19 March 2009
Hotel Lawyer with some potentially good news for our bad economy
Last week I had a conversation with one of the country’s top CMBS special loan servicers, who happens to also be a friend as well as a good client. We were talking about dealing with some of his company’s increasing volume of assets under “special servicing” and the difficulties presented by REMIC regulations.
18 March 2009
Hotel Attorneys with a potentially critical tip for owners and lenders — instantly increasing your hotel’s cash flow. It is often overlooked. Who says “There Is No Such Thing As a Free Lunch” (“TINSTAFL”) ?
Hotel attorneys know that times are tough and getting tougher. Moody’s Economy.com and PKF are now projecting a deeper and more extended downturn and a more delayed recovery. Hotel Lawyer with new data from Moody’s Economy.com and deteriorating projections for the lodging industry. and Jim Butler quote in USA today More hotels are facing foreclosure, bankruptcy.
So here is a rock-solid tip that could instantly boost cash flow for savvy borrowers and lenders who qualify. This will be particularly valuable to hotels bought or built in the last 5 to 10 years . . . or maybe longer.
17 March 2009
Hotel bankruptcies, restructurings, and receiverships are likely to increase substantially before things get better. That’s the conclusion the hotel lawyers at JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® reach with new data released by Moody’s Economy.com and new projections from PKF Research.
Here are the headlines
10 March 2009
Hotel Lawyer with the new standards for rating hotels in Italy. Why should we care?
Many travelers refer to the AAA or Mobil ratings for hotels and restaurants for reliable information about the quality of an establishment. As most folks know, AAA uses the diamond rating system and Mobil uses the star rating system.
While these tried and true rating systems are unlikely to be replaced anytime soon, I was fascinated to receive a recent message from a lawyer friend in Italy. It talked about the new star rating system recently promulgated by the Italian government on February 11, 2009.
Here’s the scoop …
9 March 2009
Hotel Lawyer with an update on the latest legislation and proposals affecting the lodging industry from hotel lawyer Jim Abrams.
What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in California spreads like wildfire. That’s why the lodging industry tends to pay such close attention to what is brewing in the California legislature. So, “heads up!” The California legislature is back in session. A number of new laws have already taken effect and a lot of bills are in the hopper. The City of Anaheim (home of Disneyland) has hit Internet travel providers with a whopping TOT bill.
This article by Jim Abrams will tell www.HotelLawBlog.com readers about these and other developments facing the lodging industry in California and quite probably beyond the state’s boundaries.
8 March 2009
Hotel Lawyer with political insights from the past centuries.
I started this blog with some thoughts from Bloomberg about how retail sales were down in February, developing nations were $700 billion short on being able to pay for their imports and debt, implications of the soaring unemployment that now exceeds the job creation targeted by Obama’s program, but then my friend Carl Lambert sent me an email with some terse thoughts that rang true and made me smile.
So I thought I would share these today instead.
6 March 2009
Hotel Lawyer with a few questions on the cost of the bailout and what lies ahead
As many recent articles referenced below recount, and as we all know from the headlines, we are in “interesting times”. We talk about the $700 billion bailout bill and the possibility of doubling the amount to get out of the scary situation we are in. But is that really the cost, and is it going to do the job?
Here are some interesting facts and a few thoughts.
6 March 2009
Hotel Lawyer with a wonderful luxury hotel success story
We attended the gala opening party for Montage Beverly Hills in early December, and it was one of the best opening parties we have been to. And now that the hotel has settled in to providing wonderful luxury experiences for hotel guests, we thought it would be a good time to catch up with one of our favorite hoteliers in the world, Ali Kasikci, Managing Director of Montage Beverly Hills.
Here’s what we learned.
4 March 2009
Hotel Lawyer with
The landmark Stimulus Bill has commanded a lot of attention for the TARP and TALF provisions, (see Hotel Lawyers on the TARP, the TALF, and the ugly), but our dauntless tax attorneys have naturally focused on the $288 billion of stimulus that is projected to come from tax breaks.
Here is a summary of the most important provisions and what they do.
3 March 2009
Please see “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” for the latest articles on troubled hotels.
Hotel Bankruptcy arrest by the TALF? Is there a turnaround for hotels here? Or do owners and lenders continue to fret?
Today was potentially a very important one as the US Financial Stimulus Program goes to work. The lending facility launched Tuesday, March 3, 2009 by the U. S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve is designed to generate up to $1 trillion in consumer and small business loans. This is a significant part of the TARP (the bailout bill or financial stimulus package also called the Troubled Asset Relief Program). This specific part is called the TALF standing for “Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility” which is scheduled to start dispersing funds in about three weeks, making nonrecourse loans.
Here’s what I think it means for the hotel industry. . .