Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
4 October 2006
Please see “troubled hotel loans – workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships” for the latest articles on troubled hotels.
Hotel bankruptcy lawyers’ dreams come true?
Hotel loan workouts, hotel bankruptcies, and hotel receiverships have been scarce the past few years — approaching an all-time low. But that may be about to change.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
30 September 2006
One of the top priorities of the Unite Here over the past two years has been obtaining neutrality agreements (also sometimes called card-check agreements or peace agreements). See yesterday’s posting and many of the newspaper articles referenced below). So what do you do when the union is at your door — whether you are a union hotel (not covered by a Multi-Employer Group contract), a non-union hotel, or a developer waiting to break ground?
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
29 September 2006
This has been a busy year for the hotel unions such as UNITE HERE. The union’s latest action yesterday in closing down the main corridor to LA’s International Airport with sit-ins in the middle of Century Boulevard garnered significant media attention. More than 300 were arrested in a demonstration “choreographed” with city officials and police. The protest was part of the union’s effort to organize 13 non-union hotels ostensibly to publicize the treatment of immigrants by the non-union airport hotels.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
27 September 2006
UNITE HERE hotel union officials announced that they are scheduling a protest for tomorrow afternoon (September 28) at 4:30 pm during rush hour traffic with the intent to close down Century Boulevard–one of the main corridors to and from LAX.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
26 September 2006
Yesterday, we noted how Shaquille O’Neal is jumping into a $1 billion joint venture on a hotel-enhanced mixed-use project in Miami. Now it looks like Andre Agassi is looking for a new kind of grand slam.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
25 September 2006
Last week at The Lodging Conference in Phoenix, hotel-enhanced mixed-use was one of the hot topics which everyone was talking about. A recent example of this trend was reported in the September 19 news that Miami Heat basketball star and NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal is getting involved in a high-profile mixed-use project. He has formed The O’Neal Group, a real estate firm that plans big real estate projects across the country. Its first venture is with MDM Development in a $1 billion mixed-use project in downtown Miami. The so-called Met Miami will include an office tower, 1,100 residential units, a supermarket, a 24-hour fitness center and a high end Marriott hotel. O’Neal, who has amassed a real estate portfolio worth $50 million over recent years, will be involved in the sales and marketing arm of the development operation.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
23 September 2006
At a little after 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 22, 2006, CBS reported that Local 2 of UNITE HERE announced that the rank-and-file had approved the tentative contract negotiated with the 13 Multi-Employer Group (MEG) hotels. The union said that 99% of the workers voting approved the contract.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
22 September 2006
As a record 1,200 delegates gathered at The Lodging Conference held at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix this week, the mood might be best described as “ebullient foreboding.” According to Jones Lang LaSalle, we are seeing an unprecedented level of hotel transactions–more than $21 billion in the first six months of 2006 and more than all twelve months of 2005. And Smith Travel Research told us how well-positioned the industry is for sustained profitability and growth with continuing record RevPAR growth increases, demand growth still outpacing supply, and big barriers to entry.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
22 September 2006
Click here for the latest articles on Condo Hotels
We have been called in after-the-fact many times by developers who have been given unworkable condo documents drafted by expert condo lawyers. The problem is that they were experts in condos, but had scant experience with hotels, and no experience with condo hotels. Unfortunately, the best way to fix bad documents at the outset is to throw them away and begin again from scratch. Condo hotel deals are far too complex to try and bandage bad documents. But once they are in place, you may have to live with them for a long time, even if they are terrible.
Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
20 September 2006
Click here for the latest articles on Condo Hotels
Maintaining the quality of the condo hotel is a key component to the success of a condo hotel project. The condo hotel must deliver the expected consistent quality levels of service, room finishings and other physical product for its brand or market segment. Face it: the fastest way to turn a four-star property into a three-star property is to have inconsistent standards.
The condo hotel regime must provide the legally enforceable structure to maintain consistency and quality, and the mechanics to enable the unit owners, through their HOAs, to meet their obligations under the hotel management agreement, and to enforce their rights.
