17 December 2008
“Out of the Panic and into Opportunities of a Lifetime” Is Theme for the
19th Annual Meet the Money® Conference
Hotel Financing Summit Set for May 5-7, 2009
LOS ANGELES, Calif., December 16, 2008–With the recent announcement of a full-blown recession, officials of Meet the Money®, the annual hotel financing summit, today announced the theme for its 2009 conference: “Out of the Panic and into Opportunities of a Lifetime.” The 19th annual event will be held May 5-7, 2009, at the Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel near LAX in California.
the greatest repositioning of wealth since the 1930s
“The current economic crisis is creating unprecedented challenges and opportunities for hoteliers, resulting in the greatest repositioning of wealth since the 1930s,” said hotel lawyer Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and chairman of the Global Hospitality Group® of Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP. “JMBM’s hotel lawyers have held this annual hotel finance conference through all the downturns since 1990. Meet the Money® 2009 will look to valuable lessons from the past, but it will also focus on the ‘defining differences’ that create unique challenges and ‘opportunities of a lifetime’ this time around.”
Founded in 1990, this “Gateway to Hotel Finance,” connects providers and consumers of debt and equity capital for hotel deals, and will bring together hundreds of senior hotel financing experts, hotel developers, and hospitality insiders who will lay the Groundwork for future deals. It will be unlike any in the past 19 years. Attendees will be divided among two groups–at one end of the spectrum will be those asking, ‘how do I survive or exit and preserve some of my capital?’ while the other end will be focusing on, ‘who do I team up with and how do I find the opportunities created by this unprecedented economic situation?'”
Meet the Money® will feature more than 100 industry leader speakers
Meet the Money® will feature more than 100 industry leader speakers, in several highly focused presentations and panels, discussing topics such as state of the industry, who has the financing now, unwinding a condo hotel, innovative financing, vacation ownership workouts, taking REITS private, profiting in troubled times, and marketing troubled properties. Experts will give special emphasis to and insights about fast-emerging trends, contract terms, capital sources, and problematic issues in hotel finance.
sign up by January 31 . . . receive a $100 “recession concession”
Early registrants who sign up by January 31, 2009, will receive a $100 “recession concession” off the regular $950 fee. For more information about the conference, to register or learn how to become a Meet the Money® sponsor or exhibitor, please visit MeetTheMoney.com or contact Kathy Lubecki at 310.785.6707 or at klubecki@jmbm.com.
About JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group
JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® creates legal and business solutions for hotel owners, developers and lenders. Comprised of more than 50 hospitality lawyers, the Group has handled more than $125 billion of hotel transactions, involving more than 4,700 properties around the globe. JMBM has developed some unique proprietary approaches to unlocking value in underwater hotels that can benefit lenders, borrowers and investors. For more information, visit www.HotelLawBlog.com. To contact Jim Butler, who is recognized as one of the top hotel lawyers in the world and a hotel industry thought leader, contact him directly at 310.201.3526 or at jbutler@jmbm.com.