A hotel management contract, also known as a management or operating agreement, is an arrangement whereby a hotel’s owner contracts with a separate company, or an operator, to run a hotel. By doing so, the owner retains limited control over the operation of the asset often through measurable performance standards albeit that the owner retains more risk than if the hotel were leased to the operator.
By the time this article is published, Congress will have been in session for a little more than 100 days. A number of changes can be expected with the Democrats taking control. They had a number of pet projects they wanted to address during this period. It is expected that a flurry of bills, the low-hanging fruit, will be enacted to show that the Congress can be effective. Most of the bills garnered Republican support although, ironically, the Republicans complained about being kept out of the negotiations on a number of them.
Hotel Lawyer on recognizing, avoiding and defending ADA lawsuits. In case you haven't noticed, ADA lawsuits -- suits filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act -- are on the rise. We have covered a number of troublesome ADA claim areas here on www.HotelLawBlog.com in the past [Just go the the blog and scroll down the right hand side until you see the easy-to-use tools to sort blog entries by topic. ADA is the first topic]. But today, I would like to introduce Marty Orlick, one of my hotel lawyer partners who specializes in defending ADA cases. In fact, Marty Orlick has represented property owners in defending more than 200 ADA cases! So let's get Marty's street savvy advice on how to recognize the threat and then to avoid the potential lawsuits lurking at bottom of your pool.
Many hotel franchise agreements stipulate arbitration over litigation. At first glance, this may appear to be more beneficial to franchisees but nothing could be further from the truth. Compulsory arbitration protects franchisor interests while diluting franchisee remedies.
As a hospitality industry trainer, I’ve often said there’s no such thing as difficult guests, just nice people going through rough spots in life. Here’s a recent true story to demonstrate. It was early morning. Too early. After only 90 minutes of sleep, I awoke immediately, and as I headed down to the lobby to catch the hotel van, I was grateful to have at least made it back to my home state of Florida. It had been a very long night on the road.
This article is intended as an overview of major issues that may impact hospitality transactions in Mexico. Of course, each transaction is unique, but these issues are common hurdles foreign investors encounter when doing business in Mexico.
In order to consummate any substantial business transaction, there are inevitably some “challenges” to overcome. Hotel management agreements are no exception: in part because of their complexity, and in part because hotel management agreements typically transfer effective control over valuable assets for several decades, and their terms can easily enhance — or diminish — the value of hotel by a staggering amount. We have often seen hotel values depressed by 50% or more from what the hotel would have been worth without the encumbrance of an onerous, long-term management agreement...
Hotel lawyer on hotel and hotel mixed-use development. Wasn't it only “yesterday” that a few hundred million dollars seemed like a lot of money and made the headlines? After Blackstone's $39 billion purchase of Equity Office Properties deal was topped in deal size by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ bid for Texas Pacific Group (TXU) for about $45 billion, it almost seems like everyone yawns at “mere” billion dollar deals, much less something smaller. For example, did you notice any major headlines in the past couple of weeks about Winston Hotels being bought by Wilbur Investment for $850 million, or Apple Hospitality being bought by ING Clarion Partners for $890 million, or Hilton selling its Scandic Hotel chain to a private equity group for about $1.1 billion?
In case you missed it, it has just been announced that former baseball star Reggie Jackson is the mystery developer of a proposed 252 room hotel and conference center in Seaside, California. At this point, Reggie joins a long line of celebrities and athletes jumping on the hotel mixed-use bandwagon we have covered here at www.HotelLawBlog.com.
The Minnesota Lodging Association, in conjunction with the Minnesota Restaurant Association, like many other state associations across the United States hosts an annual event called Hospitality Day at the Capitol. The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) has a similar event in Washington, DC called the Legislative Action Summit (LAS). (To learn when the next LAS is visit AHLA.com.) The recent mid-term elections prompted me to reflect back about how my interest in being more active in the political process evolved. Some people define "active in the political process" as voting in major elections while others define it as being a politician or a lobbyist.
You do not need to be seer to see this next stage in the expansion for the Spa Industry. We have witnessed the evolution, originally for the indulgent, now for everyone. Health, attention, presentation, esteem, and, yes, still some indulgence – holistic, if you will. No longer that elite and remote location, Spas have partnered with or been created by hotels and resorts, providing new revenue streams and marketing advantages for Lodging operations. The next transformation is so obvious – Health Care Centers and Hospitals.
Hospitality Lawyer on hotel finance in 2007. We recently featured our annual expert panel talking about "How will you finance your hotel project in 2007?" Today, I am delighted to present the thoughts of Patrick O'Neal, one of the industry's’ real lender icons, whether in workouts or CMBS loan production. Patrick has been a great friend and client for more years that either of us probably care to count, but I have always found Patrick’s thoughts, to be unnervingly candid, full of humor and remarkably “spot on” in terms of their accuracy. PNC Real Estate Finance and the hotel world are very lucky to have him! So what does Patrick have to add to the perspectives we have just enjoyed?
Hospitality Lawyer on international hotel investments. In a number of recent postings on www.HotelLawBlog.com, I have focused on the attractiveness of international hotel investments and some of the big names pouring investment overseas. Some of the hot markets include Mexico, Costa Rica, the Caribbean, Spain, Italy, London, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, China and India. In Why we’re building hotels in India like crazy, I focused entirely on India, an explosive market that has often been overshadowed by opportunities in China. In announcing plans for Starwood Capital to invest a half billion in India alone, Barry Sternlicht says that there is so much demand that he is targeting an average annual return of 20% on investments in India!
Thuggish tactics are nothing new in union organizing, and the high-stakes battles in corporate campaigns often bring out the nastiest maneuvers the unions have in their arsenals. In 2005, UNITE HERE, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, unleashed a weapon in an organizing campaign that was so brazen, it makes typical union campaign attacks look tame.
Hospitality Lawyer Baja Mexico. He's done it again if you believe the AP Wire reports. On Saturday, December 9, 2007, the Associated Press reported that, “Donald Trump’s new luxury hotel-condominiums on Mexico’s booming Baja California coast registered about $122 million in sales Friday, potentially heralding a resurgent development boom along the Pacific shoreline, just south of the U.S. border.”
Hello, out there. Anyone home, on deck, at the switch, in charge? Perhaps you are not a reader of the Boston Globe, but they in the past month have taken some sharp shots at our Industry, rousing the public, and basically taking our business into the Public Forum. The message from their editorial pages resonates with outrage and probably echoes, although not so stridently, what is happening throughout other major US cities. The Hotel Industry is under fire, and scrutiny shall not cease with a newly elected Democratic Congress.
We have the benefit of those high powered Consulting Groups, who can slice and dice any demographic for you and provide a suitable Consumer Profile for your Marketing dollars, sometimes resulting in “think tank” gazpacho. And, we dutifully respond with thread count, curved shower rods and flat screens. Hospital rooms are a little more pragmatic. We sure are responsive.
Yesterday, I discussed the record jury verdict against Unite Here in the Sutter Health case where a Superior Court jury in rural Placer County California found Unite Here guilty of “fraud, malice or oppression.” The jury hit the union with a $17.3 million verdict for intentionally and maliciously acting to harm the business of the Sutter Health not-for-profit hospitals and birthing clinics. As usual, I looked to Marta Fernandez, my hotel labor attorney partner, for insight and guidance. Yesterday, she gave us 9 points to think about as to the significance of the case—what it all means. But she save some real gems for today’s short blast. Here they are.
On July 21, 2006, a Superior Court jury in rural Placer County California—where you still expect jurors to know the value of a dollar—found Unite Here guilty of “fraud, malice or oppression.” This time, Unite Here—the union that represents hotel and hospitality workers—was caught red handed in its typical outrageous behavior. And it got slapped … but good...
On October 26, 2006, the California state Court of Appeal ruled that disabled plaintiffs suing for damages under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act (Unruh Act), must prove intentional discrimination in order to recover the “$4,000 minimum damages per offense” that makes this kind of litigation so lucrative to plaintiffs and their lawyers.