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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:

26 October 2008
Keywords:

Hotel Operating Agreement, HOA, Hotel Management Agreement, HMA, Hotel Management Contract, Management Contract. Hotel Operator, Hotel Manager, Hotel Owner. RFP for Hotel Manager. RFP for Hotel Operator, How to get a great hotel operator.

Terminology

Contracts between hotel owners and managers (or operators) controlling the management of a hotel go by various names. They are called hotel management agreements, HMAs, hotel management contracts or hotel operating agreements. For convenient reference, this article will generally use the term “Hotel Management Agreement” or “HMA.” However all these terms can be used interchangeably and mean the same thing, just as with hotel operator or hotel manager.

Whatever they are called, Hotel Management Agreements allocate risk between the hotel manager and the hotel owner. They are critical in determining the profitability and value of a hotel.

Hospitality Lawyer on how SNDAs or Subordination Agreements affect the value, financeability, and collateral value of a hotel.

As we mentioned recently, Bob Braun and I decided to create a series of articles about Hotel Management Agreements or HMAs as hospitality industry veterans often call them. (See “Hotel Management Agreements 201 by Hospitality Lawyer – Indemnification Provisions“). The successful matching of the brand and operator with your hotel can be one of the most important factors controlling your hotel’s value, liquidity, financeability and operational success. Many owners do not realize how important the HMA is until it is too late. That’s why the Hospitality Attorneys at JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® — who focus on representing hotel owners, developers and lenders — decided to share some important lessons we have learned over the years in working on many hundreds of Hotel Management Agreements — probably more than 1,000.

If you are about to explore looking for a hotel operator for your hotel project, have a new hotel management agreement in your future, or have issues with an existing HMA, you will find important information under the “Hotel Management Agreements” TOPIC — one of the tabs at the top — at www.HotelLawBlog.com. You might also check out the resources listed at the end of this article.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

21 October 2008

Click here for the latest articles on Condo Hotels

Hospitality Lawyer on Condo Hotels. Do they work? Are they viable? What are the 5 biggest misconceptions about Condo Hotels?

“Condo Hotels” — they are a subject the media “loves to hate.” Everyone has an opinion about them — whether they know anything about them or not. JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® has worked on more than 100 hotel mixed-use projects in the last 5 years alone, most of them involving condo hotels or hotel condos. Funny. Almost all the ones JMBM’s hotel lawyers work on really “work” and don’t make the headlines.

So with all the critical (and often uninformed) press lately, it was really great to see Brent Howie of Provident Hotels & Resorts — one of the 30-year veterans of the condo hotel industry — write a “no nonsense” article de-bunking the 5 biggest myths about condo hotels. I thought I would share it with you and lend our endorsement to its theme (and to the kind of support Brent gives these projects). Brent Howie can be reached at 727-726-4770 or bhowie@prov.com.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

15 October 2008

The Hospitality Lawyers at JMBM enthusiastically welcome David Sudeck as a new Senior Member of the Global Hospitality Group® focusing on timeshare and fractional projects. This is one of the strongest segments of the hospitality industry that keeps on going, so we are very happy to have David Sudeck to take responsibility for this area of our practice. Here is the press release that says it all . . .

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

13 October 2008

Hospitality Lawyer with the latest update on the Financial Crisis or “Turbulence.”
A few days ago, some were calling the Dow’s 2,400 point collapse in 8 days a “crash” but others insisted that a “crash” requires a drop of 20% or more in a single day or two days. Therefore, they call the recent collapse in stock indexes a “cascading crash” or a “slow motion crash.” It was pretty fast for most of us, with a 1,000 point swing between high and low on Friday (October 10) — the first time that has happened in its 12-year history.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

8 October 2008

Hospitality Lawyer at the Hispanic Hotel Owners Association Inaugural Conference in Miami, Florida. WOW! Tonight was the opening of the Inaugural Annual Conference for the HHOA founded by Angela Gonzalez-Rowe. (See Hispanic Hotel Owners Association (HHOA) and Angela Gonzalez-Rowe talk with Hospitality Lawyer about HHOA’s exciting developments) This is a serious group of hotel investors, a focused gateway for the Hispanic community’s involvement in hotels, and a demographic segment that absolutely commands respect.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

3 October 2008

Hospitality Lawyer with insights from Warren Buffett on the Financial Crisis that has created an “economic Pearl Harbor.” After the Senate passed the Bailout Bill, he talked about what it takes to win the war of Financial Recovery. Buffett’s common-sense insights on the $700 billion financial system rescue package are great. Let’s hope our Government listens to the compelling logic of how to make this bailout work . . . and how we will all make out better.

I hope the U.S. Treasury and Congress are listening . . .

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

01 October 2008

Hospitality Lawyers at JMBM don’t create economic cycles or events like the Panic of 2008, but we often help our clients and friends find the fortune-making deals or put a tourniquet on life threatening hemorrhaging for owners, developers, investors and lenders.

These times remind this hotel lawyer of some time-tested wisdom. Hetty Green, one of the world’s most successful investors who lived in the 19th century said, “Next to my children I love a good panic more than anything else.” And why would those words be relevant today? That is the penultimate question today at www.HotelLawBlog.com.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

28 September 2008

The Lodging Conference 2008 at the Arizona Biltmore. What impact will the “Panic of 2008” have on the hotel industry? Here’s the take by one Hospitality Lawyer.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

28 September 2008

Hotel Lawyer: The Bailout Bill looks certain to pass. Hospitality Lawyer muses what it means to the world’s economy and the hospitality industry. . .

As of 7 pm, Sunday, September 28, 2008, it appears that all contingents have approved the largest financial bailout in U.S. history — a historic $7 billion which is more than the entire budget for 2009. Here is an early take on this situation from www.HotelLawBlog.com.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

28 September 2008

The Panic of 2008 and the $700 billion “bailout” — now called TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) — are events of historic proportion. As one Hospitality Lawyer, here’s my take.

CONTINUE READING →

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