Imagine you are a hotel executive for a large, regional hotel chain and on the brink of closing a significant transaction for the purchase of another hotel chain with locations throughout the United States. You receive a frantic telephone call from the general manager of your outside management company. “Is the seller prepared to make the requisite change of control notifications for the alcohol beverage licenses with the various state and local alcohol beverage agencies?” This is the type of question that is best planned for in advance of any merger or acquisition transaction involving an alcohol beverage-licensed hotel business. An analysis of this question will be covered in this article. READ MORE

You may have a sizeable stock of inventory. You may also have revenue managers who know how to leverage pricing strategies. Moreover, you may have access to a variety of channels to reach your target market. But, is that all you need to ensure high revenue? Despite having all these goodies, your hotel's revenue-making potential can suffer on account of revenue leakages, which often go unnoticed. Avoiding them will make an immense difference to your hotel's bottom line. But, before we get there, let us understand these glitches in detail. READ MORE

Hotels and especially luxury hotels are glamorous in their appeal, their style quotient and the wow feel they deliver to all their patrons. And every hotel and resort has its set of superstars who perform their acts to perfection. Very often these very stars are celebrated and written about. But, how about the secret armour that every hotel carries in its back offices and hidden troves? This essay attempts to bring forth the contribution of many such superstars who work day in and day out in quiet anonymity through their careers. It is time for all hotel managers to celebrate the contributions made by these teams who truly form the nervous system of the hotel world. READ MORE

Hoteliers may ask: “isn't cannabis illegal under the federal law?” The short answer is yes, but that is a qualified response at best. As the scale tips toward marijuana becoming legal throughout the country, pot continues to be against the law federally. The resulting dichotomy between the relaxed view of cannabis and its extracts at the state level and the current federal position on marijuana is an interesting one. According to the Controlled Substance Act, by which the federal government regulates drugs, there is no recognized difference between cannabis, cocaine, heroin or LSD. Likewise, the CSA does not distinguish between the medical and recreational use of marijuana. So technically, pot is illegal and users (even those with valid prescriptions for the substance) can be arrested, convicted and sentenced to jail under the federal law as it stands. READ MORE

This article introduces international investment treaties and explains their important role in cross-border Merger & Acquisition deals. Hotel companies engaging in cross-border Merger & Acquisition transactions should consider investment treaty protection as part of their due diligence to identify the rights they may have and to strategically decide how to most efficiently and effectively structure their international investments. By carefully structuring investments at an early stage in the M&A process, this article explains how hotel companies can often improve their negotiating position and secure important protections from harmful governmental interferences. READ MORE