While the number of Rhode Islanders who visited Twin River declined 9.1 percent from 2010 to 2012 to 161,726, those who came from Massachusetts increased 8.8 percent to 385,348, helping the Lincoln gaming facility gain less than one-half percent in visitors to 582,662 in the time period. more

StepStone Hospitality, a Providence-based hospitality management company, has acquired management of two hotels in Baton Rouge, La., the company announced Monday. more

Johnson & Wales University has sold a Seekonk inn it owned and operated as an internship and training site for the past 30 years, the school announced Tuesday. more

I was invited to Stowe, Vermont to broadcast from the Stowe Wine and Food Classic, a festival of wine and foods to be paired by chefs, winemakers and purveyors from throughout the culinary world. The headliners were nationally known winemakers and chefs who joined their colleagues based in the Green Mountain State to dazzle the crowd with their creations. The pairings were expert, even artistic. What I found most impressive was that two of the primary artists were from Rhode Island. One is a leading Providence restaurateur, the other an up-and-coming chef who helped launch two restaurants in the Ocean State between stints up north in ski country. more

Rhode Island remains second in the New England region for hotel occupancy rates and has seen a 6 percent revenue per room growth for 2012 so far, according to numbers from Smith Travel Research presented at Wednesday’s hospitality industry outlook summit. more

One year after sounding alarms that it was teetering on the brink of insolvency, WaterFire Providence reports that it has surmounted past issues and is looking to resurrect plans to consolidate operations in a single location. more

Rachael Wright had culinary training, a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and a dream of putting her education to work. After a couple of years waiting tables and trying to launch her career, Wright finally went where the jobs are: quick-service food. more

When HP Hood, the dairy company based in Lynnfield, Mass., started looking to relocate its annual amateur cooking competition from Portland, Maine, after three years there, there were lots of reasons to consider Providence. more

The Procaccianti Group has agreed to sell the Westin Providence Hotel to Omni Hotels & Resorts in a deal that is expected to close in December. more

My interest in the Italian food-and-wine cultural exchange that was held in Providence early in October was piqued when an interview guest brought it up on my radio show. more