Area of focus

Hotels and Leisure

Over the last 30 years, our Hotels & Leisure team has built a reputation for being one of the industry's major legal advisors. We are passionate about what we do.

Our clients include owners, developers, and operators of hotel and resort properties, including publicly traded lodging REITs, family offices with significant global hotel holdings, institutional and other investors, and private equity firms that focus on hotel investment. We also represent public authorities and educational institutions in connection with the development and operation of convention center and conference center hotels.

Our multidisciplinary team has worked on the acquisition, disposition, development, structuring, and financing of more than 2,000 hotels and resorts. We have advised on transactions in almost every U.S. state and more than 40 countries involving nearly every major hotel chain. Because members of our team are located all over the globe, we have “boots on the ground” - any time, any place - to help diligence, negotiate, and close deals.

Our expertise includes:

Hotel Acquisitions and Dispositions, for a single property or a large portfolio, in a single jurisdiction or across state or national borders.
Hotel Franchise and Management Agreements, with all major brands and boutique and soft brands, as well as independent management companies, for new development projects as well as repositioning opportunities.
Hotel and Branded Residential Development Projects, including all aspects of mixed-use projects and public-private partnerships.
Fund Formation and Equity Investments, including advising on tax efficient structuring.
Financing and Restructuring, for all stages of a project’s life cycle.
F&B and Other Specialty Agreements, focusing on driving profitability by carving out areas of hotels and resorts for operation by third parties.
Sports and Concert Venues, Spas, Golf Courses, Stadia and Marinas, and all of the amenities that turn a location into a destination.
REITs, with significant experience in every legal discipline necessary for a REIT to operate successfully.
Hotel Operations and Dispute Resolution, ranging from performance test disputes to breach of contract claims.

Representative experience

VICI on a number of transactions, including US$17.2bn acquisition of MGM Growth Properties LLC, creating America’s largest owner of experiential real estate;
US$350m mezz loan for the development of The Fontainebleau Las Vegas

MGM Growth Properties (MGP) on its joint venture between MGP and Blackstone to acquire the real estate assets of the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay from MGM Resorts international and MGP for approximately US$4.6bn.

Park Hotels and Resorts on its US$2.7bn strategic acquisition of Chesapeake Lodging Trust, creating the second largest lodging REIT in the U.S.

RLJ Lodging Trust on its transformative merger with FelCor Lodging Trust, creating the third largest pure-play lodging REIT with a combined enterprise value of US$7bn.

Invesco Real Estate on its acquisition of the NH Collection Milano CityLife hotel from IGEFI Group, one of the leading real estate developers in Italy.

Intermediate Capital Group on the financing of NAOS Hotel Group entities for the acquisition of Airport Hotel shares and the financing of the construction of a Nice airport hotel to operate under the Sheraton brand.

Vienna House (Hotel management GmbH) on the sale of a hotel portfolio to the Vienna-based Kerbler Group. The portfolio includes the hotels Vienna House QF Dresden, Vienna House City Hamburg Wismar, Vienna Townhouse Berlin, Vienna House Easy Leipzig and the serviced apartment concept R.evo in Munich.

Fattal Hotel Group on its circa £1bn acquisition of the operating business and a long-term lease of four London Grange Hotels, from real estate investment firm Queensgate Investments.

Constellation Hotels on the acquisition of the InterContinental London Park Lane for £400m, the EUR350m acquisition and financing of Grand Hôtel in Paris (Opéra) operated by InterContinental, and the acquisition of two 5 star hotels in Italy.

KSL Capital Partners on its acquisition of a majority stake in Sereno Hotels, including the Villa Planiana resort at Lake Cuomo, Italy.

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