Hotels & Resorts

Whether your transaction or development project involves golf resorts, hotels, restaurants, theme parks, casinos, cruise lines, beachfront retreats, or overseas getaways, Holland & Knight lawyers and specialists can provide representation from concept through completion, around the globe.

Our understanding of the hospitality industry comes from the numerous major hospitality transactions we have handled, including acquisitions and sales, environmental and title issues, zoning, land use and permitting issues, architectural and construction contracts, management and operating contracts, ground and air rights, leasing and concession agreements, equity infusion and both real estate and mezzanine financing.

Our Global Hospitality and Resorts Team handles the following types of matters for our hospitality clients:

Americans with Disabilities Act

After the ADA was enacted, construction standards for certain new and renovation of existing facilities changed. Hotels and restaurants are particularly affected. Our experience in this area is extensive. We counsel a variety of clients in determining their responsibilities and liabilities under this law, as well as state and local disabilities laws. We regularly defend claims of noncompliance.

Alcohol Beverage

Because the alcohol beverage industry is unique and heavily regulated, we bring a range of professional talents to represent your interests. Key to our success is maintaining strong working relationships with regulators and administrators at all levels of government.

Construction, Design and Engineering

We have extensive experience in domestic and international design and construction projects, including transactions such as contract preparation and negotiation, contract administration, counseling, permitting and code enforcement issues.

Environmental Issues

We also provide comprehensive environmental analysis and legal services for our hospitality clients. Specifically, we assist in meeting environmental requirements (for example, wastewater and storm water permitting, wetlands development approvals and environmental assessments), and provide environmental due diligence investigations, auditing and counseling on risk-based corrective actions.

Gaming

We represent both land-based and vessel-related gaming interests. We negotiate a complete range of contracts between gaming operators, landholders, local partners, concessionaires, consultants, and lenders to gaming operations for riverboat and land-based casinos, as well as cruise ship and cruise-to-nowhere operations. Licensure is an important element of our practice.

In addition, for clients who wish to conduct games of chance for promotional purposes, we draft appropriate sweepstakes rules, entry forms, and releases. Our Telecommunications Team is involved regularly in the determination of whether games of chance conducted or advertised by broadcast stations in the U.S. are lotteries, as stipulated by the Communications Act of 1934 general prohibition of their broadcast or promotion over the air. We also prepare and/or review rules and procedures for games of chance used for promotional purposes, including registration in those states requiring registration.

We have several media/advertising lawyers who are experienced in drafting contest and sweepstakes program rules, reviewing ad copy associated with such sweepstakes, and advising clients on how to avoid common illegal gambling pitfalls. We are also familiar with registration, trust, and bonding requirements in various states, and we can assist in running the sweepstakes in traditional media or on the Internet. We also have experience with other similar promotional ventures advertised to the public such as contests of skill, contests benefiting charities, and sales incentive programs.

Hotel Acquisition, Development and Financing

We represent both buyers and sellers in the acquisition and disposition of hotels, land, parking facilities and ground leases as well as in zoning, financing, construction and development of hotels, resorts, golf courses and their related amenities. Our industry client base includes traditional and mezzanine lenders and borrowers.

Hotel Management Agreements

We represent both owners and operators in the preparation and negotiation of long-term hotel management agreements and master case arrangements. Our operator clients include franchisor-managers, flags managing their own brands and third-party independent managers. We have structured management programs for operators and provided management agreement assessments to review existing agreements in light of pending industry litigation. In addition, we have negotiated management agreements for both owners and operators within the context of joint ventures between the parties to adequately provide for the coordination of the management agreement with the joint venture documentation.

Hotel Operations

We counsel hospitality clients on all aspects of hotel operations, including the negotiation of group, meeting and other sales contracts, procurement agreements, and formulating and implementing revenue management strategies. Because we represent tour operators, airlines, cruise lines, and travel consortia, and understand the travel and tourism business, we are effective in assisting our hospitality clients in achieving the maximum strategic and contractual benefits of their relationships with these entities.

Indoor Air Quality

Holland & Knight has been in the forefront of indoor air quality (IAQ) issues for more than ten years, beginning with our representation of Martin County, Florida, in its mold claims against the constructors and designers of the Martin County Courthouse and Constitutional Office Building in 1992. Since that time, our team has expanded to include attorneys who have litigated mold and other IAQ problems, drafted mold-related leases and other real estate documents, advised clients about mold policies and procedures, and presented mold symposia and training classes on mold avoidance, remediation and liability issues.

Intellectual Property

We help our hospitality clients worldwide to protect and exploit their intellectual property assets in copyrights, patents, and trademarks. To help protect these important assets, we define and register the intellectual property and design and implement sophisticated programs to discover and stop unauthorized uses. Exploiting intellectual property assets includes defining criteria for use by our clients and by licensees, expanding the brand value of important marks, and assisting clients to realize new value from old intellectual property. For hospitality clients, trademarks are the key to creating brand value. We are a leader in protecting hospitality trademarks in all channels of use, but particularly in the rapidly changing field of internet use and distribution.

Labor and Employment Law

Labor laws significantly impact the hospitality industry. We negotiate and interpret collective bargaining agreements, ensuring the continuity of projects in the face of labor disputes; and we assist clients in complying with employment laws such as those regarding age, race, gender, and disability discrimination, equal employment opportunity issues and sexual harassment. We handle claims arising under employment agreements, such as covenants not-to-compete, wrongful discharge claims and WARN Act matters.

Marketing, Technology, and Distribution Channels

The interplay of marketing, technology, and distribution channels is critical to our hospitality clients. We advise clients on structuring and managing their distribution relationships, including Internet-based reservations systems and programs. We also counsel on the complex web of state, federal and foreign legal restrictions applicable to more traditional marketing efforts. Our advertising and marketing lawyers review advertising, promotions, contests, loyalty programs, and campaigns to assure that those programs are implemented broadly, uniformly, and in compliance with applicable laws.

Real Estate Transactions

We represent hotel owners, hotel developers and hotel operating companies in every phase of real estate transactions. Our lawyers negotiate operating and management agreements with, or on behalf of, the hotel operator as well as project joint venture agreements. We also negotiate ground leases, air rights leases, parking and concession agreements, and major amenity packages. We draft and negotiate golf course membership and amenity agreements, licenses, technical services agreements, equity club membership programs and other types of agreements associated with major resort properties.

Our lawyers represent developers in virtually all aspects of zoning, including platting, special-use permits, variances and appeals, zoning opinion letters, building permit reviews, comprehensive planning and historic preservation. We regularly appear before municipal agencies regarding zoning problems, building codes, parking variances, building site selection and related laws and regulations. In addition, we regularly assemble teams to provide developers with due diligence assistance.

Domestic and International Taxation

We advise domestic and foreign business entities on all aspects of federal, state and local tax laws applicable to the hospitality industry in the United States and abroad.

In planning for international clients, we have gained extensive knowledge of the laws of various foreign jurisdictions, including treaty and non-treaty countries in developed and emerging markets. Our tax lawyers have substantial experience in tax planning for such clients, including the use of sophisticated structures to achieve global tax minimization.

We also serve as lead or associate tax counsel, coordinating with in-house tax departments and other outside tax advisors, such as major accounting firms and foreign counsel, in structuring mergers, acquisitions, financings and other significant transactions for clients in the hospitality industry.

Timeshare and Resort

Timeshare law and the related areas of resort development and finance law are unique areas in which Holland & Knight has developed a national and international reputation. Our lawyers have counseled owners, developers, lenders, governmental agencies, homeowners’ associations, marketing, management and exchange companies ranging in size from small private entrepreneurial ventures to Fortune 100 companies.

We guide acquisition, development and financing transactions from the initial phase through to completion, including product conceptualization, document preparation, national and international registration, marketing, financing and tax advice, as well as the formation and management of owners’ associations and management companies. As general counsel and a trustee to the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), we are active in formulating and implementing both regulatory and policy issues that impact the industry.

Travel, Tourism, and Meetings

Holland & Knight understands the interplay of hospitality in the overall travel, tourism and meeting markets. We represent tour operators, airlines, cruise lines, and travel consortia, and therefore are effective in assisting our hospitality clients in achieving the maximum strategic and contractual benefits of their relationships with these entities.