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.
16 April 2009
Please see “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” for the latest articles on troubled hotels.
Hotel Lawyer with the latest data on commercial real estate loan maturities and some important implications — Why you need to know all about CMBS Special Servicers and how to meet them!
My friend, Michael Murray at MBA Newslink, published a story this morning with some startling numbers. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (or MBA), $90.5 billion of CMBS debt comes due this year! And that is only part of the story.
15 April 2009
Hotel Lawyer with questions, and perhaps some guidance, on how we make this all work. Today, the Fed announced that for the first time in 50 years, the US economy has experienced deflation. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Labor Department reported that the March consumer-price index slipped 0.4% below its year-earlier level — the first decline in more than 50 years.
14 April 2009
Please see “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” for the latest articles on troubled hotels.
Hotel Lawyer: Hotel borrower dilemma: the note is in default or coming due. Do you fight the land war in Asia or find a way to make love (not war)? This is the first article in a series of two about how lenders and borrowers need to work outside the box to accomplish their objectives in this down market. Today’s article focuses on the borrower perspective, and the next one will be on the lender perspective. I encourage lenders to read this article, and borrowers to read the lender article. There is a win-win here for many players. We have some ideas you may never have considered before.
6 April 2009
Ask the Hotel Lawyer™: What can we learn from the bedbug story? Bedbugs have plagued the hospitality industry for centuries and seem to be making a resurgence.
But there is an iconic story about a “bedbug letter” which is also instructive on the importance of treating people with respect and dignity, and the embarrassment (and financial costs) “important people” can cause to their colleagues and their companies when they forget these lessons.
Here’s the story, as told by Hotel Lawyer Robert Braun for www.HotelLawBlog.com readers, and a real life lesson from last week.
2 April 2009
Please see “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” for the latest articles on troubled hotels.
How do you terminate a long-term hotel management agreement or HMA? The hotel bankruptcy trump card. This is an increasingly popular question regularly put to the hotel lawyers of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group®.
29 March 2009
Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.
Hotel Lawyer and Timeshare Lawyer in Orlando at the ARDA Conference.
Hotel Lawyer: Exit strategies of repositioning can create ADA issues you need to watch. Timeshare lawyer David Sudeck is in Orlando at the ARDA Conference right now, comparing notes with others in the timeshare business. Many see conversion of hotel or condo projects to timeshare as an alternate exit strategy for their investment, but are missing some important issues, as he writes for www.HotelLawBlog.com.
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.
