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Industry Outlook: Looking Back on 2006 Jim Butler recently chaired the annual Hospitality Roundtable with some of the industry’s leading experts. As usual, they have plenty to say about where the industry has been, where it is headed, and the opportunities and challenges their companies are facing. Jim Butler: Welcome, everyone! Let’s start by reviewing […]
Condo Hotels: Prelude to a Hotel-Enhanced Mixed-Use Revolution Ask the Hotel Lawyer™ is a regular column that provides practical insight into timely legal hospitality issues. In his last column, Jim Butler addressed the complexities of allocating costs among condo hotel stakeholders. In this column, he delivers a new vital message for the hospitality and investment […]
Planning for Brand Transition Any casual observer of transactions in the hospitality industry will notice that hotels regularly change their flags. In a mixed-use environment, the owner of a major shopping mall (or an office-residential-hotel project) may decide to upgrade or reposition the mixed-use development. A hotel may be a vital part of this effort, […]
When properties are closed for renovations or conversions, employers must take special care in dealing with workforce issues, particularly if the property’s workforce is unionized. The following discussion points may help hotel owners and their labor counsel to set the optimum strategy for their property. What kind of property will the hotel become upon its […]
Ask the Hotel LawyerTM is a regular column that provides practical insight into timely legal issues. In the last column, Jim Butler addressed the complex issue of "condo hotel splits." In this column, he will share lessons learned at the Condo Hotel Boot Camp session of The Hotel Developers Conference(tm) sponsored by JMBM’s Global Hospitality […]
JMBM hotel labor lawyer Marta Fernandez writes about The Hotel Group’s successful attempt to hire the workforce of their choice upon re-opening a renovated hotel. Ms. Fernandez represented The Hotel Group before the NLRB. As the demand for hotel rooms continues to grow, hotel developers and owners across the country are acquiring, renovating and repositioning […]
In an important case for the hospitality industry, JMBM attorney Martin (Marty) Orlick, along with insurance defense counsel, helped a Santa Barbara hotel avoid paying plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs in a lawsuit filed against it under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Marty Orlick has defended more than 175 ADA lawsuits, many of them […]
Despite the current proliferation of condo hotels, the Access Board’s newly proposed ADAAG technical requirements still include no specific mention of condo hotels, nor have we seen any state law that includes requirements for condo hotel accessibility. There is very limited judicial direction, as legal precedents regarding the ADA and condo hotels have not yet […]
Hotel closings are hitting record levels, but for all the right reasons! Unlike closings caused by the “great real estate depression” of the early 1990s, hotels are closing today for positive reasons: major rehab and construction projects, conversions to condo hotel or residential condos and expansion. Hotel developers and owners are finding that construction is […]
Smith Travel Research reports that there are 227 condo hotel projects in the development pipeline, representing more than 93,000 units— close to the average annual supply of traditional hotel rooms in a “normal” year. That is a boom! This meteoric rise in condo hotel development has caused some to wonder about the product’s long term […]
