Racist room note left by previous guest, Sarasota hotel says

collected by :Frank Ithan

Room 622 at the Art Ovation Hotel in downtown Sarasota, the scene where a racist note was found. [Herald-Tribune staff photo / Anna Bryson] ▲ Michael Davis posted on his Facebook page this note found in his family's room at Art Ovation Hotel in Sarasota. [MICHAEL DAVIS VIA FACEBOOK] ▲SARASOTA — The racist note discovered by an African-American family in their hotel room on the Fourth of July was left by a previous guest and was not directed at the family, according to an internal investigation by Art Ovation Hotel. Davis said that he is "still slightly concerned" about his initial exchange with management at the Art Ovation Hotel. Mayor Liz Alpert expressed her concern for the Sarasota community following the hotel incident.

Failed sex negotiations in hotel room end in armed robbery

A 23-year-old woman and a male teen are charged with first-degree robbery after, according to police, negotiations failed in a prostitution encounter inside a Tuscaloosa hotel. The male victim told police the incident happened July 26 at the Rodeway Inn on Skyland Boulevard when he went to the hotel to meet a woman for sex. At this time, he told investigators, the woman had taken all her clothes off. The woman began to move clothes on the hotel room desk room where she found the victim's cell phone. Wells told investigators that angered her, so she told him, "I've got something for you."

Growing hotel room demand spurs development across Massachusetts

As it stated in [Wicked Local photo/Melissa Russell] ▲Growing demand for hotel rooms in Massachusetts is fattening public coffers and spurring new developments across the state. The growth of demand, meanwhile, is outpacing the growth of new hotel rooms, meaning the trend is likely to continue. In fiscal 2017, the state tax generated $255.5 million and the local tax generated $206 million. For some municipalities, the local tax -- enacted in 2009 -- is helping local budgets. Together, the state and local rooms tax accounted for about 1.7 percent of the $26.4 billion the state collected during fiscal 2017.