By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
4 May 2007
Hotel Lawyer at Meet the Money® — the premier hotel financing conference. In an annual survey prepared for exclusive release at JMBM’s Meet the Money® hotel finance conference, the Lodging Industry Investment Council (LIIC) “Top 10″ Investment Trends and Challenges were unveiled on May 3, 2007. If you want to know what these industry leaders think about the industry, check this out . . .
The LIIC “Top 10″ investment trends and challenges
The LIIC “Top 10″ is compiled from an survey of LIIC members who we believe may represent up to half of the (midscale and up) hospitality assets in the United States. Accordingly, the survey reflects a significant portion of the industry’s sentiment regarding trends for the next 12 months.
1. Still Good Time to Buy Hotels? 51% of respondents believe that “Yes, it […]

Jim Butler

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
8 May 2007
Hotel Lawyer on debt and equity financing for hotels — hotel financing update. The party’s not over, but it may be time we sobered up. How do you find debt and equity financing for hotel development, hotel mixed-use, repositioning and purchase or sale?
Meet the Money® — Gateway to hotel finance
On May 3, 2008, 450 hotel industry leaders - owners, developers, capital providers, brands and advisors - gathered in Los Angeles for JMBM’s 17th annual Meet the Money® conference for an intense day of networking, deal making, and technology sharing. From the early morning kick off when Smith Travel Research’s Bobby Bowers gave us the current industry stats (continue profit and RevPAR growth, at least through 2008) to the final handshake at the Dealmakers Reception, the mood among participants was optimistic, but decidedly more cautious than a year ago.
An industry flooded […]

Jim Butler

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
14 May 2007
Hotel Lawyer on recognizing, avoiding and defending ADA lawsuits. In case you haven’t noticed, ADA lawsuits — suits filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act — are on the rise. We have covered a number of troublesome ADA claim areas here on www.HotelLawBlog.com in the past [Just go the the blog and scroll down the right hand side until you see the easy-to-use tools to sort blog entries by topic. ADA is the first topic]. But today, I would like to introduce Marty Orlick, one of my hotel lawyer partners who specializes in defending ADA cases. In fact, Marty Orlick has represented property owners in defending more than 200 ADA cases! So let’s get Marty’s street savvy advice on how to recognize the threat and then to avoid the potential lawsuits lurking at bottom of your pool.
Marty, this sounds like […]

Jim Butler

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
20 May 2007
Hotel Lawyer on latest U.S. Hospitality Trends. At the recent Meet the Money® conference on hotel financing, Bobby Bowers, Senior Vice President at Smith Travel Research (STR) provided an overview of the U.S. lodging industry for the 12 months ending March 2007. The results were very interesting and bode well. Straight from www.HotelLawBlog.com, here is what he said. . .

At the recent Meet the Money® conference on Hotel Financing held in Los Angeles, Bobby Bowers, gave us the latest data on the condition of the U.S. lodging industry. Here are his slides and what we think they mean.

This supply-demand chart is a classic. It shows results since the late 1980s and dramatically illustrates how room demand growth accelerated from late 2002 and has then gradually settled back down over the past few years, while the growth in supply has been […]

Jim Butler

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
22 May 2007
Hotel Lawyer reporting from Meet the Money® hotel financing conference. At the recent Meet the Money® conference on hotel financing, Mark Woodworth, Executive VP of PKF Consulting, presented the latest report from PKF Hospitality Research to a crowd of more than 450 hotel industry leaders who gathered to connect with all the top debt and equity financing sources for hotels and hotel-related projects. (For more details on the Conference or the materials from it, see “Hotel financing gateway. Meet the Money® — gateway to debt and equity financing for hotels. How to get your hotel financed.“)
Mark Woodworth’s presentation helped answer the questions on everyone’s minds: (1) Where are we in the hotel cycle? (2) What is the real threat of new supply? and (3) Where do we go from here?
His information and answers were very interesting . . .

The […]

Jim Butler

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
2 June 2007
Hotel Lawyer on hotel sales, values, buyers and cap rates — reporting from Meet the Money® hotel financing conference. If you are buying or selling hotels, or looking for hotel financing, you have to be interested in today’s posting. This is all about hotel cap rates and values, and the biggest hotel sales as well as the biggest buyers in the recent times. All this information was provided to the crowd attending Meet the Money® a few weeks ago by Suzanne Mellen of HVS International. There is some great information here, that belongs with the other classics on www.HotelLawBlog.com.

How many “Major Hotel Transactions” and what average price per room?
HVS keeps track of “Major Hotel Transactions” which they define to be transactions for $10 million or more. Suzanne’s first slide, below, show us the volume of these Major Hotel […]

Jim Butler

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
3 June 2007

Hotel Lawyer in New York at the Hotel Investment Conference. It is Sunday night, June 3, 2007, and the New York Hotel Investment Conference is officially under way with its gala reception. It boasts an all time record number of attendees, which always signals good times in the hotel industry. And although the weather in Manhattan tonight involves a lot of rain, it is not dampening this parade!
We had a bit of a prelude to the investment conference at the Lodging Industry Investment Council (LIIC), the hospitality industry think tank, session before the party got under way, and Mark Lomanno, President of Smith Travel Research gave us some very encouraging news. I think you are going to like this and the statistics that under pin his analysis. Listen to this . . .
Showers for Manhattan, but sunny skies for the […]

Jim Butler

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
11 June 2007
Hotel Lawyer on developing GREEN hotels. An exciting new benchmark has been set in the hospitality industry. The Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa has received the prestigious LEED Gold certification! This is the first time that the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded “LEED Gold” to a hotel. It marks a sea change. It is the first, but won’t be the last. In fact, get ready to ride the new wave or drown in the lost opportunity.
Gaia Napa Valley Hotel & Spa gets LEED Gold!
Gaia Napa Valley Hotel & Spa is the brainchild of hotelier and visionary Wen-I Chang and his team at Atman Hospitality Group. When Wen spoke to us at The Hotel Developers Conferece ™ in March about his project (see “Hotel Lawyer on Green Hotel Development: Green hotel development is profitable now! Inspirations from […]

Jim Butler

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
14 June 2007
Hotel Lawyer on the Schrager-Marriott marriage and its impact on lifestyle hotels. One of my steady themes here at www.HotelLawBlog.com, is that lifestyle hotels are the hottest thing going in new hotel development, particularly hotel mixed-use. (See, for example, “The new “LIFESTYLE” hotel brands are changing the hotel industry and hotel mixed-use.“) But at a press conference held on the roof of Schrager’s Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan at 10:00 am on June 14, 2007, Bill Marriott (chairman and CEO of Marriott International) and Ian Schrager (the founder of Ian Schrager Hotels, now known as “Morgans Hotels”) surprised most of the hotel industry with their news. Marriott (age 75) and Schrager (now 60) announced formal plans to partner in the creation of a new lifestyle boutique hotel brand. The as-yet-unnamed-brand will provide the high-design, boutique, lifestyle product that Schrager […]

Jim Butler

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
18 June 2007
Hotel Lawyer in Florida. While Gloria Estefan’s fans are anticipating the September 2007 release of her new Spanish-language album, 90 Millas, featuring original music inspired by her native Cuba — the hotel industry is eagerly awaiting the opening of her new luxury resort, Costa d’Este in Vero Beach, Florida. Gloria and Emilio Estefan are not new to the hospitality industry — they currently own 5 Cuban restaurants in Florida and Mexico, and the Cardozo Hotel in Miami. Their new mixed-use resort will include 94 hotel rooms, meeting space, a restaurant and spa. The resort is scheduled to open in January 2008, according to Benchmark Hospitality International, which will manage the property.
Gloria and Emilio Estefan are joining celebrities such as Andre Agassi, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Reggie Jackson - not to mention business gurus like Paul Allen, Steve […]

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