ResortQuest severs
ties with Tatibouet

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Despite losing a claim for $17 million in damages, Honolulu businessman Andre Tatibouet said yesterday he won everything he wanted in a dispute with ResortQuest International Inc., the Memphis-based company he sold his hotel business to in 1998.

But ResortQuest's Washington D.C. lawyer said his client won everything it sought and nothing was granted to Tatibouet.

There appears to be some truth on both sides.

Tatibouet, whose family started a hotel business in the late 1940s, founded Hotel Corp. of the Pacific in 1968 and, in 1986, began doing business as Aston Hotels & Resorts. Tatibouet later sold the business to ResortQuest for nearly $30 million plus 1.7 million shares of ResortQuest stock.

ResortQuest made Tatibouet a member of its board and kept him on as president of Aston.

In mid-2000, however, ResortQuest sued Tatibouet, saying he had breached his fiduciary responsibility as a director by selling the Aston name and the www.astonhotels.com Web domain name to a competitor, Cendant Corp., the huge travel franchise business that now owns Cheap Tickets Inc.

The company put him on "administrative leave," separating him from the day-to-day operations of Aston.

Tatibouet countered that he had specific agreements with ResortQuest that made it clear the Aston name belonged to him, except for limited ResortQuest use inside Hawaii.

The Web site was quickly transferred back to ResortQuest, but Tatibouet continued to assert his right to the Aston name outside Hawaii.

The fiduciary responsibility case went to a panel of arbitrators in September.

On Friday, the panel ruled Tatibouet had violated his responsibility to ResortQuest and denied a $17 million damages claim he brought against the company.

Tatibouet said the panel also, however, denied a $4.7 million claim ResortQuest had brought against him. Furthermore, according to Tatibouet, the arbitrators ruled he had not been seeking personal gain at the expense of ResortQuest and he does have the right to the Aston name outside Hawaii.

ResortQuest's attorney said that wasn't even an issue in the case.

Tatibouet said he is glad "the arbitration now leaves me clear to go forward with building the Aston name both nationally and internationally," but he was not yet ready to explain how he might do that.

ResortQuest has now fired Tatibouet, who said he no longer owns any ResortQuest stock.