Hotel Law Blog

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 publish 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! Here is Stefan Mühle's slideshow on two successful case studies of developing and converting LEED-certified hotels.

Continue reading "Hospitality Lawyer with successful case studies on green hotel development and renovation - The Orchards" »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™

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 publish 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 for your benefit, or will publish them here shortly. You will not want to miss this series of important presentations! Here is Howard Wolff's slide show on Demystifying LEED.

Continue reading "Hospitality Lawyer on Green Hotel Development - Demystifying LEED" »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™

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

1 April 2008

Hotel Lawyer on The Hotel Developers Conference™ 2008. Here at www.HotelLawBlog.com and in our everyday practice, the hotel lawyers at JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® are always exploring the cutting edge. Annually, at The Hotel Developers Conference™, the Group's hotel attorneys bring together the leading experts to illuminate the hottest topics concerning hotel development.

In recent years, the hot subject was condo hotels, and then hotel mixed-use, but this year the entire conference was devoted to GREEN hotel development, construction, rehab and operation. (See www.JMBM.com/GHG/conferences). This was a "Gen 2" conference -- moving beyond the basics and into the practical guidance and war stories from the veterans in the trenches.

The Hotel Developers Conference™ even had a great panel on the unique aspects of financing and underwriting the green hotel premium, but of course hotel finance -- green or otherwise -- is the entire subject of JMBM's industrial strength event -- Meet the Money®, which will be held May 6-8, 2008 -- see www.MeetTheMoney.com )

In any event, here is the scoop on the great panels of the second day from The Hotel Developers Conference™ the 2008 annual edition -- Rule #1, "Living" buildings, financing the green premium, and more . . .

Continue reading "Hotel Lawyer: How to build, operate and finance GREEN hotels now." »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™, Hotel Finance − Hotel Debt & Hotel Equity

Green hotel lawyer at the UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference™ 2008, Las Vegas, Nevada. In my last posting on www.HotelLawBlog.com, I talked about the keynote address given by Dan Esty at this conference on GREEN hotel development, rehab and operation. Dan Esty is a Yale professor and environmental consultant to businesses including the Fortune 1000. He is also one of the most relevant, practical and influential geniuses observing and guiding businesses in coping with and profiting from greener and more sustainable behavior. If you have not read his seminal Green to Gold, you should do yourself a favor and go to Amazon.com and get a copy right away. It certainly changed my perspective on things. (see Green Hotel Development Lawyer: UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference 2008)

But the green hotel development conference was also the stage for a 5-star line up of some of the most advanced thinkers and prestigious leaders at the intersection of hospitality, development, architecture, design, engineering and sustainability. They included the thought leaders and battle-scarred veterans from the trenches working on already-successful and still-pending green hotel development projects who raised many thought-provoking, controversial, and often troublesome, challenges to our conventional thinking and business-as-usual approaches. It seemed clear to me that the sea change has occurred. It is only a question of when our boats rise or fall with tide.

Who was there? What did they say? Why was it so important? Well, here are some more of the details and my take on this whole "green hotel development thing" . . .

Continue reading "Green Hotel Lawyer: Why should you do GREEN hotel development, and HOW do you do it?" »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™

Las Vegas Hotel Developers Conference. For the hundreds of hotel developers, operators, builders, vendors and consultants that flew into Las Vegas to attend the UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference™, it was hard to miss the half-dozen towers pushing up from the desert floor that mark MGM Mirage CityCenter™.

Learning how (and why) this $8 billion construction effort -- the largest privately constructed building effort in North America -- is building "green" into every facet of the project was just one of the highlights of the first day's program at the UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference™ on Green Hotels. (To see the full program, or order Conference materials, go to www.jmbm.com/thdc or go to www.HotelLawBlog.com and see the growing library of green hotel resources listed in Green Hotel Lawyer: ULI's Urban Land article on Greening Hotels.)

Here are some more details

Continue reading "Green Hotel Development Lawyer: UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference 2008" »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™

Green Hotel Lawyer: The compelling economic case for building, developing and converting green hotels. This is not about the "soft stuff" of why green is right (it is, but that is a different discussion), it is much more pragmatic.

Starting shortly after JMBM's annual Hotel Developers Conference 2007, when JMBM had a great panel of green hotel experts, www.HotelLawBlog.com has covered the compelling hard economics of green hotels. For example, go to HotelLawBlog.com and see Hotel Lawyer on the "real economics" behind the paradigm shift to GREEN hotels or look at the incredible program and materials available at www.jmbm.com/thdc from the 2008 Hotel Developers Conference on green hotel development, construction, conversion and operation.

But the library of great resource materials on how to develop, convert and operate green hotels continues to grow. ULI has just published Jim Butler's latest article on the hard economics of greening hotels. Here is the latest. . .

Continue reading "Green Hotel Lawyer: ULI's Urban Land article on Greening Hotels" »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™

UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference™ - March 11-13, 2008
Green Hotel Development, Renovation and Operation

The Business Case for Green Hotels: Practical "How to" Tips from the Trenches
A "Gen 2" Hotel Conference

LAS VEGAS and LOS ANGELES - February 14, 2008 - The UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference,™ co-sponsored by the Harrah Hotel College at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) and the Global Hospitality Group® at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP (JMBM), announced the first conference devoted solely to green hotel development, renovation and operation. Current registration suggests more than 500 hotel owners, developers, and lenders will attend the conference, which will take place March 11-13 at the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa in Las Vegas.

Continue reading "Hotel Lawyers Hotel Developers Conference 2008" »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
31 January 2008

Hotel Lawyer with GREEN GEMS from the Los Angeles Hotel Investment Conference.

Hotels are going green (really)! And sustainability is the hot issue in the hotel industry.
Although hotels have been the last real estate asset class to embrace sustainability, it looks like things are really changing. At the ALIS conference, recycling trash containers were a welcome sight, and the program featured a full panel on green hotels, a keynote, and lots of mentions about sustainability by many of the speakers.

Continue reading "Hotel Lawyer with GREEN GEMS from the Los Angeles Hotel Investment Conference" »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Outlook and Trends

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
23 October 2007

Hotel Lawyer on GREEN hotels. Business Week just published an eye catching story on "Little Green Lies" -- why some environmental initiatives may not currently make economic sense, even if others do. But what are the real economics behind GREEN hotel development, conversion and operation? Is this the time to go green? Can you afford to wait?

Here are some solidly documented answers based on substantial, and reliable studies. The answers may surprise you.

Continue reading "Hotel Lawyer on the "real economics" behind the paradigm shift to GREEN hotels" »

Posted In: Green Hotels

New platform launches with first comprehensive hotel development summit to focus on Green.

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
8 October 2007

Hotel Lawyer: Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) and Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP (JMBM) are co-sponsoring the only hotel summit designed to provide senior hospitality executives with a comprehensive program that examines both the compelling economic benefits and some of the daunting practical challenges of going green. It is a topic that is confronting the hospitality industry like never before, and The UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference 2008, which brings together the hotel industry's top leaders and its most experienced developers, is committed to creating a platform for hoteliers to learn what it means to go green. To that end, the key topic of the conference, held on March 11-13, 2008, will emphasize economics, current case studies, costly mistakes, brilliant successes, financing and valuation issues, consumer trends and offer a "how-to" (or "how not to") approach relating to GREEN HOTEL DEVELOPMENT.

Continue reading "The UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference" »

Posted In: Green Hotels, Hotel Developers Conference™