Articles Posted in Condo Hotels

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
8 November 2006
Condo Hotel Lawyer on “The Splits.” A few days ago, in a posting called The “Splits” — One size does not fit all, I emphasized the importance of achieving fair and realistic “splits” of revenue among all the stakeholders in a condo hotel or other hotel mixed-use property. These stakeholders might include condo hotel unit owners, timeshare or fractional owners, pure residential unit owners, and retail or commercial unit owners (e.g. the owners of the spa, waterpark, restaurant, parking operator or sundries store).

The key to getting the right splits and a viable condo hotel regime structure is a fair and reasonable allocation of all expenses and revenues involved in the project. As a starting point, you might allocate expenses on the basis of square footage use, revenues generated or other rational basis. But what items should be allocated to whom? How do accomplish a fair allocation?

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
6 November 2006
Condo Hotel Lawyer on customizing the “Splits” for your project. As hospitality lawyers and business advisors, my partners and I spend a lot of time with our hotel developer clients determining the appropriate “splits” for their condo hotel projects. How to split — or divide — revenues earned from renting a condo unit between the unit owner, the hotel operator, and other stakeholders, is critical to a condo hotel’s success. So let’s look at some of the considerations.

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
20 October 2006
Yesterday, I said that hotel mixed-use developers should pay attention to two breaking news items. One was Barry Sternlicht’s “1” Hotel and Residences. The other is Hilton’s plans announced October 18, 2006 to add Waldorf=Astoria branded Residences to the top of the Conrad Hotel Las Vegas. Both of these announcements emphasize the importance of brands in the hotel industry and creation of two high end brands by industry power houses in two very different ways. Sternlicht is creating a fresh, new eco-friendly brand from scratch. Hilton is seeking to build its brand from the base of an internationally recognized icon.

But beyond all that, why is this significant?

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
19 October 2006
Hotel mixed use developers should pay attention to two lead items today which I noticed in Hotel-Online and Hotel Business. Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital has announced 5 new hotel mixed-use developments — launching a new hotel brand called “1” Hotel and Residences. At the same time, Hilton announced the Waldorf=Astoria branded Residences for its big hotel mixed-use project in Las Vegas. What are these developments about and what potential significance do they have?

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
11 October 2006
“What will it take to solve important problems and improve people’s lives?” That’s what businessman Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft Corp., asks on the main page of his website, www.paulallen.com. Apparently, one of Allen’s answers is: “condo hotels.”

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
26 September 2006
Yesterday, we noted how Shaquille O’Neal is jumping into a $1 billion joint venture on a hotel-enhanced mixed-use project in Miami. Now it looks like Andre Agassi is looking for a new kind of grand slam.

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
25 September 2006
Last week at The Lodging Conference in Phoenix, hotel-enhanced mixed-use was one of the hot topics which everyone was talking about. A recent example of this trend was reported in the September 19 news that Miami Heat basketball star and NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal is getting involved in a high-profile mixed-use project. He has formed The O’Neal Group, a real estate firm that plans big real estate projects across the country. Its first venture is with MDM Development in a $1 billion mixed-use project in downtown Miami. The so-called Met Miami will include an office tower, 1,100 residential units, a supermarket, a 24-hour fitness center and a high end Marriott hotel. O’Neal, who has amassed a real estate portfolio worth $50 million over recent years, will be involved in the sales and marketing arm of the development operation.

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
22 September 2006

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We have been called in after-the-fact many times by developers who have been given unworkable condo documents drafted by expert condo lawyers. The problem is that they were experts in condos, but had scant experience with hotels, and no experience with condo hotels. Unfortunately, the best way to fix bad documents at the outset is to throw them away and begin again from scratch. Condo hotel deals are far too complex to try and bandage bad documents. But once they are in place, you may have to live with them for a long time, even if they are terrible.

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
20 September 2006

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Maintaining the quality of the condo hotel is a key component to the success of a condo hotel project. The condo hotel must deliver the expected consistent quality levels of service, room finishings and other physical product for its brand or market segment. Face it: the fastest way to turn a four-star property into a three-star property is to have inconsistent standards.

The condo hotel regime must provide the legally enforceable structure to maintain consistency and quality, and the mechanics to enable the unit owners, through their HOAs, to meet their obligations under the hotel management agreement, and to enforce their rights.

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Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
18 September 2006

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may view the condo offering as a “security,” if any one of the following exists: 1) The condo is sold to the buyer with an emphasis on economic (or tax) benefits; 2) the condo is put into a “rental pool,” where income and expenses are pooled and each condo owner gets an allocated share; 3) the unit owner has substantial restrictions on use, occupancy or selection of a rental agent of the owner’s choosing, or 4) the condo was offered with certain “ancillary services” such as a rental program. Because a successful condo hotel must have an adequate and predictable inventory of rooms to rent out to hotel guests, it is easy to see how these factors could present challenges.

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