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Hospitality

Hotel companies and other hospitality-related businesses look to Arnold & Porter not only for its real estate and hotel operations experience but also for the firm's collective experience in dealing with a broad array of transactional, regulatory counseling, employment, tax, and litigation matters.

Our hospitality litigators regularly advise and advocate on behalf of hotel owners in their dealings with management companies and franchisors, and are known for handling precedent-setting litigation, especially in the areas of management and franchise agreements, fraud, fiduciary duties, valuation disputes, accounting and cost allocations, as well as joint venture matters.

Our firm maintains a broad-based transactional hospitality practice, having represented clients large and small in connection with single-asset and portfolio acquisitions and dispositions, ground-up development, redevelopment, and repositioning of properties. We handle acquisitions, dispositions, and restructurings of hotel assets through bankruptcies and acquisitions of debt positions. In connection with the development, acquisition, and ownership of hospitality properties, we structure complex financing, including debt and equity, public subsidies, tax increment financing, public-private partnerships, and other emerging financing vehicles. In addition, we assist our clients in structuring successful management, franchise, and leasing arrangements.

We advise clients on tax matters relating to hotel investments, including providing cross-border tax advice for foreign investors in U.S. properties and for U.S. investors in hotels and resorts around the world. For real estate investment trust clients, we advise on structuring their acquisition, ownership, and disposition of hotel properties. We also provide day-to-day counseling and advice on labor and employment matters, including wage/hour issues unique to the restaurant and hospitality industries. In addition, our leading California Proposition 65 and Privacy practices are prepared to assist hospitality clients with complex legal issues that may arise.

"Highly proficient hospitality group with notable expertise acting for developers, owners, investors, and lenders across the entirety of hotel matters.... Fully equipped to advise on matters involving properties in the USA and overseas." —Chambers USA 2019

Key Contacts

Michael D. Goodwin
Michael D. Goodwin
Senior Counsel
Washington, D.C.
+1 202.942.5558
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Recognition

  • U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers
    "Best Law Firms" for Leisure & Hospitality – Washington, D.C. (2024)
    "Best Law Firms" for Real Estate – Washington, D.C., New York, and National (2022)
    "Best Law Firms" for Commercial Litigation – Washington, D.C, Chicago, Colorado, National, New York, San Francisco (2022)
    "Best Law Firms" for Commercial Litigation – Los Angeles (2017)
  • The Legal 500 UK
    Dispute Resolution: Commercial Litigation (2023)
  • Chambers USA
    Leisure & Hospitality – Nationwide (2024)
  • The Legal 500 US
    Real Estate (2024)
    Litigation: Supreme Court and Appellate (2017)
    General Commercial Disputes (2024)
  • The National Law Journal
    "Appellate Hot List" (2018)