureau population estimates to be published since the official 2010 Census state population counts were released a year ago,” said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves.
“Our nation is constantly changing and these estimates provide us with our first measure of how much each state has grown or declined in total population since Census Day 2010.”
The United States as a whole saw its population increase by 2.8 million over the 15-month period, to 311.6 million. Its growth of 0.92 percent between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011, was the lowest since the mid-1940s.
“The nation’s overall growth rate is now at its lowest point since before the baby boom,” Groves said.
California remained the most populous state, with a July 1, 2011, population of 37.7 million. Rounding out the top five states were Texas (25.7 million), New York (19.5 million), Florida (19.1 million) and Illinois (12.9 million).
DC led growth
Among states and equivalents, the District of Columbia experienced the fastest growth between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011, as its population climbed 2.7 percent. This marks the first time it led states and equivalents in growth since the early 1940s. D.C. ranked 35th in percent growth between the 2000 and 2010 censuses.
Following D.C. in terms of percent increase between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011, were Texas (2.1 percent), Utah (1.9 percent), Alaska (1.8 percent), Colorado (1.7 percent) and North Dakota (1.7 percent). North Dakota was 37th in percent growth between the 2000 and 2010 censuses.
The only three states to lose population between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011, were Rhode Island (1,300 or -0.12 percent),Michigan (7,400 or -0.08 percent) and Maine (200 or -0.01 percent).
Nevada, the nation’s fastest-growing state between 2000 and 2010, ranked only 27th in population growth between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011, increasing by 0.8 percent.
During 2012, the Census Bureau will release 2011 estimates of the total population of counties and incorporated places, as well as national, state and county population estimates by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin.
The Census Bureau develops state population estimates by measuring population change since the most recent census. These are the first set of population estimates to be based on the 2010 Census. The Census Bureau uses births, deaths, administrative records and survey data to develop estimates of population. For more detail regarding the methodology see
Tags: California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, states that gained the most population 2010-2011, Texas, U.S. Census
Posted in Government/Defense, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Friday, September 16th, 2011
 As T-Mobile USA, Inc. continues the rapid expansion of its 4G network, J.D. Power and Associates’ 2011 Wireless Network Quality Performance Study, Volume 2, shows that customers in the Northeast, Southeast and West regions are satisfied with an improved network experience, including call quality and messaging and data performance.
In its study, which compares network performance among the largest U.S. wireless carriers, J.D. Power and Associates recently announced that T-Mobile earned the second highest ranking in these three regions covering 32 states, tied in the Northeast.
T-Mobile ranked second out of four in both the Southeast and West regions, and tied in the Northeast. The Northeast region covers the seven states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. The Southeast region covers nine states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The West region covers 16 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
“T-Mobile’s ongoing commitment to making reliable connections available to more Americans continues to pay off as shown by the results of this J.D. Power study,” said Neville Ray, Chief Technology Officer for T-Mobile USA. “In the past six months, we have continued to advance the performance of our 4G service while also driving improvements in call quality, reliability and the overall experience for our customers.”
The J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Wireless Network Quality Performance Study measures consumers’ wireless network experience, based on 10 criteria that impact a carrier’s performance. Wireless phone subscribers surveyed were asked about their experiences with dropped calls, static/interference, connection on first try, immediate voice mail notification, message transmission failures and mobile Web and e-mail connection errors. Call quality and data performance were examined in six regions: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, North Central, Southwest and West.
Results of the 2011 Wireless Network Quality Performance StudySM, Volume 2, are based on more than 22,000 Internet survey interviews conducted between January 2011 and June 2011.
Tags: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, J.D. Power Wirelss Network Quality Performance Study 2011, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northeast, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Southeast, T-Moblie, Utah, Washington, West
Posted in Internet/New Media, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
 By Allan Maurer
RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC - Have you ever purchased something from an online retailer such as Amazon to avoid paying sales taxes? A group called Alliance for Main Street Fairness (AMSF), argues that by failing to collect sales taxes, online retailers have an unfair advantage over brick and mortar stores that is costing jobs, killing businesses and contributing to state budget deficits.
AMSF says it is funded by and advocates on behalf of employers who believe there must be a fair and balanced approach concerning the sales tax collection system. The group distributes the increasing number of media editorials supporting collection of sales taxes from online retailers.
We have reported on North Carolina’s attempts to get Amazon and other online retailers to collect sales taxes. The state, which requires residents to pay sales taxes on online and catalog purchases whether the retailer collects them or not, lost the first round of a federal court battle in which it sought to collect information on its resident’s purchases from Amazon. It has threatened to bill residents for sales taxes on Amazon purchases going back to 2003.
Federal law currently requires retailers to collect sales taxes in states where they have a nexus (a physical presence such as a store, warehouse or other facilities). Since Internet-only retailers do not have a nexus in most states, they are not currently required to collect the taxes.
Other states wrestling with the problem include Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. The National Conference of State Legislatures says states lost about $8.6 billion in 2010 in failing to collect sales tax from online and catalog sales. The number is projected to be approximately $37 billion from 2009 to 2012.
Personally, we can see how buying a big ticket item from an online retailer might save a significant pieces of change, but even there, we doubt that most people buy online just so they won’t have to pay sales taxes. We buy online because it is convenient. We can do our shopping from our desks, which has inherent advantages that will not disappear when online retailers collect sales taxes.
We shop online because we often find a much wider selection available at the lowest possible prices online, whether we are looking for a book, a camera, or a refrigerator. We save gas and wear and tear on our vehicles and ourselves. But we have never bought an item online to avoid paying a sales tax.
Sooner or later, we suspect, this problem will be resolved through legal means that require online retailers to collect state sales taxes. That’s fine with us, although we think states threatening to collect years of back taxes are certainly wrong-headed as well as on legally shaky ground.
In the meantime, the way states and the online retailers are going about dealing with the problem is just causing more problems: such as Amazon dismissing its associates in North Carolina and other states attempting to use their status to say the reatailer has the physical presence in the state to create a nexus.
That move causes grief for many online startup businesses. Some larger ones actually left North Carolina when Amazon fired its state associates, and others complain it makes it harder to get that early revenue necessary to achieve outside growth funding.
Amazon is not helping matters by negotiating not to pay sales taxes even in states such as Texas, Indiana, Nevada and Tennessee where they have distribution centers.
The whole mess will likely require action on the part of the US Congress. “The Main Street Fairness Act,” H.R. 5660 was introduced in the US House in July 2010, and it would behoove Congress to vote on the bill.
While requiring online businesses to pay sales taxes may indeed help ailing state budgets and possibly help some brick and mortar retailers of big ticket items, we do not think it will do much to save book stores large or small or most other on the ground businesses from their online rivals.
E-commerce gained remarkable ground during the 2010 holiday season and we doubt that is because shoppers could avoid sales taxes. Brick and mortar retailers would be better off focusing on how they can develop an online marketing program and an online sales presence than bemoaning the perceived sales tax advantage. The real advantage of selling online, 24/7, is far greater than saving a few cents on the dollar.
Just today, AMSF launched a new web page in response to online-only retailers like Amazon.com threatening to terminate relationships with in-state affiliates to avoid playing by the same rules as Main Street and collecting sales tax. AMSF says it is ready to help small businesses thrown under the bus by Amazon connect with other retailers who are interested in doing business with them and collect the sales tax at the point of purchase.
NC Settles Amazon sales tax dispute, reserves the right to go after customers – This piece includes links to a considerable amount of background information on the online sales tax dispute.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Amazon tax, Ark., CA, NC, Nevada, online shopping advantages, Stand With Mainstreet, Texas, The Main Street Fairness Act, TN
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
|
