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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:

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 →

Published on:

21 March 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.
Click here for the latest articles on Data Technology, Privacy & Security.

Data privacy and security continue to be significant issues for hotel owners, operators, brands, and managers, representing the potential for both financial and reputational impacts. One important piece of the puzzle is which of the many entities involved in a hotel property is responsible for collecting, sharing, using and storing the personal data of guests and employees.  Bob Braun, senior member of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Cybersecurity & Privacy Group, gives an overview of current considerations.

 

 

Data Security and Privacy in Hospitality – Who’s Paying the Bill?
by Robert Braun, Co-Chair, JMBM Cybersecurity and Privacy Group;
Senior Member, JMBM Global Hospitality Group

 

One of the most valuable assets of a hotel brand is information – detailed personal information about guests at their hotels, participants in their loyalty programs, and visitors to their websites. This information allows hotel brands to focus on creating guest loyalty, acquiring potential guests, engaging in effective marketing, expanding market share, and creating properties and services that entice and satisfy hotel guests. Because of this, hotel brands have long contended that they “own” hotel guest data and have unencumbered rights to use it, without respect to the interests of hotel owners and even the guests themselves.

While this attitude may have been correct in the past, the world is changing. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, the California Consumer Protection Act, the California Privacy Rights Act, and similar laws throughout the United States and the world have turned this idea on its head. Anyone who collects personal data can do so only with the permission of the individual consumer; brands don’t own the personal information of guests, the guests do, and they are the ones who give the operator, brand or owner the right to collect and use it – and they can limit or revoke that right. CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

14 March 2023

See how JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® can help you.
Click here for the latest articles on C-PACE Financing.

The Global Hospitality Group of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP (JMBM) is pleased to announce the completion of $172 million in C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing transactions for the year 2022. This total includes over $97 million in hotels and condos, more than $58 million in multifamily, and $16 million in senior living facilities.

C-PACE is a low-cost, nonrecourse financing that creates a lien on the real property and is repaid through property taxes. It first emerged as a technique for funding energy-efficiency improvements and has developed into a widely-accepted and practical solution to financing new construction and improvements across all real estate classes.

C-PACE has remained an available and attractive option for financing new construction projects as more traditional financing has been negatively impacted by rising interest rates and the current economic environment. Led by Partner David A. Sudeck, the Group counsels lenders in these transactions and represents some of the leading names in PACE financing. Since 2020, David and his team have been involved in over $400 million in C-PACE loans. CONTINUE READING →

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