Hospitality
From hotel development and financing to disputes and brand protection, ArentFox Schiff works with hospitality companies navigating the legal and operational complexity behind every guest experience.
Overview
More than 75 years after the firm was founded by corporate hotel advisors, ArentFox Schiff continues to work with companies operating in the lodging and leisure sector. The industry is shaped by shifting market conditions, operational demands, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Clients must navigate these factors while managing brands, assets, and growth strategies.
Our Focus
Operating a hospitality business requires coordination across legal, financial, operational, and regulatory considerations. Companies in the sector routinely address matters involving development, financing, compliance, workforce management, franchising, intellectual property, and dispute resolution, often simultaneously and under changing market conditions.
Working alongside clients, ArentFox Schiff advises on these issues across the life cycle of hospitality assets, including brand standards, full-service hotel operations, urban development projects with land use considerations, and transactions involving single assets or larger portfolios. The team also provides guidance on litigation, arbitration, franchising, technology and data considerations, regulatory inquiries, and intellectual property protection where relevant to business operations.
What Do We Do?
- Advise on acquisitions and dispositions of individual hospitality assets and larger portfolios
- Support bankruptcy and restructuring matters involving hospitality businesses
- Assist with corporate structuring considerations aligned to ownership and operational models
- Provide guidance on development projects, including land use considerations where applicable
- Counsel on equity and debt financing arrangements
- Advise on franchising relationships and brand-related legal considerations
- Address government relations and regulatory matters affecting hospitality operations
- Assist with intellectual property protection, including trademarks associated with brands
- Support investigations and regulatory inquiries as they arise
- Advise on joint venture structuring and governance considerations
- Counsel on leasing arrangements across hospitality assets
- Provide guidance on labor and employment matters affecting workforce operations
- Represent clients in litigation and arbitration where disputes arise
- Advise on management-related legal considerations
- Provide tax planning and analysis in connection with hospitality operations
Who Do We Help?
- Developers
- Franchisors
- Lenders
- Managers
- Owners
How Can We Help?
Legal support often becomes critical as hospitality companies navigate transactions, respond to regulatory inquiries, manage disputes, or adapt to changing operational and market conditions. Matters may include the acquisition or disposition of assets, financing arrangements, development projects, workforce-related issues, or evolving technology and data considerations.
Our Experience
ArentFox Schiff has longstanding involvement in the hospitality industry, reflecting its origins advising corporate hotel clients and its continued work with companies across the sector. The team advises on a range of matters that arise throughout the lifecycle of hospitality assets and operations.
Representative areas of work include:
- Acquisitions and dispositions
- Bankruptcy
- Corporate structuring
- Development
- Equity and debt financing
- Franchising
- Government relations
- Intellectual property
- Investigations
- Joint ventures
- Leasing
- Labor and employment
- Litigation and arbitration
- Management
- Tax planning and analysis
Recognitions
- Chambers USA
- Leisure and Hospitality, Nationwide (2012-2025)
Frequently Asked Questions
What legal issues commonly affect hospitality businesses?
Hospitality companies may encounter legal considerations related to transactions, financing, development, employment matters, regulatory compliance, and dispute resolution, depending on their operations and growth strategy.
How does legal counsel support hotel acquisitions or sales?
Legal counsel can assist with structuring transactions, conducting diligence, negotiating agreements, and addressing financing and regulatory considerations associated with acquiring or selling hospitality assets.
What should hospitality companies consider when expanding or developing properties?
Expansion and development efforts may involve land use requirements, financing structures, construction considerations, and local regulatory approvals, all of which can vary based on the project and location.
How are brand and intellectual property issues addressed in the hospitality industry?
Hospitality businesses may seek to protect trademarks and brand assets, while also managing franchising arrangements and brand standards that govern how properties operate under a given flag.
