Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
13 April 2008
Where have all the hotel lenders gone? You will find them at Meet the Money®, May 6-8, 2008 in Las Vegas.
Q: Why go to another hotel conference?
A: It’s the money, silly.
Q: Where do I get more information or register?
A: www.jmbm.com/mtm
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
2 April 2008
Capital Providers to Meet Consumers of Capital in Las Vegas, May 6-8, 2008.
For more information, see www.MeetTheMoney.com. What an ironic paradox! There is such an abundance of capital seeking hotel investment. And at the same time, more hotel owners are frustrated in their efforts to find that very capital. Why can’t the two find one another? Because the capital market “machinery” that used to match up the hotel lenders and equity sources with borrowers, is broken — or at least “out of service” for an undetermined time.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
1 April 2008
Hotel Lawyer on The Hotel Developers Conference™ 2008. Here at www.HotelLawBlog.com and in our everyday practice, the hotel lawyers at JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® are always exploring the cutting edge. Annually, at The Hotel Developers Conference™, the Group’s hotel attorneys bring together the leading experts to illuminate the hottest topics concerning hotel development.
In recent years, the hot subject was condo hotels, and then hotel mixed-use, but this year the entire conference was devoted to GREEN hotel development, construction, rehab and operation. This was a “Gen 2” conference — moving beyond the basics and into the practical guidance and war stories from the veterans in the trenches.
The Hotel Developers Conference™ even had a great panel on the unique aspects of financing and underwriting the green hotel premium, but of course hotel finance — green or otherwise — is the entire subject of JMBM’s industrial strength event.
In any event, here is the scoop on the great panels of the second day from The Hotel Developers Conference™ the 2008 annual edition — Rule #1, “Living” buildings, financing the green premium, and more . . .
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
28 March 2007
Hospitality Lawyers: Defending ADA claims. How lawsuits brought under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) can target your website or online reservation system . . . and what you should do about it now.
A recent decision by a Federal judge has ruled that the ADA’s architectural barrier requirements can apply to websites, setting the stage for litigation. Is your hotel’s website accessible to the blind and those with impaired eyesight? If you use a third-party reservation system, are you liable if their website is not accessible?
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
17 March 2008
Green hotel lawyer at the UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference™ 2008, Las Vegas, Nevada. In my last posting on www.HotelLawBlog.com, I talked about the keynote address given by Dan Esty at this conference on GREEN hotel development, rehab and operation. Dan Esty is a Yale professor and environmental consultant to businesses including the Fortune 1000. He is also one of the most relevant, practical and influential geniuses observing and guiding businesses in coping with and profiting from greener and more sustainable behavior. If you have not read his seminal Green to Gold, you should do yourself a favor and go to Amazon.com and get a copy right away. It certainly changed my perspective on things. (see Green Hotel Development Lawyer: UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference 2008)
But the green hotel development conference was also the stage for a 5-star line up of some of the most advanced thinkers and prestigious leaders at the intersection of hospitality, development, architecture, design, engineering and sustainability. They included the thought leaders and battle-scarred veterans from the trenches working on already-successful and still-pending green hotel development projects who raised many thought-provoking, controversial, and often troublesome, challenges to our conventional thinking and business-as-usual approaches. It seemed clear to me that the sea change has occurred. It is only a question of when our boats rise or fall with tide.
Who was there? What did they say? Why was it so important? Well, here are some more of the details and my take on this whole “green hotel development thing” . . .
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
16 March 2008
Las Vegas Hotel Developers Conference. For the hundreds of hotel developers, operators, builders, vendors and consultants that flew into Las Vegas to attend the UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference™, it was hard to miss the half-dozen towers pushing up from the desert floor that mark MGM Mirage CityCenter™.
Learning how (and why) this $8 billion construction effort — the largest privately constructed building effort in North America — is building “green” into every facet of the project was just one of the highlights of the first day’s program at the UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference™ on Green Hotels. To see the growing library of green hotel resources listed in www.HotelLawBlog.com go to Green Hotel Lawyer: ULI’s Urban Land article on Greening Hotels.)
Here are some more details
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
16 March 2008
Green Hotel Lawyer: The compelling economic case for building, developing and converting green hotels. This is not about the “soft stuff” of why green is right (it is, but that is a different discussion), it is much more pragmatic.
Starting shortly after JMBM’s annual Hotel Developers Conference 2007, when JMBM had a great panel of green hotel experts, www.HotelLawBlog.com has covered the compelling hard economics of green hotels. For example, go to HotelLawBlog.com and see Hotel Lawyer on the “real economics” behind the paradigm shift to GREEN hotels.
But the library of great resource materials on how to develop, convert and operate green hotels continues to grow. ULI has just published Jim Butler’s latest article on the hard economics of greening hotels. Here is the latest. . .
UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference™ – March 11-13, 2008
Green Hotel Development, Renovation and Operation
The Business Case for Green Hotels: Practical “How to” Tips from the Trenches
A “Gen 2” Hotel Conference
LAS VEGAS and LOS ANGELES – February 14, 2008 – The UNLV-JMBM Hotel Developers Conference,™ co-sponsored by the Harrah Hotel College at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) and the Global Hospitality Group® at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP (JMBM), announced the first conference devoted solely to green hotel development, renovation and operation. Current registration suggests more than 500 hotel owners, developers, and lenders will attend the conference, which will take place March 11-13 at the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa in Las Vegas.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
5 February 2008
Hotel Lawyer on how to terminate a hotel management agreement when an operator really deserves it. The love-hate relationship between hotel owners and operators is as old as the institution of hotel management arrangements (going back to the 1970s). A good hotel operator can add up to 25% to the value of a hotel. A bad one can subtract the same amount or even more. In 20 years of focusing on the hotel industry, and specializing in representing hotel owners, developers and lenders in more than $87 billion of hotel transactions involving more than 1,000 hotels around the world, we have seen a lot of eager owners anxious to sign up with a big hotel brand, thinking that was the end of their worries. Often it is.
Often it is NOT. . .
But hotel owners don’t come to hotel lawyers to tell them how happy they are with a hotel operator. They either come to hotel lawyers to get help in signing up a hotel operator, or to complain about the unbearable financial pain caused by the incompetence, dishonesty and arrogance of their hotel operator. Sometimes the complaints are well-grounded and justify the termination of the long-term hotel management agreement, and perhaps even millions of dollars of compensatory and punitive damages. (See for example, the experience of our client in Ritz-Carlton breached contractual and fiduciary duties . . . When will hotel operators “get it”?).
[And for a wealth of related articles, see the “Hotel Management Agreement” topic on Hotel Law Blog.]
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
3 February 2008
Hotel Lawyer reading the Smith Travel Research tea leaves from the ALIS Conference. A few days ago, Mark Lomanno made one of his great presentations at the ALIS (Americas Lodging Investment Summit) Conference to a ballroom packed with most of the 3,100 registered delegates. All were eager to hear the latest data, in order to see where we have been and where we are going. As usual, Mark was kind enough to share his latest slides. You don’t want to miss this!
My quick “take-away” summary? Last year was a very good year (5.5% RevPAR growth). This year will be good (4.5% RevPAR growth), all things considered, but it will better for some (luxury, mid segment without F&B, top 25 markets) than others, and there are warning clouds on the horizon.
