As owners face mounting financial challenges in the months ahead, we anticipate that more and more distressed hospitality properties will be changing hands. There is a prevalent need for lenders, attorneys, receivers, and brokers to understand not only the economic and income producing characteristics of these properties, but the physical characteristics of the hospitality asset as well. The focus of this article is on a tool used to accomplish this need. Through the execution of a property condition assessment (PCA), a stakeholder in a property can position themselves to make better informed decisions regarding the stabilization and disposition of a hotel or resort.

Bernie Madoff. R. Allen Stanford. Arthur Nadal. All of these individuals are alleged to have been the ringmasters of several recently uncovered frauds. When one thinks about it for a moment, are we really surprised that these frauds were perpetrated for years? At a recent meeting with a client to discuss the 2009 internal audit program, I was asked about the fraud trends I observed through the year and what do I expect to see in 2009. The question that was not asked and should have been is why are these and other frauds now coming to light? The answer is two fold. There is no doubt the state of the economy has played a major role in the downfall of the alleged schemes. Individuals are getting desperate for money. When desperation sets in individuals get careless and make mistakes that allow the fraud to be discovered.

Several weeks ago Karen reminded me that we were scheduled to attend a grand niece’s Colorado wedding over Memorial Day weekend. “We’re going to do what over Memorial Day weekend?” I said. “I’m going to stand in yet another long security line? Squeezed into an aging aircraft with no doubt late departure, lousy service, no free snacks, and probably charged extra for luggage?” I was so looking forward to a quiet, relaxing, stress-free weekend at home, firing up the barbecue, having a few brews and catching up with my reading. I pride myself on being a positive, “glass half full” kind of guy, but I had to admit that the very last place I wanted to be this past Memorial Day weekend was traveling out of state and dealing with crowded airports and airplanes and all the stress associated with what historically has been one of America’s busiest travel weekends.

I’ve been troubled by what I experience every day in my consulting practice while interacting with hotel and resort sales departments nationwide. Typically, I find new sales professionals - - aged mid-to-late 20s - - with what my generation refers to as questionable work ethics, a demonstrable lack of curiosity, and an over-reliance on technology based selling skills while failing to develop time-honored relationship based selling skills.

Recently, there was a published cartoon depicting a scenario of a new waterpark resort operating in a drought stricken area of the country. The cartoon related the plight of a typical family wondering why they can’t water their yard or wash their car, while a loud splash is heard coming from behind a high fence labeled waterpark. In areas of the country where drought has widespread implications on water use, the eco-friendly public has a perception of water use at waterparks as one of a gluttonous society continually consuming a precious natural resource for the benefit of entertainment. Little thought is given to the demonstrative effects that a depletion of water will have upon the local environment.

April ushers in the start of a brand new Major League Baseball season and with it, the end of one of diehard baseball fans’ storied pastimes: annual spring training. Serious, loyal, need-to-get-a-life fans flock to MLB’s training camps from Florida to Arizona for the annual winter migration just for the love of the game, and to watch and interact with favorite ballplayers in a more intimate, laid back environment. During the very first week of spring training - - when only pitchers and catchers participate - - teams work on very basic fundamentals, e.g., pitchers taking bunting practice, fielding bunts, throwing to bases, covering first and pick off plays.

One of the top issues facing the hospitality industry is the labor and skills shortage; much has been written about this challenge from many perspectives. International recruiting from European hospitality programs, using the 12-month J-1 Visa for entry level management, is an alternative staffing approach that can deliver qualified candidates for various types of properties.

I attended a funeral this month for Tom Roberts, a man who had been a client of mine dating back to my previous hotel sales career, and who later became a high-profile labor arbitrator who ruled on some of Major League Baseball’s landmark cases.I asked myself, “Why was I there?” After all, I had seen Tom maybe only four times in the past 25 years. I had met his wife maybe once and did not know his grown children at all. Gazing around the standing room only church, I found only a handful of friends, neighbors and business associates with whom I had even slight previous connection.

Hotel Lawyer reading the Smith Travel Research tea leaves from the ALIS Conference. A few days ago, Mark Lomanno made one of his great presentations at the ALIS (Americas Lodging Investment Summit) Conference to a ballroom packed with most of the 3,100 registered delegates. All were eager to hear the latest data, in order to see where we have been and where we are going. As usual, Mark was kind enough to share his latest slides. You don't want to miss this!

Hotel Lawyer on how to terminate a hotel management agreement when an operator really deserves it. The love-hate relationship between hotel owners and operators is as old as the institution of hotel management arrangements (going back to the 1970s). A good hotel operator can add up to 25% to the value of a hotel. A bad one can subtract the same amount or even more. In 20 years of focusing on the hotel industry, and specializing in representing hotel owners, developers and lenders in more than $50 billion of hotel transactions involving more than 1,000 hotels around the world, we have seen a lot of eager owners anxious to sign up with a big hotel brand, thinking that was the end of their worries. Often it is.