General Management USA & Canada Opinion Articles

July 14, 2010

Hotel Labor Lawyer Alert: U.S. Department of Labor targets the hospitality industry

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is taking historic action. With a huge increase in funding and staffing, the DOL is specifically targeting audits and enforcement actions for every hotel, motel, and resort in the U.S. The program will search for violations of overtime rules, minimum wage, and classification of exempt and non-exempt positions. In addition, one of the primary focal points of these audits will be employers with workers holding H-2B visas.

By Jim Butler, Partner & Co-Chair Hospitality Practice, Blank Rome LLP, Blank Rome

United States

Opinion Article

April 9, 2010

Managing Risks Part of Managing Hotels

One of the most important aspects of owning and operating a hotel is minimizing the various physical and liability risks associated with this type of business. Risk management is the process of evaluating a hotel's risk exposure and developing strategies for mitigating those. It incorporates a program for reducing exposure supplemented by insurance protection should an incident occur. A hotel owner and operator would be far better off if they could eliminate all the possibilities of an incident on their property.

By Stephen Rushmore, Hotel Valuation Expert and Founder of HVS, Hotel Valuation Software

United States

Opinion Article

November 5, 2009

Hotel Brand Management Agreements* and the Economic Downturn: Lessons Learned or Lessons Forgotten?

If the global recession of 2008 was an earthquake, its aftershocks are still being felt throughout the hotel industry. The recession has caused occupancy and rates to plummet, sending hotel values into a downward spiral. HVS recently reported that the average value of hotels across the United States is expected to drop to $50,000 per key in 2010, down 50% from the high water mark of $100,000 per key in 2006.

Haas & Najarian

United States

Opinion Article

July 15, 2009

Be proactive about foiling pranks at your hotel

When is a prank not a prank? When there’s thousands of dollars of damage to someone else’s property. That’s when a prank becomes a criminal offense. Dictionary.com defines a prank this way: a trick of an amusing, playful or sometimes malicious nature. The malicious nature reference is where hotel owners and operators are paying a hefty price as a result of a wave of so-called pranks against U.S. hotels. Here’s one such report from the Orlando Sentinel last week. The summary: A prankster claiming to be a front-desk clerk awoke guests with a call at 7 a.m., told them there was a gas leak and they needed to smash the window of the guestroom with a toilet tank. The guests, including a county sheriff’s deputy, complied. They were also told to:

HotelNewsNow

United States