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Hotel Lawyers -- featured subjects and articles
Meet the Money® 2014

ADA defense and compliance

EB-5 financing

Workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships

Hotel Management Agreements

Hotel Franchise & License Agreements

Hotel industry trends

This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer. Please contact me at Jim Butler at jbutler@jmbm.com or 310.201.3526.

Published on:

16 May 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.

The Meet the Money® 2023 conference wrapped up earlier this month, after 3 days of informative panel discussions exploring opportunities, challenges, and trends in the hospitality industry. The summaries below outline discussions our experts and executives presented to an audience of hotel owners, developers, investors, lenders and operators.

Interested in attending next year? We’ll be hosting the conference in Los Angeles May 6-8, 2024. Join our mailing list for announcements and other information.

General Session #1: C-Suite

Moderator Eric Danziger of Resolute Road Hospitality led a discussion with top executives from Peachtree Hotel Group, Mission Hill Hospitality, The LCP Group, Pacifica Hotels and NewcrestImage.

Panelists began by discussing their approaches to recovery after the pandemic, including allocating more capital to hospitality properties to keep valuations up, planning for a recession, anticipating changing “new norms” in the workplace, finding opportunities in credit, and predicting shifts in markets to new cities. They also explored alternate hospitality experiences such as luxury recreational vehicle sites (like AutoCamp), new options presented by advances in technology, and how their relationship with brands has evolved over the last few years. CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

15 May 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.
Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) is an important piece of legislation guaranteeing equal access to public facilities to the nearly 60 million people with disabilities in the US today. Stuart Tubis, a partner in JMBM’s ADA Compliance and Defense practice, recently presented on why accessibility legislation is something all business owners should be aware of, and how many lawsuits have shifted focus to online spaces instead of brick-and-mortar locations.

Hotels in particular must be familiar with the requirements of the ADA in order to accommodate the needs of disabled guests on their properties. Unlike building codes or other laws governing public spaces, the ADA is enforced by lawsuits brought by individuals who feel their access to a public business or building is not adequate or equal.

Accessibility lawsuits have risen significantly over the last 10 years:

A graph showing the rise in number of ADA Title III Fenderal Lawsuits filed each year since 2013

Remedies for noncompliance can be significant, including court orders to remove barriers, attorneys’ fees to prevailing plaintiffs, and, in California, statutory damages of $4,000 per visit.

Website accessibility lawsuits have risen steadily in the last few years; these are suits alleging that a business’ website does not comply with ADA guidelines for disabled users. Courts have interpreted the ADA as requiring accessibility online, but as of yet there are no official standards.

A chart showing the rise in website accessibility litigation from 2017 to 2022

Hotels depend on their online presence to drive reservations, and should be sure their websites are compliant – both to accommodate disabled guests and to avoid becoming a target of litigation. Stuart’s full presentation is available for download here.


Stuart K. TubisStuart K. Tubis is a partner attorney at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP and a member of JMBM’s ADA Compliance & Defense Group. Stu counsels businesses and landlords on the full spectrum of ADA compliance issues and represents their interests in litigation and Department of Justice investigations. He has a background in technology, which helps in resolving the growing area of website accessibility issues. Contact Stuart K. Tubis at 415.984.9622 or SKT@jmbm.com.

 


Picture of Jim ButlerThis is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and founding partner of JMBM and JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group®. We provide business and legal advice to hotel owners, developers, independent operators and investors. This advice covers critical hotel issues such as hotel purchase, sale, development, financing, franchise, management, ADA, and IP matters. We also have compelling experience in hotel litigation, union avoidance and union negotiations, and cybersecurity & data privacy.


JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® has been involved in more than $125 billion of hotel transactions and more than 4,700 hotel properties located around the globe. Contact me at +1-310-201-3526 or jbutler@jmbm.com to discuss how we can help.


How can we help? Brochure Credentials Photo Gallery

Published on:

11 May 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.

JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® hosted the 30th edition of Meet the Money® national hotel conference on May 1-3, 2023. Alongside investment boot camps and insightful discussion panels, the conference featured several exciting special presentations interpreting the latest data and industry sector highlights. In Part 4 of this blog series, we highlight the special presentations given by Mike Cahill and Paul Single.

Mike Cahill, CEO and Founder of Hospitality Real Estate Advisors (HREC) presented the Lodging Industry Investment Counsel (LIIC) Top Ten on Tuesday, May 2nd. The Top Ten reveals the challenges and investment trends identified through an annual survey of LIIC members. The survey covers topics such as the impact of inflation, investment performance, and the future of hotel development.

As part of the survey, members were asked to identify the best markets for investment. Many chose cities in Florida, Arizona, Colorado and Massachusetts. CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

10 May 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.

JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® recently hosted the 30th edition of Meet the Money® national hotel conference. Alongside investment boot camps and insightful discussion panels, the conference featured several exciting special presentations interpreting the latest data and industry sector highlights. In Part 3 of this blog series, we highlight the special presentations given by Warren G. Feldman and Alan X. Reay.

Warren G. Feldman, CEO of Nehmer, began the second day of special presentations with a preview of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC)’s CapEx study on the total capital costs of owning hotels. Feldman is an ISHC member who worked on the fourth revision of the ISHC study, which analyzed hotel industry revenue from the year 2000 to the present day, and compared proportions of capital spending and repairs & maintenance for each.

The report broke down capital expenditure as a percentage of total revenue by different hotel segments, including full-service, select-service and extended-stay. CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

9 May 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.

JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group®  hosted the 30th edition of Meet the Money® national hotel conference on May 1-3, 2023. Alongside investment boot camps and insightful discussion panels, the conference featured several exciting special presentations interpreting the latest data and industry sector highlights. In Part 2 of this blog series, we highlight the special presentations given by Romy Bhojwani and Ryan Meliker.

Romy Bhojwani, Director, Hospitality Market Analytics of CoStar Group, continued the first day of presentations with an examination of new trends in lodging industry fundamentals. He described strong and growing demand, with some weakness in luxury ADR.

Bhojwani expects a mild recession in the second half of 2023, but predicts that the travel industry will remain largely unaffected due to the prioritization of travel for households and hybrid work driving new sources of hotel demand. CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

8 May 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.

JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® recently hosted the 30th edition of Meet the Money® national hotel conference. Alongside investment boot camps and insightful discussion panels, the conference featured several exciting special presentations interpreting the latest data and industry sector highlights.

Lodging Industry SWOT Analysis

Daniel Lesser, President & CEO of LW Hospitality Advisors, kicked things off with a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of the U.S. lodging industry in 2023.

Some of the notable strengths and opportunities discussed were the strong uptick in demand for travel both domestically and internationally, the availability of refinancing, acquisition and construction financing proceeds, innovative new offerings for consumers and a market prime for investment. Weaknesses and threats included difficulty securing financing, increasing operating costs and supply chain issues, visa backlogs and economic uncertainty.

The slides below demonstrate the promising airline passenger volume which may provide increased opportunities for hotels, and the potential for innovation within the industry. CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

4 May 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.

The 30th edition of Meet the Money® 2023 national hotel finance and investment conference was held May 1 – 3, 2023 at the Hyatt Regency LAX. Some very insightful and informative presentations were made at the conference about the national economy, the national and California hotel markets, the latest version of the ISHC’s CapEx study, the Lodging Industry Investment Council’s Top 10, and three different views of the lodging industry’s performance and prospects.

To download these free presentations, please go to www.hotellawyer.com, click on the RESOURCE tab of the website, and then scroll down and select “Hotel Industry Publications.”

Or you can just click here to get the following presentations from the Meet the Money® conference: CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

13 April 2023

Meet the Money®, the national hotel finance and investment conference, returns for its 30th year on May 1-3, at the Hyatt Regency LAX. Attendees can look forward to three days of deal-making, networking, and high-level presentations from some of the best-known names in the hospitality industry.

Meet the Money brings speakers, sponsors, and attendees together in an environment big enough to attract industry leaders, but small enough for meaningful and productive in-person meetings, where the focus is business and investment.

“After a few years of upheaval, we see a real chance for companies and executives in all corners of the hospitality industry to reset and look at new players, new capital, and new deals with fresh eyes,” said Jim Butler, conference chairman and Chairman of the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®. “There are plenty of opportunities out there for those who seek them – and Meet the Money is a great place to start looking.”

Program Highlights

This year’s program will open with a pair of two-hour Investment Boot Camp sessions: one focused on finding opportunities and creating value in distressed properties, and a second session for anyone who wants to understand, evaluate and tap into EB-5 financing.

Each day of the conference includes spotlights presentations by industry experts on the state of the hotel industry, both nationally and in California, as well as an important new landmark study on the CapEx needs of hotels. Presenters will include representatives from HVS, LWHA, CoStar, LARC, Gallagher, and Atlas Hospitality. CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

5 April 2023

The energy is building as we prepare for Meet the Money’s return in May! Our registrants can look forward to an exciting conference structured around networking, dealmaking, and gathering insight from the industry’s best minds.

There are plenty of opportunities in today’s hospitality industry for those seeking them, and Meet the Money is an ideal place to start looking. Who will you meet, and what possibilities will you find?

Hotel owners, operators, developers, lenders and investors will come together at this year’s conference to build networks, resolve challenges, find financing, and make deals, with access to discussions led by the industry’s top advisors. Take a look at the list below to see who’s coming to Los Angeles in May.

Shouldn’t you be on this list? Register today! You can find out more information on MeetTheMoney.com, or go directly to registration here.

Meet the Money 2023 Participants

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

23 March 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.

The Meet the Money program is now available on MeetTheMoney.com – take a look and see who’s speaking and what topics they’ll be exploring.

Meet the Money speakers don’t just come to the conference to share their perspectives; they also come to network with attendees. You can develop relationships, explore partnerships and ask questions one-on-one with our expert panelists and presenters, setting up opportunities that will take you through 2023 and beyond.

This year’s program will include:

  • Investment boot camps covering distressed properties and the renewed opportunity of EB-5
  • Special presentations interpreting the latest data and industry sector highlights
  • Discussion panels featuring insight into acquisitions and repositioning, creative financing, hotel transactions, alternative hospitality, lifestyle and boutique concepts and more

CONTINUE READING →

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