HospitalityLawyer.com Blog

The 2011 Hospitality Law Conference is set for Wednesday, February 9, 2010 - Friday, February 11, 2010.

What?

The annual Hospitality Law Conference is the only hotel law and restaurant law conference of its kind.  Industry leaders offer in-depth analysis and insight into the latest international legal, safety, and security trends and issues affecting the hospitality industry.   

Who Should Attend?

Hotel and restaurant in-house counsel and private attorneys practicing in the hospitality industry who want the most current, in-depth legal developments should attend. 

Executives of lodging, real estate, restaurant, and club operations will be interested in our Lodging, Real Estate, and Food & Beverage Tracks. 

Hotel risk managers and hotel loss prevention directors won’t want to miss the Loss Prevention & Risk Management Track. 

For IT professionals, comptrollers, accountants, and CFOs, the conference offers the only Information Protection and Privacy (including PCI-DSS) Workshop for hotels, restaurants, and country clubs.

Where?

The Hospitality Law Conference will be held at the Omni Houston Hotel, Houston, Texas

Details and Speaking Opportunities

This year’s conference begins with the Preconference Workshop on Wednesday, February 9.  The two-day Hospitality Law Conference begins on February 10.   

Attend the conference and receive opportunities to win a $1000.00 American Express gift card and a $500.00 American Express gift card.  If you are interested in presenting at the conference, please email HospitalityLawyer@hospitalitylawyer.com or call (713) 963-8800.

For updates please visit, www.hospitalitylawconference.com. 

On Monday, March 1, the Massachusetts Privacy Law went into effect. Chris Zoladz, Founder of Navigate LLC, says, “This law is applicable to any company dealing with the personal information of a Massachusetts resident…. The regulation requires that certain policies, procedures and technology controls be in place to protect personal information on a continuous basis.” For more information on the law, please click here.

HospitalityLawyer.com, the industry’s web-based resource for legal, safety, and security solutions, today announced that the 2010 Hospitality Law Conference was an incredible success, receiving excellent reviews from attendees.

Three hundred attendees from across the country and around the world attended this one-of-a-kind conference in Houston, Texas. The two-and-a-half-day conference focused on the following core topics:

• Current Real Estate Issues in the Industry
• Information Privacy & Protection, including PCI-DSS
• Lodging & Fundamentals of Hospitality Law
• Food & Beverage
• Labor & Employment; and
• Loss Prevention & Risk Management. 

“The conference gives attendees the information and resources they need to stay ahead of the fast-changing laws pertinent to our industry,” said Stephen Barth, founder of HospitalityLawyer.com, noting conference attendees include hotel and restaurant in-house counsel, hotel and restaurant lawyers, loss-prevention personnel, risk managers, and hospitality owners and operators.

For the complete release on the conference, please click here.

Couldn’t make it to the 2010 Hospitality Law Conference? To purchase conference materials (Conference Summary Notebook and USB Drive with papers and PowerPoints) for $199.00, please contact Claudia Aslin.

Don’t miss the only conference devoted exclusively to legal, safety and security issues impacting the hotel, restaurant, and travel industries.

Early registration ends today, January 11. Register today to receive discounted registration rates.

Program Topics:

• Information Protection and Privacy, including Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards Workshop
• Hospitality Real Estate Transactions Workshop
• Hotel & Restaurant In-House Counsel Workshop (in-house counsel only)
• Food & Beverage Breakout
• Human Resources & Labor Relations Breakout
• Lodging and Fundamentals of Hospitality Law Breakout
• Loss Prevention and Risk Management Breakout
• General Sessions, including:
  • Information Protection & Privacy: The New High Stakes Game
  • Critical Issues in Payment Card/Merchant Relations
  • It’s Not Easy Being Green
  • The Franchise Debate
  • A Primer on Representing Airlines and Cruise Ships
  • An Ethics Sampler - Five Top Mistakes to Avoid

HRCI and CLE Available.

Helpful links:

Conference Brochure

Conference Website

Conference Agenda

To all of those innkeepers that still allow smoking in their hotel rooms, this request for assistance demonstrates how damaging smoke can be to your property and may end up permanently impairing your ability to sell your rooms:

Dear Mr. Barth, I came across your website through a Google search regarding third hand smoke. Our company is currently involved in a lawsuit regarding a tenant’s security deposit being withheld due to third hand smoke damage in their apartment. At this point, the damages have exceeded their security on deposit and we are seeking additional damages since we have been unable to re-let said apartment due to the odors contained within. We have had to hire professional companies to give us estimates for restorative work in this apartment since the smoke odor has penetrated the wood flooring, walls, ceiling, a/c’s, etc. ….Upon re-taking possession of her unit, we were immediately aware of the smoke odor but truly thought we could paint and clean our way back to a clean smelling apartment. To say the least, we were wrong. We have tried desperately to re-let this apartment and have even lowered our rental rate in hopes of securing a new tenant. However, every prospective tenant complains about the odor and ends up walking away.

For the sake of the health of your customers and employees as well as your bottom line, do not allow smoking.

Merlin Law Group will provide Legal Information on Hotel Insurance Law in HospitalityLawyer.com National Law Library.

Houston, TX, November 2009 - HospitalityLawyer.com, the industry’s web-based resource for legal, safety, and security solutions, welcomes Merlin Law Group as a new affiliate. Merlin Law Group will provide information on Insurance Law for HospitalityLawyer.com’s U.S. National Law Library.

About the newest member, HospitalityLawyer.com founder Stephen Barth says, “We are delighted to welcome Merlin Law Group as a new member. Their expertise on insurance issues in the hospitality industry will be of great value to the users of HospitalityLawyer.com. We look forward to Merlin Law Group’s contributions.”

Merlin Law Group provides legal services related to insurance claim presentation, business income loss claims, director and officer liability claims, coverage disputes, insurance bad faith issues, ADR services, insurance litigation, and appeals. Merlin Law Group Founder, Chip Merlin, has dedicated his practice to the representation and advocacy of insurance policyholders in disputes with insurance companies in Florida, Texas, Mississippi, and nationwide.  He says, “Merlin Law Group is very appreciative to be the National Law Library provider for Insurance Law. Because we are aware of the vast amount of legal information out there, our firm has its own Knowledge Manager / Librarian. We are happy to share basic legal ordinances pertinent to the hospitality industry that should help those who are increasingly turning to HospitalityLawyer.com for this kind of information.”

To visit Merlin Law Group’s U.S. National Law Library, please visit http://www.hospitalitylawyer.com/national_listings.php?industry=1&topic=19.

Navigate LLC will contribute information protection and privacy expertise to HospitalityLawyer.com on-line products, webinars, and conference offerings.

Chris Zoladz, Founder of Navigate LLC, announces a new business alliance between Navigate and Hospitality Lawyer. The alliance is formed to expand the scope of issues currently addressed by HospitalityLawyer to now include information protection & privacy legal and business issues relevant to the hospitality industry. About the new alliance, Mr. Zoladz says, “I am excited to begin collaboration with HospitalityLawyer and provide information protection and privacy expertise in this increasingly important and challenging area.”

The first webinar highlighting the expanded offering will be on November 11. The featured topic is “Avoid Becoming the Next Headline – How to Avoid a Data Breach” and will address steps to prevent a costly data breach. The topic for a second webinar on November 18 is “Your Company Just Experienced a Data Breach - Now What?” Mr. Stephen Barth, founder of HospitalityLawyer.com said, “We are delighted to create an alliance with Navigate. Information protection and privacy is an area of competency important to our hospitality audience. Mr. Zoladz brings to HospitalityLawyer.com a wealth of experience and insight about information protection and privacy in the hospitality industry. He is a recognized leader in the field and will broaden immensely our offerings to the industry.”

Navigate LLC provides strategic and tactical information protection and privacy consulting services to commercial and government organizations with a specialty in hospitality. Navigate LLC was founded by Mr. Chris Zoladz, former Vice President of Information Protection & Privacy at Marriott International, and a recognized pioneer and industry leader in the area of Information Protection and Privacy. Navigate was formed to assist organizations pragmatically address their information protection and privacy business needs and legal obligations in a cost effective and efficient manner.

For more information please contact:

Mr. Chris Zoladz, Founder, Navigate LLC
12 Milestone Manor Court
Germantown, MD 20876
PH: 240.475.3640
FAX: 888.284.7309
www.navigatellc.net
Info@navigatellc.net

Mr. Stephen Barth, Founder, HospitalityLawyer.com
P. O. Box 22888
Houston, TX 77227
PH: 713.963.8800
FAX: 713.627.9934
www.hospitalitylawyer.com
SBarth@hospitalitylawyer.com

Earlier this month, Avis Budget Group, Inc. announced that beginning in October 2009, its entire fleet will be smoke free.  Avis Budget Group operates Avis and Budget rental cars.

The company has instituted a new inspection process, and a cleaning fee will be assessed if a vehicle is returned with a tobacco odor or residue, guaranteeing each vehicle is clean and smoke-free.

When he learned of the Avis and Budget smoke-free fleet, Hospitality Lawyer Stephen Barth said, “This is a big step for the smoke-free challenge.  Every hospitality segment in the world, whether hotel, restaurant, or rental car company, should be smoke-free.  Inside and out.  It is the right thing to do for your employees and your guests, for your risk tolerance, for your property, and for your bottom line.”

In December 2007, Stephen Barth issued a challenge to the entire hospitality industry to go smoke-free.

The annual Hospitality Law Conference is a one-of-a-kind opportunity designed for participants to share legal insight and best practices, and to gain a better understanding of the latest industry developments. It is the only program in the country and in the world devoted exclusively to legal, safety and security issues impacting the hotel, restaurant, and travel industries.

“I have found the Hospitality Law Conference to be the best in the country,” said Dale Kingman, Former Presenter and Partner at Gordon Tilden Thomas & Cordell.

Adding to those sentiments, Matt Brokl, Associate General Counsel for BuffaloWild Wings, said the 2009 conference was “the best conference I attended this year.”

Private attorney, David Denney, with the Law Offices of David T. Denney, P.C., has said, “The information presented and relationships developed at the conference benefit my practice all year long.  I make a special effort to attend each year to refill my bank of resources and renew my contact with other industry professionals.”

For the complete Conference Agenda, please click here.

For the complete Conference Announcement, please click here.

Recently hotels have been describing themselves as “smoke-free.”  I caution the industry to scrutinize what is occurring at their hotels before labeling it “smoke-free.”

Smoke-free means zero smoke on the grounds and the facility, which includes no smoking in the parking lots, garages, pool-side, on balconies or verandas, or anywhere in the facility.

Secondhand smoke drifting from outdoor areas can easily find its way into the hotel facility. Those that smoke in an outdoor area (especially those in close proximity to other smokers and, accordingly, their smoke) bring third-hand smoke (smoke residue) back into the facility on their clothes, hands and hair. Both secondhand and third-hand smoke can greatly diminish the air quality in the hotel’s public area and guest rooms.

Hotels that claim that by allowing smoking areas, they are accommodating all guests are being disingenuous. Allowing smoking around the pool, for instance, means the vast majority of the guests must breathe in tainted air to enjoy the pool area.

That is not an accommodation for all guests.  It is an accommodation for a fraction of guests that disturbs a significant number of other guests.  It is only putting very marginal revenue ahead of the health and welfare of your guests.

If one guest wanted to play music so loud that it disturbed other guests, the innkeeper would not hesitate to insist that the music player turn down the volume so that it does not disturb the other guests.

Allowing smoking in places of public accommodation is a poor customer service decision and a poor business decision.

Read my challenge to the hospitality industry to go smoke free at http://blog.hospitalitylawyer.com/2007/12/05/hospitalitylawyer-stephen-barth-founder-of-hospitalitylawyercom-challenges-the-industry-to-go-non-smoking/.