Assessors across the thousands of taxing jurisdictions in the United States are calculating the value of hotels for tax purposes. Often the most complicated part of determining the value of a property is how to include capital expenses. This problem is worsened by the lack of information assessors usually have on such expenses and projects, and the complicated rules around brand standards. In this article, Altus Group's hospitality tax specialists explore how to manage these situations through communication and information sharing through their combined seventy years of experience in property tax. Read on...

Hiring great people is critical to the success of a hotel or hotel tech company. It takes considerable effort and money to find employees that are the right blend of cultural and experiential fit. But hiring is only one part of the human resources equation. After going to great lengths to find the right employees, it is just as critical to keep them. This article looks at the ways many hotels are building employee engagement to increase retention, focusing on both obvious initiatives (like proper pay) and newer approaches (such as points programs). Read on...

A labor rule was set to go into effect during the final days of the Obama Administration that would have called for almost doubling the minimum salary an employee must earn before he or she becomes exempt from overtime pay. Owing much to pressure from our industry, which would have been significantly affected, the rule was prevented from taking effect by the courts and summarily shelved. For those workers who were affected, especially those who were extended the raise then had it taken away, it was not only breaking news, but heartbreaking news, and made for low morale and heightened distrust. What now? Read on...

Hoteliers in the Golden State better pay heed to a recent decision by the California Supreme Court and think twice before neglecting to pay workers for routine, albeit trivial, duties that are handled off the clock. The ruling in Troester v. Starbucks Corporation severely limits a hotel or resort operator's ability to rely on the so-called "de minimis defense," an argument that California employers have, for years, successfully asserted in wage and hour litigation brought by employees seeking compensation for brief tasks undertaken pre- or post-shift. As the author explains, hospitality employers, in the wake of Troester, are encouraged to leverage available technology to capture all of the time their employees actually work on any given day. Read on...