A FLORIDA court will hold a creditor hearing for bankrupt travel company 1800 Hotels on August 11th. All claims against the company will have to filed at the bankruptcy court by September 27th.

However, the court has said all creditors with a foreign address may apply for an extension.

The meeting is being overseen by court clerk Lee Ann Bennett and will take place at the court’s offices in East Polk Street in Tampa, Florida. The company, expected to have a significant number of US and Irish creditors, has sought Chapter 11 protection, which could allow it to continue trading while it rearranges its finances.

Meanwhile, it took a separate court action yesterday to compel its suppliers to honour the company’s contracts.

A spokesman confirmed that the company was due in court in Tampa at 8pm Irish time last night to obtain an injunction against two hotel reservation companies that it claims were not honouring bookings through 1800 Hotels.

The company’s financial problems have left many customers stranded. “Everything they are doing in court is to help the customers,” the spokesman told The Irish Times yesterday.

In another development, a bankruptcy judge yesterday accepted that the company was entitled to legal representation while applying for Chapter 11 protection.

The chief executive, Irishman Graham Peakin, has signed bankruptcy documents on the company’s behalf, which lists 1800’s Irish parent company, Happy Duck Ltd, based in Dublin 3, as owning more than 10 per cent of 1800 Hotels.

The 12 staff at the firm’s Dublin call centre in Clontarf were told yesterday that the agency was to be liquidated following mounting losses, a senior source at the company said.