Articles Posted in Meet the Money®

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28 April 2015

Meet the Money® 2015 Spotlight

Rich Clark, Managing Director of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Rich Clark, Managing Director of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

The Hotel Law Blog is highlighting some of our Meet the Money® 2015 sponsors as the national hotel finance and investment conference approaches. In the Q&A below,, describes how the risk management company approaches the unique needs of hospitality companies.

You can hear from Rich and 100 other speakers at Meet the Money® 2015, coming up May 4-6 in Los Angeles. The window of opportunity for hotel deals and development is wide open, and the 25th year of our conference will help you make the right choices and meet the right people to add value to your deals in 2015 and beyond. Register now at www.MeetTheMoney.com.

Jim Butler: Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? How did you get into the insurance business and hospitality. When did you join AJ Gallagher and come to your present position? What are responsibilities at AJ Gallagher now?

Rich Clark: I am originally from Nashville, Tennessee, and started in the insurance business out of college as an underwriter with an insurance carrier. I moved to the broker side five years later to a firm in Memphis, and moved to Houston in 1985 with a national broker. Two years later, with a group of guys from New York, I opened a new brokerage firm with offices in New York, Hartford, Irvine and Houston. We sold this company to Arthur J. Gallagher in 2001, which is when I joined.

I began specializing exclusively in hospitality in 1992—three of my hospitality clients have been with me for more than 20 years. In late 2001, we launched the Real Estate and Hospitality practice for Gallagher. We later decided to create a separate hospitality practice due to the big differences in hospitality from the other asset classes within real estate. I am the National Practice Leader for Gallagher Hospitality, and a part of the newly formed Global Hospitality Practice. I remain involved in the real estate practice, and am also a Regional Director for the Gallagher Property Insurance Practice.

Jim: Tell us about some of your current or recent engagements. Who are you working with and what are you doing? How are you and your team spending your time? CONTINUE READING →

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27 April 2015

Meet the Money® 2015 Spotlight

Rob Palleschi, Global Head Full, Service Brands of Hilton Worldwide

Rob Palleschi, Global Head Full,  Service Brands of Hilton Worldwide

The Hotel Law Blog is highlighting some of our Meet the Money® 2015 sponsors as the national hotel finance and investment conference approaches. In the Q&A below, Rob Palleschi, Global Head, Full Service Brands of Hilton Worldwide, discusses how he got started in the hospitality industry, and what the global brand is expecting in 2015.

You can hear from Rob and 100 other speakers at Meet the Money® 2015, coming up May 4-6 in Los Angeles. The window of opportunity for hotel deals and development is wide open, and the 25th year of our conference will help you make the right choices and meet the right people to add value to your deals in 2015 and beyond. Register now at www.MeetTheMoney.com.

Jim Butler: Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into the hospitality business? What are responsibilities at Hilton now?

Rob Palleschi: I started working in the hotel business in high school, at the front desk and as a night auditor. Later, I went to Johnson & Wales University for Hotel/Restaurant Management…and here I am. I’ve been in the hospitality industry for over 25 years, and I currently oversee all aspects of Hilton Worldwide’s flagship brands and a portfolio of over 550 hotels through the world. I’ve also overseen the DoubleTree brand in the past, strategizing development, implementation, and enforcement of brand standards. CONTINUE READING →

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30 March 2015

Meet the Money® National Hotel Finance & Investment Conference
May 4-6, 2015 in Los Angeles


The window of opportunity is open – choosing the right deals

LOS ANGELES–Meet the Money® 2015 will mark the 25th year that hotel owners, operators, developers, consultants, investors, brands, lenders and other capital providers convene in Los Angeles to explore opportunities for hotel development and deals.

“Industry fundamentals are strong, interest rates are low, debt and equity are flowing, and overseas investors are lining up to invest in hotels,” said Jim Butler, Chairman of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group®. “The window of opportunity is wide open. The challenge now is to choose the right deals for you and your company.”

Meet the Money® 2015 will include presentations on how developers are using new financing sources, such as crowd funding and EB-5 financing, as part of the capital stack for new projects. Industry experts will share up-to-the minute information on valuation, buying, selling, repositioning, and financing hotels.

This year, Meet the Money® will offer a new Monday afternoon session—the Resort Development Workshop: Mixed Use and Shared Ownership. Hosted by Platinum Sponsor Interval International and the Global Hospitality Group®, the Resort Development Workshop will explore mixed-use and shared ownership with industry experts across a diverse mix of disciplines, focusing on the business models and opportunities for hoteliers, developers and investors. CONTINUE READING →

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04 November 2014

Click here for the latest articles on Meet the Money® and here for Hotel Finance

Hotel finance experts and industry leaders
coming to your screen on “Meet the Money® TV”
The hotel finance lawyers in JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® are pleased to announce the launch of Meet the Money® TV, featuring some of the hospitality industry leaders who attended Meet the Money®,  the national hotel finance and investment conference that takes place every May in Los Angeles.

On the Meet the Money® TV, you can:

  • See what our experts had to say about the current hospitality market.
  • Hear what they predict as future trends in the hospitality market.
  • Meet some of the people of Meet the Money®, including:

Donald Trump Jr. (The Trump Organization)
Robert Palleschi (Hilton Worldwide)
Stephen Rushmore (HVS)
Rob Stiles ( RobertDouglas)
Sam Winterbottom (Newmark Grubb Knight Frank)
Suzanne Mellen (HVS)
Geoff Davis ( HREC Investment Advisors)
Greg Hartmann (JJL)
Leah Murphy (HVS) CONTINUE READING →

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18 August 2014

Today, the Hotel Lawyers in JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group announced our 25th Annual Meet the Money® conference to be held May 4-6, 2015, at the Sheraton LAX. It’s hard to believe we are marking the 25th year of getting together with our friends in the industry for a couple of days where all participants share information, meet leaders in the industry and make deals. It will be an exciting conference and if you have not joined us at Meet the Money® in the past, we hope you will come find out what all the buzz is about in 2015! If you are a regular participant, I promise that 2015 will not disappoint!

 

JMBM’s Meet the Money® marks its 25th anniversary in 2015
National Hotel Finance & Investment Conference – May 4-6, 2015 in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES – Meet the Money®, the premier national hotel finance and investment conference will convene for its 25th annual event on May 4-6, 2015 in Los Angeles. Since 1990, the conference has connected attendees with the industry’s top executives and leaders.

“When we established Meet the Money® 25 years ago, our purpose was to provide hotel developers and owners with a forum to meet capital providers and to gain insight on debt and equity financing,” said Jim Butler, Chairman of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group®. “This milestone signifies our continued commitment to that vision.”

Each year, Meet the Money® brings together 400 hospitality executives and capital providers to discuss the latest trends in hotel finance in a casual and lively atmosphere.  Meet the Money® 2015 will provide the latest information on hotel industry fundamentals and numerous panel discussions by the industry’s top thought leaders and innovators. The conference will include two evening receptions, two breakfasts and lunches, and plenty of networking time to meet leaders and make deals. CONTINUE READING →

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6 June 2014

As the significance of Chinese investment in the US continues its rapid growth, news articles regularly document new details of this major trend. And in today’s Los Angeles Times, Tiffany Hsu provided some interesting facts in an article entitled “Chinese tourism and investment in Southern California surges.” Her article led off with the example of a 15% increase in Chinese travelers at the Sheraton Gateway LAX Hotel. We served as lawyers and business advisors to Shenzen Hazens Real Estate Group (a large Chinese construction company) with its $96 million purchase of the hotel. The article explains that the new owner has put up billboards in China promoting the 802-room hotel near the main entrance of the Los Angeles International Airport. As an example of how important such Chinese investors have become in the United States, Tiffany Hsu also noted that JMBM launched its Chinese Investment Group® in 2011 to orchestrate deals for Chinese investors in the United States, like the purchase of the Sheraton Gateway, the Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Harbor, the Regent hotel brand and other real estate, solar and business investments. Here are a few highlights on the big surge in Chinese tourism and investment in Southern California reported by the Los Angeles Times:

  • Tourism from China into Los Angeles roughly quadrupled over the last five years, growing from 158,000 in 2009 to 570,000 visitors last year, and is expected to almost quadruple again to 2,000,000 by 2020 according to a new report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. (LACEDC).
  • The LACEDC reports that Chinese investment interest in Southern California is also very strong. The travel is not just for tourism, but for Chinese people buying homes, businesses and other investments.
  • More Chinese students attend universities in Southern California than any other group of American universities — 10,000 pupils last year, up from 3,000 in 2009.
  • The number of Chinese-owned businesses in Los Angeles county doubled in the last six years.
  • And Southland trade with China is booming. The Los Angeles Customs District saw record trade volume last year valued at $414.5 billion. Of that, imports and exports from China made up more than half — $221.4 billion, up 4.5% from 2012.
  • The Los Angeles-Long Beach ports, which make up part of the district and constitute the ninth busiest port system worldwide, now attribute 60% of their activity to China.
  • Exports to China through Los Angeles grew by 52% in four years to $25.3 billion last year. Instead of the waste and scrap common in the past, those shipments are increasingly made up of electronics, machinery and other valuable goods destined for a fast-growing Chinese middle class.
  • The LACEDC report aptly summarizes the situation as follows: “The futures of Los Angeles and China are inextricably tied together.”

CONTINUE READING →

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6 March 2014

Meet the Money® National Hotel Finance and Investment Conference will focus on hotel development and deals

LOS ANGELES–Meet the Money® 2014 will bring owners, operators, developers, consultants, investors, brands, lenders and other capital providers together in Los Angeles to explore the opportunities of what is predicted to be a breakout year for hotel development and deals. Held May 5-7, the annual national hotel finance and investment conference will focus on ground up development, expansion, repositioning and rebranding as well as the big increase in hotel acquisitions and financings, refinancings and recapitalizations.

“Now is a great time to be in the hospitality industry,” said Jim Butler, founder of the conference and Chairman of the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®, which hosts the two day event. “Improving economics for the last 4 years has laid the groundwork for an even bigger 2014, with a big increase in new development and transactional activity.”

Experts also expect to see a continuing increase in value appreciation in all hotel markets for at least the next three to five years, creating a wave of new development as it becomes cheaper to build new rooms than buy them.

Over 100 hospitality industry insiders are confirmed as speakers in Meet the Money® 2014 panel discussions on this year’s most urgent topics, new development, successful strategies for buying or selling hotels, Chinese investment, hotel-residential and other mixed-use projects, the ADA, labor and employment issues, and public-private partnerships. Separate panels will explore luxury, select service and full service hotels, as well as the ins and outs of financing large and small deals.

“Meet the Money® provides essential information for getting the most out of the upcoming year, and our attendees are able to network with some of the most successful leaders and creative minds in the industry,” said Butler. “The conference is a valuable resource for anyone looking to make smart deals or plan new development.”

Meet the Money® is held at the Sheraton LAX. Registration fees are $950. For more information about the conference and to register, please visit MeetTheMoney.com or contact Carol James at (415) 984-9654 or CJames@jmbm.com.

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13 May 2013

Meet the Money® made the news again this year, with an article on the Wall Street Journal “Developments” blog. Written by Kris Hudson, the article discusses the return of hotel construction, what types of financing are available, and which markets will be able to support new hotels.

Meet the Money® speakers Marty Collins of Gatehouse Capital, Anne Hampton of Wells Fargo Bank Hospitality Finance, Alison Cumberland and Abid Gilani of Marriott International, Kevin Mahoney of Stonebridge Companies and Paul Novak at Whitman Peterson Capital Partners were quoted in the story.

Conference speakers highlighted the CMBS market, gateway city locations, and upper-midscale hotels developments as factors that might help push construction financing in 2013, although some noted that lending standards are still strict and that many markets may not have a demand for more rooms.

If you haven’t read the article yet, you can find it here: Lenders Checking In? Hoteliers Say Construction Lending Is Reviving.

You can more great information from Meet the Money® 2013 at www.HotelLawyer.com on our RESOURCE CENTER, under “Hotel Industry Presentations.”

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www.MeetTheMoney.com
11 May 2013

Meet the Money® is one of the best places in the country for meeting the Who’s Who of the hotel world, getting financing and transactions done and catching up on the latest strategies and approaches. This year’s conference was held at the Sheraton LAX, May 6-8, 2013 and was attended by approximately 350 hotel industry leaders. Here’s a quick take on the mood of the conference and some information about
Mood of the hotel industry: optimism and sustainability of recovery

JMBM wrapped up its 23rd annual hotel conference this week amidst the strongest optimism for the hotel industry that hotel experts have seen for six years. The consensus was there is a lot of blue sky ahead. Some think the good times will only last for a couple of years, but many see a good run for at least 5 years!

Everyone at Meet the Money® seemed to be fairly comfortable that the recovery has significant sustainability, because the debt and equity markets have not gotten too frothy, and new supply has been very restrained.

Mark Woodworth of PKF summarized it well after presenting industry fundamentals by saying: “It is a great time to be in the hotel business!”
And Vail Brown gave the STR forecast that the outlook of continuing improvements is “Steady as she goes.”

Greg Hartmann of JLL sounded a slightly more cautious note. He agrees that everything looks pretty good for the next couple of years, but questions how long it can last, and suggests that investors might consider selling in the next year and a half to two years.

What inning are we in? Almost every panel gave its views, with the biggest consensus being that we are in the 4th or 5th inning — still early in the ballgame. John Alderson of Westfield thinks that the shopping center owners now getting active in adding hotels to their malls are way behind the rest of the industry (2nd inning?) and are likely to have their games continue as they implement strategic plans.

Hotel Industry Presentations from Meet the Money® 2013

Meet the Money® 2013 was buzzing with action and great information. We have decided to release some of the presentations for free download. Select presentations from Meet the Money® 2013 (described below) and are now available at www.HotelLawyer.com. Click on “RESOURCE CENTER” and then “Hotel Industry Presentations.”

CONTINUE READING →

Contact Information
Jim Butler, Chairman
Global Hospitality Group®
Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP
(310) 201-3526 • jbutler@jmbm.com
www.HotelLawyer.com

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