bob braun
Data Privacy Alert: Who’s Responsible for Personal Data at a Hotel?
Bob Braun | March 21, 2023
By Jim Butler, Robert Braun One of the most valuable assets of a hotel brand is information – detailed personal information about guests at their hotels, participants in their loyalty programs, and visitors to their websites. This information allows hotel brands to focus on creating guest loyalty, acquiring potential guests, engaging in effective marketing, expanding market share, and creating properties and services that entice and satisfy hotel guests. Because of this, hotel brands have long contended that they “own” hotel guest data and have unencumbered rights to use it, without respect to the interests of hotel owners and even t...
JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® Announces 5th Edition of The HMA & Franchise Agreement Handbook
Jim Butler | January 23, 2023
The Global Hospitality Group® of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP (JMBM) is pleased to announce publication of the 5th edition of The HMA & Franchise Agreement Handbook, a guide for hotel owners, developers, investors and operators considering a hotel management agreement (HMA) or franchise agreement, or dealing with the challenges of termination of one. Co-authored by JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® Chairman, Jim Butler, senior Group member Robert E. Braun and Mark S. Adams, the 5th edition of The Handbook includes an updated section on why long-term management and franchise agreements may now be terminable, with...
Why Hotels Need “Visibility” to Avoid Data Privacy Liability
Jim Butler | March 9, 2022
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® The rules around data privacy and cybersecurity are constantly evolving. In order to protect themselves from liability, hotel owners should pay attention to ongoing legal developments and learn more about their own data infrastructure. Bob Braun, senior member of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Cybersecurity & Privacy Group, explains why hotels need to understand exactly what data they hold, where it is stored and who has access to it. Facing the Knowledge Gap: Why Hotels Need “Visibility” to Avoid Data Privacy Liability by Bob Braun, Hotel ...
Hotel Data Security: Challenges to Address in 2022
Bob Braun | January 3, 2022
By Jim Butler, Bob Braun Like virtually all industries, the hotel industry continues to be challenged by cybersecurity concerns. As we approach 2022, hotel owners and operators need to address some basic issues that impact the security of their systems and their guests. Wi-Fi. Providing wireless internet to guests has become a “must-do” for hotels – it’s not too much of an overstatement to say that a potential guest won’t stay at a hotel that doesn’t provide free Wi-Fi. But hotel Wi-Fi systems, particularly those in public areas, have long been a soft underbelly of cybersecurity. In the past 10 days, TechCrunch+ reported...
Hotel Lawyer: 5 Tips for Your Next Hotel Management Agreement (HMA)
Bob Braun | June 14, 2021
By Jim Butler, Bob Braun Is it time to re-think your management agreement? As the hospitality industry moves toward recovery, many hotel owners are re-evaluating the management of their properties. A good manager can bring great value to a property; a poor manager can reduce its value. Some studies have concluded that a good management agreement – one that provides for meaningful accountability, transparency and performance – can add or subtract 50% to the value of a hotel. The next normal will likely require rethinking how to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of operations, rather than simply riding post-recession...
Hotel Franchise Lawyer: 5 Things to Negotiate in Your Next Franchise Agreement
Bob Braun | April 29, 2021
By Jim Butler, Bob Braun After a year of economic upheaval in the hospitality industry, hotels are making big changes as they look ahead to recovery. Oftentimes these changes involve a complete rebrand, and this leads to questions about what is negotiable in a franchise agreement. In the article below, Bob Braun, senior member of JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Cybersecurity & Privacy Group, talks about 5 important franchise terms that can usually be negotiated. To say that the past year has been a shock to the hospitality industry is a gross understatement. While many believe that a recovery is in s...
Hotel Lawyer Alert: California Consumer Privacy Act update
Jim Butler | November 11, 2020
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers| Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 11 November 2020 On November 3rd, Californians voted to approve Proposition 24 which amends the California Consumer Privacy Act to include expanded consumer rights and greater privacy protections. The California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act – which also establishes an enforcement agency to guarantee strict compliance – places additional obligations on businesses to ensure that consumer data is transparent and secure. Given the scope of the Act and the short timeframe for compliance, hotels should immediately start looking at thei...
Franchise and Management Disputes in the Time of Covid
Jim Butler | July 20, 2020
By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com Franchise and Management Disputes in the Time of Covid by Robert Braun If you are reading this, you are almost certainly in the hospitality industry, and you are most likely in a financial and emotional distress. During trying times, hotel owners rely more than ever on their brands and managers – the professionals that owners engage to protect the multi-million dollar investments that they have made in building, maintaining and upgrading properties. Owners rely on brands to drive occupancy and revenue, and on managers to make the most effect...
1
Technology
2
Appointments/People on the Move
3
Operations
4
Industry Happenings
5
All Things Independent
Today's News
Are Robots Stealing Jobs?
HSMAI Perspective: Generative AI in Hospitality
How to Attract Remote Workers to Your Hotel
Hunter Hotel Investment Conference: Revenue Strategy Panel Recap
As the first news aggregate for the hotel industry, Hotel-Online is the industry’s must-read daily news source for everything hotel curated for busy professionals. Sign up today for industry news delivered to your inbox.