Holland & Knight Honored as “Hospitality Group of the Year” by Law360

MIAMI (January 25, 2018) – Holland & Knight has been named “Hospitality Group of the Year” by Law360. The firm received this honor as part of the legal news service’s annual Practice Group of the Year awards, which recognize those practice groups that worked on the biggest deals or won the most important cases. Winners were selected in 35 practice areas.

In a profile on the firm, Law360 noted that Holland & Knight’s Hospitality, Resort and Timeshare Group guided many key matters in 2017, including Marriott’s rebranding of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Toronto as The St. Regis Toronto and the construction and management of three Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection cruise ships. It also reported that a roster of clients such as Marriott, Starwood, InterContinental, Four Seasons, Fairmont, Hilton and Hyatt relies on the group for guidance on a range of matters including real estate, finance, license agreements, employment, intellectual property, taxes and, increasingly, franchising.

“Our clients look to us for our national reach,” Joe Guay, leader of Holland & Knight’s Real Estate Section and co-chair of the Hospitality, Resort and Timeshare Group, stated in the profile. “Our big strategic goal is to continue to beef up the number of attorneys who would be able to serve our hospitality clients, with a focus on continuing to grow our franchise experience. That tracks with industry trends. Certainly in the United States, most of the hotel development you see being done these days is on the franchise side as opposed to the managed side.”

“I think of us as one of the foremost hospitality groups in the country that really understands hotel operator clients and has broad experience working with them,” added Stacie Goeddel, the Holland & Knight partner who led the firm’s representation of Marriott in the rebranding matter.

Read the entire profile here.