By John J. Hogan, CHA CHMS CHE CHO
“Business is a game, the greatest game in the world if you know how to play it.” Thomas Watson, Sr. Founder and President, IBM
I have attended the annual Hospitality Law Conference in Houston 4 of the last 5 years. While I am not an attorney, I have known the conference founder Professor Stephen Barth since 2001 and worked with him on educational and training projects over the years. I have always found these hospitality law conferences to be focused and ideal for networking because of the intentionally smaller size of the group. I find this to be a worthwhile program in that I always learn at least a half dozen new insights or approaches that I can use in my work as an expert witness, a keynote speaker or as one who helps hotel owners to identify and solve problems.
The 2017 conference has changed dates this year from February to April to avoid conflicting with Super Bowl 51 (hosted in February in Houston) and to find a schedule that allowed a broader and more diverse audience to attend.
The General Sessions for all attendees cover a wide range of topics, including:
1.CAUSE & EFFECT: NOTEWORTHY DEVELOPMENTS OF 2016 AND WHAT THEY MEAN FOR HOSPITALITY OWNERS AND OPERATORS MOVING FORWARD
2.TRAVEL 2017: EMBRACING A FUTURE REALITY, TODAY
3.THINK TANK ON DESIGNING THE HOTEL OF THE FUTURE WITH SAFETY & SECURITY IN MIND
4.CAUGHT ON CAMERA! DEFENDING YOUR LIABILITY CLAIM THROUGH VIDEO ENHANCEMENT & ANALYSIS
5.TECHNOLOGY TRENDS IN LEGAL PROCEEDINGS – ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY
6.HUMAN TRAFFICKING: LEGAL RISKS AND COMPLIANCE CHALLENGES FOR IN-HOUSE COUNSEL AND THEIR ADVISORS
7.MANAGING A CRISIS FORUMS
8.TABLE TOP WAR GAME EXERCISE – MANAGING A CRISIS
And my personal favorite, which is the annual TOP 100 HOSPITALITY CASES
As a career hotelier who has been in the industry and assisted hotels in 49 US states and 9 Canadian provinces, I have attended literally hundreds of workshops, seminars and programs. As the industry continues to grow in different directions, the number of courses also evolves which causes us to prioritize our time and funds. With that in mind, I’d like to suggest one that bills itself as “not just for lawyers anymore.” This year’s sessions do include topics focused on attorneys’ role in supporting hotels and hospitality businesses, as well as for others as noted below.
While there are sessions for Corporate Counsel to meet with peers in facilitated conversations, there is a wide range of other options for those of us in ownership and operations. These include:
1.The Owner Management Summit which brings together hotel owners, hotel management groups, hospitality finance executives and attorneys in open discussions about the changing issues on branding, hotel development, hotel management contracts, as well as the financial characteristics of owning and operating a hotel. It is interesting to watch as specialists in other areas grasp a deeper understanding about what other professionals deal with in development and operational areas, as well as the legal protection needed for all parties.
2.The Hospitality Insurance and Loss Prevention Summit which reviews the top claims that have occurred over the last twelve months and the best practices to prevent them from occurring at your hotel or restaurant. This segment break down the silos of the functional areas of risk management, insurance, legal and finance. This year’s topics include Understanding the Rights and Potential Pitfalls That Come With Being Designated an Additional Insured on an Insurance Policy, as well ongoing discussions on understanding the real costs of slip and fall incidents, identifying some of the common causes and steps to be taken to prevent these incidents. The goal is to find more ways to create a Culture of Safety.
The Hospitality Law Conference also features break-out sessions and roundtable discussions in Lodging, Food & Beverage and Human Resources & Labor Relations.
3.This year’s Lodging Track focuses on Management agreements, settling hospitality claims, trends in discrimination including the ADA claims arising out of FMLA, distribution and trending issues in hospitality regulation
4.The Food & Beverage Track is produced and presented in coordination with the National Restaurant Association. The focus is on food illness and other food safety claims, liability challenges when serving beverages containing alcohol, premises liability claims, and the essential financial aspects of restaurants.
5.The Human Resources & Labor Relations Track covers changing laws in privacy and data security in the Hospitality industry, as well as detailed discussion on the US Department of Labor’s growing attentiveness to hospitality.
There are unique Hospitality Forums added this year that follow the successful approach of the popular Ted Talks. In brief, 9 minute presentations, subject-matter experts will deliver focused and convincing presentations on many of the most pressing challenges alarming hotel/restaurant owners and operators, developers, and attorneys involved in hospitality.
This event covers many complex topics, yet it is structured so that it is user friendly and easy to prioritize. In Part 2 of this article, I will cover some of the details that should be of interest to most hotel owners and operators.
I hope to see many of you this year: April 24-27, 2017, Doubletree Suites- Greenway Plaza, Houston, TX
