3 November 2009
Hotel Lawyer: The transient occupancy tax litigation by cities and local governments continues to mushroom.
On November 3, Florida filed one of the first lawsuits against Expedia and Orbitz for lost bed taxes, but using the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Although October was a big month in the OTC battles, November may be even bigger. Today, we are going to look at the latest litigation filings and what they mean.
1 November 2009
How Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and other online travel companies (OTCs) create huge headaches for owners and operators on their suits over hotel occupancy taxes.
Billions of dollars of hotel rooms have been sold through the online travel companies or OTCs. Generally speaking, no transient occupancy taxes (TOT) or bed taxes, have been paid on the portion of these sales kept by the OTCs when they resell the rooms to hotel guests. The exposure on these unpaid hotel bed taxes easily exceeds $100 million — before interest and penalties.
Until now, most of the press has focused on the lawsuits brought by more than 200 local governments against Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and the other third party internet hotel booking companies. As many of these lawsuits now reach final resolution, some cities have announced that if they don’t win against the OTCs, they will take aggressive action to collect these lost bed taxes from the hotels themselves. And OTCs have said that if they lose, they may come back against the hotels.
Who will be the biggest loser in this high-stakes poker game, and how did we get here? If you think you already know that, then skip to end of this article to see if you also have a firm grip on the “5 things every hotel owner and operator needs to know.”
28 September 2009
Hotel Lawyers’ insights from The Lodging Conference at the Arizona Biltmore. As our Global Hospitality Group® members compared notes from last week’s Phoenix Lodging Conference, we had some observations we wanted to share. Congratulations to Morris Lasky and Harry Javer for another great event.
Here is our take on what happened in Phoenix . . .
13 September 2009
Florida Supreme Court invalidates parental release. Hotel Lawyers suggest fast action.
A recent opinion out of Florida involving a fatal ATV accident to a 14 year old at an ATV track could have a major impact on the validity of parental release forms. In the case of Kirton v. Fields, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a pre-injury release signed by a parent is not valid against a minor who is injured while participating in a “commercial activity.” While other courts have reached similar results, the Kirton case has attracted nationwide attention and may lead those other states that currently uphold parental release forms to change their law to follow Florida’s lead.
30 August 2009
This is one of many articles on the subject of “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” in the rich library at www.HotelLawBlog.com.
Hotel Lawyer with some bad news for the luxury hotel segment.
From some reactions, you might think that the likely “End Of The Recession” by the end of 2009 means that the “Recovery” is close behind.
Unfortunately, what follows next will not feel much better for many for a very long time. Nowhere is that more true than in the luxury hotel segment, where Smith Travel Research foresees a 27% drop in RevPAR for 2009 followed by another 9% in 2010!
Here are a few of the most interesting slides from Smith Travel Research and other industry sources since August 20, 2009, focusing on the luxury hotel segment. How bad are things? How bad are they likely to get from here? Fasten your seat belt!
22 July 2009
Hospitality Lawyer with the Atlas Hospitality mid-2009 Survey, and some observations on its broader implications for the hotel industry on a national basis.
The hospitality lawyers of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group received an early copy of the July 22, 2009 Atlas Hospitality Group 2009 Mid-Year California Hotel Sales Survey. This new Survey has an entirely different focus than the Atlas Survey released last month on hotel foreclosures that caused such a stir. Maybe the results are intuitive to some, but we found the quantification of distress in hotel markets quite remarkable, and we believe there are profound national implications of these Survey results.
9 July 2009
This is one of many articles on the subject of “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” in the rich library at www.HotelLawBlog.com.
Hospitality Lawyers with some perspective on recent developments.
My friend Steve Van at Prism Hotels has a great Hotel Default Blog. I you haven’t seen it, you should take a look. His most recent article (“The Sky is Really Falling”) sparked some perspective on whether the hotel industry is finally reaching a critical RESET point we have been talking about on www.HotelLawBlog.com for months. Here are the latest thoughts.
26 June 2009
This is one of many articles on the subject of “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” in the rich library at www.HotelLawBlog.com.
Hospitality Lawyer with new data indicating hotel foreclosures will set new records
On June 26, 2009, Atlas Hospitality released the results of its study on foreclosures in California We think these results have much broader implications for the hotel industry on a national basis. Here is the latest.
24 June 2009
This is one of many articles on the subject of “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” in the rich library at www.HotelLawBlog.com.
Hospitality Lawyer with some grim predictions and observations for hotel lenders and owners.
On June 24, 2009 the Federal Reserve left interest rates and its policies unchanged. Government forecasters predicted that unemployment will continue to rise from its already high level of 9.4% and will not begin a reverse trend until “some time next year.” And today in CNBC and Bloomberg interviews, Warren Buffett said he sees unemployment continuing to rise. He does not seem to see “green shoots” of economic recovery in the United States.
Unfortunately this is all consistent with a much delayed recovery for the hotel industry, likely in 2011 or beyond. In today’s Bloomberg article, Morgan Stanley analysts are quoted as saying “The hotel loan delinquency rate is currently 4.7 percent and is likely to reach 8.2 percent — the peak rate in the 2001 economic downturn — by the end of the year.”
Here is some more information on the continuing crisis in the hospitality industry.
16 June 2009
This is one of many articles on the subject of “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” in the rich library at www.HotelLawBlog.com.
This is one of many articles on the subject of “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” in the rich library at www.HotelLawBlog.com.
Hospitality Lawyer with the latest update from PKF on what lies ahead for the hotel industry.
Mark Woodworth and his colleagues at PKF Hospitality Research have released PKF’s latest report on the U.S. lodging industry, it’s turning points and prospects. I thought you might find it useful as you consider options for dealing with troubled hotel assets, and hope you will keep us in mind as you face coming challenges.