Yearly Archives: 2016 ( Page 2 )

  • Home
  • 2016
  •  ( Page 2 )

New IRS Safe Harbors for Publicly-Financed Properties Help Hotel Industry

The IRS recently issued new guidance on safe harbor provisions in management contracts for publicly-owned, bond-financed properties. These safe harbor provisions affect a variety of real estate assets including hotels and other privately managed public properties. On August 22, 2016, the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2016-44, which provides new guidance on safe harbor provisions for management ...
Read more

Reading the Fine Print: Changes in Legal Framework for the Assessment and Display of Service Charges

by Ruth Walters Service charges, administrative charges, surcharges, house fees—whatever you call those charges assessed for food and beverage service in restaurants and in hotels—the rules about how they need to be disclosed to guests and how they must be allocated are propagating. More and more cities, municipalities and other local legal bodies are taking ...
Read more

Hotel Price Gouging

When Hurricane Matthew barreled down on parts of Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and then veered toward several southeastern states, those who could fled while others waited it out in emergency shelters or with families.  But for many, hotels are the only option.  With natural disasters like hurricanes, floods or tornadoes seeming to happen ...
Read more

Fifteen Years On, Where Do We Stand?

With the fifteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks commemorated a few days ago, we thought it would be appropriate to take the pulse of where we were in the immediate aftermath of those horrible events and where we are now. Are Americans safer? Is the world in general safer? Has the threat of terror attacks ...
Read more

Social Media Policies Help Limit Liability

A thorough policy helps define what your employees can and can’t say about the company on social channels. As a hotel executive, imagine that one of the managers you oversee shares that an employee is disparaging you and the company on Twitter. You jump online to find a member of your staff posted the following ...
Read more

How Much Crisis Planning is Enough?

One of the most important management competencies is planning. Crisis planning is the preparation of documented action steps designed to improve the organization’s response toward mitigating a disruption’s impact on assets and resources. Long ago, I was given some sage advice prior to briefing proposed Crisis Planning improvements to the executive team. My boss said, ...
Read more

Firearms Law Issues in the Hospitality Industry

I. INTRODUCTION The focus of this paper is specifically on the federal and statewide gun regulations which affect the hospitality industry. Citizens and entities are subject to the authority of both the state and federal governments, and therefore subject to all federal and state laws. A. Federal Law. The right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment ...
Read more

Hotels and Restaurants; Prime Real Estate for Slip and Fall Accidents

By David B. Willis, MemberEckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC – Boston Slip and falls are the number one cause of accidents in hotels, restaurants and public buildings according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Injuries from a seemingly incidental fall here or trip there are estimated to cost some $70 billion annually according to ...
Read more