8 May 2009
Hospitality Lawyers with “U.S. Lodging Industry Overview” by Mark Lomanno — Meet the Money® presentation May 6, 2009
Meet the Money® is the annual hotel finance conference presented by the hotel lawyers of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group®. These slides were presented at the 19th annual Meet the Money® conference held in Los Angeles on May 5-7, 2009.
8 May 2009
Hospitality Lawyers with the latest information from Meet the Money® 2009
Typical comments at Meet the Money® this year were “Best ever conference!” and “I am never going to miss this conference again. It’s different than all the others.”
For all of our industry friends — whether or not you were able to attend Meet the Money® 2009 — we will present some of the invaluable information delivered at the conference. We will present both the “raw data” of the PowerPoint presentations, and will also have some commentary in the next few days.
28 April 2009
Hospitality Lawyers on Innkeepers’ legal duties in dealing with Swine Flu and other infectious diseases. There is a lot of great information available about what Swine Flu is, how it is caused, and precautions people should take to avoid becoming infected. But there is very little guidance so far telling lodging operators what the legal and liability questions that apply to their operations.
That is why I turned to Jim Abrams, a valued senior member of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® and former President and CEO of the California Hotel & Lodging Association, for some help.
What are the legal ramifications of refusing guests who may appear ill or who have come from Mexico? What are the liabilities that an employer might face for not training and protecting employees? What practical steps should hoteliers be taking to deal with the outbreak? Here is what Jim told me.
27 April 2009
Hotel Lawyer with more information about the World Health Organization upgrade to “Phase 4” (on a 6 phase system) of the threat of a flu pandemic.
Today I received more reader comments on swine flu blog than I have for a long time. Clearly, blog readers are concerned about the swine flu catching the headlines. And after concern about health and safety issues, the potential implications of a “flu pandemic” are severe for the economy, and particularly, the travel and lodging industry. This was discussed in the article earlier today entitled Swine flu or SARS 2?
One of the bullet points in the cited article noted that the World Health Organization or WHO had increased its rating for the seriousness of this threat by a full notch to “phase 4.” In answer to your questions, here’s what that means.
27 April 2009
Hotel Lawyer with breaking concerns over a flu pandemic. International fears of a flu pandemic rose today as the death toll from swine flu in Mexico rose to 149. Cases have also been reported in the United States, Canada, Spain and New Zealand. What does this mean for the lodging industry and the economy?
26 April 2009
Hotel Lawyers with a serious new study documenting pricing premiums for GREEN hotels. At least for new construction, properly planned from the outset, there is little or no additional cost for building to LEED certification standards (for example, see my Cornell Hospitality Quarterly article entitled “The Compelling Hard Case for Green Hotel Development.”).
Even the myth that luxury hotels cannot be sustainable has been shattered with beautiful luxury hotels gaining LEED certification, like Montage Beverly Hills recent award of LEED Gold certification.
And just a few days ago, my friend Meng Li, a LEED AP whom I met through JMBM’s 2008 Hotel Developers Conference, sent me a copy of a new study published by two professors at the University of Reading, documenting a very strong economic premium in both rental income and asset prices (sales price) for green buildings based upon data from 553 green projects. The numbers may even amaze you (more than a 31% value premium).
25 April 2009
Hotel Lawyers with success stories on GREEN hotels. The hotel lawyers in JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® are big believers in “green” hotels. Many industry friends continue asking for the DVDs and great presentation materials from last year’s Hotel Developers Conference on green hotel development. Most of these resources are available on www.HotelLawBlog.com under the “TOPIC” of Green Hotels. The events I am reporting on today build on the base of that knowledge and experience, and thus lead us to “Green Hotel economics 202.”
As many of you know, we believe that green building is the ECONOMICALLY prudent way to go. That is the entire thesis of my Cornell Hospitality Quarterly article entitled “The Compelling Hard Case for Green Hotel Development.”
Still, I was pleasantly surprised when two new items ended up on my desk this week. They are both further demonstration confirming the hard economic value of green development. The first item was the LEED Gold certification awarded to one of my favorite luxury hotels, Montage Beverly Hills under the direction of my friend, Ali Kasikci. The second was a new study published by two professors documenting a very strong economic premium in both rental and value (sales price) for green buildings based upon data from 553 green projects. The numbers may even amaze you (more than a 31% value premium). But that is a story for the next blog . . .
22 April 2009
Hotel Lawyer with the latest PKF Consulting and JMBM survey results.
As I was getting ready to publish JMBM’s latest survey, I received an email from our friends at PKF Consulting with their 2009 Hospitality Investment Survey. The results of both surveys are interesting for different reasons. Here they are.
21 April 2009
Please see “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” for the latest articles on troubled hotels.
Hospitality Lawyer: Distressed hotel loan bankruptcies and restructurings are on the rise. Now we are starting to see some new issues tested. As The Great Recession of 2008 continues to set record unemployment levels and send shockwaves through the economy, hotel bankruptcies are on the rise. Sure a lot of lenders are tending to extend maturities, work out forbearance restructurings or go for uncontested receiverships, but we are starting to see some bankruptcy filings as well.
And just as the economy is in “uncharted waters,” some loan structuring terms or approaches that were developed in the 1990s have not been fully tested, if at all, by a severe downturn or serious litigation. One of those devices that has been quite popular is the use of a “special purpose entity” or SPE.
19 April 2009
Hotel Lawyer: “I am from the government and I am here to help you . . .”
As the old joke goes, this was one of the three biggest lies (along with “the check is in the mail” and “that’s my Porsche and I own it.”). But however you view it, the government is certainly taking a bigger role in all our lives. Part of the latest regulation requires nutritional information to be provided to customers of hotels and restaurants. Here is the latest from our Jim Abrams.
