Support the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009; Hi-tech Hotel Rooms in the 19th Century | By Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC

1. Celebration of Excellence

The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute honored the 2009 recipients of the Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) Emeritus and Master Hotel Supplier (MHS) Emeritus designations at its Annual Celebration of Excellence Breakfast recently during the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show in New York.

The winners for this year’s MHS Emeritus were Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC, Hotel and Franchise Consultant and Kerry Hirschy, MHS, Senior Vice President, Kaba Lodging Systems.

The CHA Emeritus winners were Caroline Cooper, CHA, Professor, Alan Shawn Feinstein Graduate School and former dean of the Hospitality College, Johnson & Wales University; Pedro Mandoki, CHA, Chairman and CEO, Mandoki Hospitality Group; Richard C. Nelson, CHA, Vice President Emeritus, Hyatt Hotels; Paul O’ Neil, CHA, Chief Operating Officer, Kerzner International.

The MHS Emeritus and CHA Emeritus were awarded in recognition of the recipients’ long and illustrious careers in the hospitality industry.

2. Support the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009

In urging support for the pending Arbitration Fairness Act, on June 22, 2009 I wrote an article entitled “Make Mandatory Arbitration Illegal”:

Many hotel franchise agreements stipulate arbitration over litigation. At first glance, this may appear to be more beneficial to franchisees but nothing could be further from the truth.”

Now, attorney Carmen D. Caruso, Esq. of Stahl Cowen has written a thoughtful and clear-thinking essay in support of the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. Caruso writes:

Currently pending in the United States Congress, is an important piece of legislation that all franchisees should enthusiastically support….the proposed federal law would prohibit franchisors from including provisions that require mandatory arbitration of all disputes that might later arise during the term of the franchise agreement. In the event a dispute later arises, the franchisor and franchisee would be free to arbitrate, but the franchisee could not be required to agree in advance (when signing the franchise agreement) to arbitrate any and all future disputes that may arise.

Caruso gives his top ten reasons why you should be writing your Congressional Representatives and Senators to strongly support the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009:

• 1) Arbitration is arbitrary
• 2) Arbitration is expensive
• 3) Arbitration is often in the franchisor’s hometown
• 4) By agreeing to arbitrate, important statutory protections may be waived
• 5) Discovery is limited
• 6) Other important legal rights are also usually waived
• 7) The “savings” from arbitration are often elusive
• 8) Arbitrators are not necessarily better qualified.
• 9) Arbitration impedes the development of the common law
• 10) Jury trials promote democracy. Arbitration does not.

Visit the www.cdcaruso.com website for Carmen Caruso’s full legal article in support of the Arbitration Fairness Act.

3. Hi-tech Hotel Rooms in the 19th Century

In my new book, “Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry” I write that Americans invented the urban luxury hotel at the beginning of the 19th century. Some of those hotels contained indoor plumbing and other technological conveniences before Americans were able to enjoy them in their homes. In the late 19th century guests were assured that the air they breathed was the freshest possible, doors closed on nonslamming hinges. Services were provided unobtrusively via the “servidor”, a compartment in the room for accessible by small doors on either side (still in use in the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong). Communication from rooms became increasingly sophisticated with telegraph devices, such as the Herzog Teleseme and the Telautograph.

The Teleseme was invented to send instructions to the staff from a guest’s room. It was a system of apparatus for electrical signals to be transmitted by moving an indicating index of as many as 104 different buttons, each connected by a separate wired push button. The list ranged from a call to “My Maid”, “Hot Water for Basin,” “Milk”, “Show up Visitor” to “Newspapers”, “Am Coming Down” and “Do Not Disturb Me”. The Herzog teleseme system of enunciators was manufactured by the Herzog Company, 55 Broadway, New York, N.Y.

4. Quote of the Month

“If we did all of the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves”.
Thomas Alva Edison