Insider: Part 1: Anti-Trust Issues - What Keeps Your Lawyer Up at Night

By William A. Brewer III, Partner, Bickel & Brewer and Robert L. Garner, Counsel

Mr. William A. Brewer III

As a lawyer whose practice involves a stream of bet-the-business hospitality cases, I’m often asked by industry principals – owners, operators, managers, and investors – what legal issues and business concerns I see on the horizon.  

In this two-part series, I explore one of my answers:  antitrust enforcement activities, particularly in the economy sector. Key players in this industry always seem to be looking ahead – gazing into a crystal ball to anticipate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. I often comment that the past can offer revealing insight into what might lie ahead. 

The hospitality industry has been undergoing a wave of M&A activity since the early 1990s. And while there hasn’t been a great deal of antirust enforcement in the industry, it would serve us all well to be abreast of shifting dynamics in the marketplace and emerging legal developments. Where those two concerns intersect is critical to the future of the hospitality business and the manner in which is regulated. 

In part one of this series, "Anti-Trust Issues - What Keeps Your Lawyer Up at Night", I analyze the hospitality marketplace, the antitrust landscape, M&A activity, and the growth of the economy sector through the development of new brands and consolidation. This analysis sets the stage for part two, an in-depth look at the effect of market concentration, emerging antitrust concerns and globalization.  

Ultimately, one might conclude that there has never been a more critical time in the industry to study how market conditions might be impacted by antitrust concerns. Read "Anti-Trust Issues - What Keeps Your Lawyer Up at Night" in the Hotel Business Review. 

Click here to subscribe to the Hotel Business Review 

Sincerely,   

William A. Brewer III

Partner

Bickel & Brewer

214-653-4811

wab@bickelbrewer.com