Business as Usual: Why you should never sign a 'Neutrality/Card Check' Agreement

By Robert Murphy
send email

If you are an owner, developer or manager of hotel property, particularly in an urban market that is heavily unionized, you may already be familiar with "Neutrality" or "Card Check" agreements. They have been in use for at least 40 years and, according to some commentators, have become the principal means by which unions like UNITE HERE organize new hotels and resorts. Unfortunately, for these unions, and for the developers, owners and management companies with which they deal these agreements violate at least two federal statutes and can lead to criminal prosecution of everyone involved.

Click here to read the full article

Structuring Mortgage Relief for Hotel Owners

By Bruce M. Boyd
send email

While there are signs that the hotel industry is coming out of its multi-year slump brought on by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the subsequent SARS epidemic, many hotel owners still have not experienced sufficient revenue growth to maintain opoerations without concessions from their employees, suppliers and lenders. In cities such as the San Francisco Bay Area, where the downturn was exacerbated by an ongoing recession in the technology industry, hotel owners, after many years of expanding revenue and profits, were faced with sizeable losses from their operations which led in many cases to foreclosure and loss of their properties. Some owners, however, approached this economic downturn with a proactive stance and initiated negotiations with their lenders to restructure, or in some cases recapitalize, the loans secured by their hotel properties. This article will briefly explore some tips for hotel owners regarding the restructuring of their mortage loans.

Click here to read the full article

Legalized Gaming in Mexico: Is Now the Time?

By George Gonzalez
send email

Looking to the success of newly authorized gaming operations and the boom of Indian Gaming in many states throughout the United States, the Mexican Congress is reviewing a proposed law ("Initiative") that, if enacted, will effectively replace the Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos ("Law"), the Mexican anti-gaming law that has been in effect since 1947. The Initiative is backed by several members of Congress who believe the time is right to open Mexico to casino type gaming.

Click here to read the full article

Environmental Law: Mold - The Eighth Deadliest Sin

By Traci Lagasse
send email

If you own or manage a hotel, resort or restaurant - or any other building for that matter - you are no doubt familiar with the Eight Deadliest Sin in Environmental Law: Stachybotrus Chartarum (atra), better known in the plaintiff's community as "Toxic Mold." Your guests and patrons are also familiar with mold and it is their perception of that especially evil-looking life form, rather than the extent to which it is actually "toxic," that is likely to be of greatest concern to you. After all, you may say, anything that looks that bad, toxic or not, has to be bad for business, particularly if it happens to be growing on the walls of the Presidential Suite.

Click here to read the full article

Advertising May Allow Out-of State Businesses to Be Sued in California for Violating its Unfair Competition Law

By Gordon Endow
send email

Hotels, casinos, restaurants, and other businesses in the hospitality industry routinely advertise outside the state in which they are located. However, using newspaper and magazine ads, toll-free numbers, interactive web sites, and billboards in California may subject an out-of-state business to suit in a California court.

The California Supreme Court agreed this summer to review the intermediate Court of Appeal's holding in Snowney v. Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. The lower appellate court had held that Harrah's Las Vegas, Inc. and related companies-which had no property or operations in California-were subject to suit there for alleged unfair business practices, false advertising, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment arising out of their advertising for their Nevada properties.

Click here to read the full article

• Multiple Indicators Signal Start of New Construction Cycle
• Lodging Econometrics Re-forecasts Supply Side Growth for all 50 States and 197 Markets

Gordon & Rees LLP, with offices in five California cities as well as Portland, Las Vegas and Houston, has opened its ninth and newest office in Phoenix, Arizona. The move into Arizona initially is to address needs and opportunities in Hospitality, Health Care and Long Term Care, Real Estate and Environmental, but it is anticipated that all of the firm's practice groups will be represented in the near future. The new Phoenix office is located at 2375 E. Camelback Road, Fifth Floor. (602)265-4700.