Hotel Law Blog

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
21 June 2008

Hospitality Attorney's top insights to hotel industry. As we approach the half-way mark in 2008, the hospitality lawyers in JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® thought it would be interesting to determine our readers' "top picks" of all the articles we have posted this year. We could almost say that the top three picks are hotel financing, hotel financing and hotel financing. But here are the top three picks by "Topics" at www.HotelLawBlog.com:

(1) Hotel financing and hotel values in buy-sell transactions

(2) Hotel management agreements

(3) LEED and GREEN hotel development

Continue reading "Top picks of hospitality lawyer insights in 2008 are: (1) hotel financing and hotel values in buy-sell transactions, (2) hotel management agreements, and (3) LEED & GREEN hotel development" »

Posted In: Ask the Hotel Lawyer™, Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™, Hotel Finance − Hotel Debt & Hotel Equity , Hotel Management Agreements, Meet the Money®, Outlook and Trends

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
19 June 2008

Hospitality Lawyer on green hotel development. Here at www.HotelLawBlog.com, we have a rich library of articles on green hotel development. (Just go to the blog, search down the right hand side for "Topics" and then click on "Green Hotels.") But as we now release the DVDs from our recent conference on green hotels -- which are free to all conference attendees -- we thought many of our readers would like to see the major PowerPoint presentations from our high-powered speakers, so we have published them here for your benefit. You will not want to miss this series of important presentations!

Deirdre Wallace is the Founder and President of The Ambrose Collection, a Santa Monica-based company focused on developing and managing eco-lifestyle boutique hotels. Her flagship property, The Ambrose, has won numerous awards since opening in 2003, setting a new industry standard for environmental responsibility while regularly outperforming competitors in both occupancy rate and gross revenues. Deirdre Wallace can be reached at (310) 382-2145 or deirdre@ambrosecollection.com.

In her own words, Deirdre Wallace shares with us her experience of "going green" in an already existing building.

Continue reading "Hospitality Lawyer talks with Ambrose Collection's Deirdre Wallace on going Green with an Existing Building" »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
11 June 2008

Hospitality lawyer with pearls from the New York hospitality conference. The mood in New York was more somber in June 2008 than it has been for a long time at hotel conferences. Final attendance was about 2400 (about the same as last year) and for the first time, NYU had fewer conference delegates than the Los Angeles conference in January (3,200 at ALIS in January 2008). Many believe that attendance at these conferences is a good barometer of sentiment in the industry -- send more people when times are good, and send fewer when you batten down the hatches for a storm.

I had the opportunity to listen to Randy Smith and Mark Lomanno of Smith Travel Research in two sessions this past week -- one private session at the Lodging Industry's think tank (the Lodging Industry Investment Council or LIIC) and in the general opening session at NYU. I also had the good fortune to hear the fascinating presentation made by Bjorn Hanson, principal of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (retiring effective June 30, 2008), which informed much of what I had heard from my friends at STR. My commentary includes selected slides from STR and PwC. A link to the full STR presentation can be found at the end of the article. Here is a Hospitality Attorney's executive summary.

Continue reading "Hospitality Attorney with pearls from NYU, Part 5: Whither Lodging Demand, GDP and the Cost of Gasoline?" »

Posted In: Outlook and Trends

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
11 June 2008

Hospitality lawyer with pearls from the New York hospitality conference. The mood in New York was more somber in June 2008 than it has been for a long time at hotel conferences. Final attendance was about 2400 (about the same as last year) and for the first time, NYU had fewer conference delegates than the Los Angeles conference in January (3,200 at ALIS in January 2008). Many believe that attendance at these conferences is a good barometer of sentiment in the industry -- send more people when times are good, and send fewer when you batten down the hatches for a storm.

I had the opportunity to listen to Randy Smith and Mark Lomanno of Smith Travel Research in two sessions this past week -- one private session at the Lodging Industry's think tank (the Lodging Industry Investment Council or LIIC) and in the general opening session at NYU. My commentary includes selected slides from STR, and a link to the full STR presentation can be found at the end of the article. Here is a Hospitality Attorney's executive summary.

Continue reading "Hospitality Attorney with pearls from NYU, Part 4: Chain Scales" »

Posted In: Outlook and Trends

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
10 June 2008

Hospitality lawyer with pearls from the New York hospitality conference. The mood in New York was more somber in June 2008 than it has been for a long time at hotel conferences. Final attendance was about 2400 (about the same as last year) and for the first time, NYU had fewer conference delegates than the Los Angeles conference in January (3,200 at ALIS in January 2008). Many believe that attendance at these conferences is a good barometer of sentiment in the industry -- send more people when times are good, and send fewer when you batten down the hatches for a storm.

I had the opportunity to listen to Randy Smith and Mark Lomanno of Smith Travel Research in two sessions this past week -- one private session at the Lodging Industry's think tank (the Lodging Industry Investment Council or LIIC) and in the general opening session at NYU. My commentary includes selected slides from STR, and a link to the full STR presentation can be found at the end of the article. Here is a Hospitality Attorney's executive summary.

Continue reading "Hospitality Attorney with pearls from NYU, Part 3: What's Weekday vs. Weekend demand tell us?" »

Posted In: Outlook and Trends

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
10 June 2008

Hospitality lawyer with pearls from the New York hospitality conference. The mood in New York was more somber in June 2008 than it has been for a long time at hotel conferences. Final attendance was about 2400 (about the same as last year) and for the first time, NYU had fewer conference delegates than the Los Angeles conference in January (3,200 at ALIS in January 2008). Many believe that attendance at these conferences is a good barometer of sentiment in the industry -- send more people when times are good, and send fewer when you batten down the hatches for a storm.

I had the opportunity to listen to Randy Smith and Mark Lomanno of Smith Travel Research in two sessions this past week -- one private session at the Lodging Industry's think tank (the Lodging Industry Investment Council or LIIC) and in the general opening session at NYU. My commentary includes selected slides from STR, and a link to the full STR presentation can be found at the end of the article. Here is a Hospitality Attorney's executive summary.

Continue reading "Hospitality Attorney with pearls from NYU, Part 2: State of the U.S. Lodging Industry" »

Posted In: Outlook and Trends

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
9 June 2008

Hospitality lawyer with pearls from the New York hospitality conference. The mood in New York was more somber in June 2008 than it has been for a long time at hotel conferences. Final attendance was about 2400 (about the same as last year) and for the first time, NYU had fewer conference delegates than the Los Angeles conference in January (3,200 at ALIS in January 2008). Many believe that attendance at these conferences is a good barometer of sentiment in the industry -- send more people when times are good, and send fewer when you batten down the hatches for a storm.

I had the opportunity to listen to Randy Smith and Mark Lomanno of Smith Travel Research in two sessions this past week -- one private session at the Lodging Industry's think tank (the Lodging Industry Investment Council or LIIC) and in the general opening session at NYU. My commentary includes selected slides from STR, and a link to the full STR presentation can be found at the end of the article. Here is a Hospitality Attorney's executive summary.

Continue reading "Hospitality Attorney with pearls from NYU, Part 1: International Markets" »

Posted In: Outlook and Trends

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
9 June 2008

Hospitality attorney on the latest outlook and sentiment of the hotel industry from New York. As a hotel lawyer, consultant, and deal maker, I am always listening and thinking. Here's what resonated with me at the New York hotel investment conference last week.

Continue reading "Hospitality Lawyer with the top Quips, Quotes and Insights from the 2008 NYU hotel conference." »

Posted In: Outlook and Trends