In the world of hospitality and leisure, the challenges and opportunities are as diverse as the businesses that make up the sector. That’s why Womble Bond Dickinson provides our clients with a diverse team of lawyers deeply familiar with the sector.

Our hospitality lawyers work with clients involved in hotel and restaurant development, ownership, financing, franchising, operations and third-party management. This team includes:

  • Real estate lawyers who routinely represent hotel and restaurant owners in the development, entitlement, franchising, acquisition, management and disposition of hotels and restaurants, including closing equity and debt financing
  • Transactional lawyers experienced in negotiating franchises, leases and management agreements unique to hotel and restaurant operations 
  • Employment lawyers who work with hotel and restaurant owners on employment matters arising in a field which has become a target for ADA and Wage & Hour claims
  • Franchise lawyers adept at negotiating licensing agreements with international brands
  • Litigators well-versed in common issues arising in hotel and restaurant construction and operations, including disputes concerning the interpretation of construction contracts, management agreements and hotel formations
  • Tax lawyers whose practices focus on incentives and historic and new market tax credits, sales and use tax, hotel/motel tax and joint venture structuring issues

These lawyers have deep experience in and knowledge of the hospitality industry, which enables them to provide strategic legal advice and cost-effective service to our hotel and hospitality clients.

What we do

  • Real estate
  • Transactional
  • Franchising
  • Environmental
  • Employment
  • Litigation
  • Tax

Examples of work

  • Negotiated and led the closing of a well-known boutique hotel developer’s $300 million mixed-use development involving the historic rehabilitation of a decommissioned power plant in Savannah, Georgia.  This project involved eight different debt sources, including construction, mezzanine and tax credit facilities. The tax credit financing involved working with the State of Georgia General Assembly to increase the maximum limit of state historic tax credits for the project. The deal also brought together four equity sources all knit together in five inter-creditor agreements, and six operating agreements
  • Negotiated and led the $250 million acquisition from an opportunistic New York private equity firm of 194 quick-service restaurants (QSR) in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi and negotiated the related refinancing of the acquirer’s entire restaurant portfolio. The acquisition included negotiation of equity funding from family offices. This deal catapulted the client into the #1 ranking of fastest growing companies in the Southeastern US, according to the Association of Corporate Growth
  • Represented Hilton Grand Vacation in connection with its spin-off from Hilton Worldwide in a $9.0 billion reorganization transaction
  • Served as lead counsel on all aspects of the $100 million development of a five-star luxury hotel in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, including land acquisition, zoning and land use issues, regulatory matters and construction financing

In the world of hospitality and leisure, the challenges and opportunities are as diverse as the businesses that make up the sector.

That’s why Womble Bond Dickinson provides our clients with a diverse team of lawyers deeply familiar with the sector.

Find an attorney

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Our Hospitality Development Management and Franchising Attorneys

Our Hospitality Development Management and Franchising Services

Our hospitality lawyers work with clients involved in hotel and restaurant development, ownership, financing, franchising, operations and third-party management. This team includes:

  • Real estate lawyers who routinely represent hotel and restaurant owners in the development, entitlement, franchising, acquisition, management and disposition of hotels and restaurants, including closing equity and debt financing
  • Transactional lawyers experienced in negotiating franchises, leases and management agreements unique to hotel and restaurant operations 
  • Employment lawyers who work with hotel and restaurant owners on employment matters arising in a field which has become a target for ADA and Wage & Hour claims
  • Franchise lawyers adept at negotiating licensing agreements with international brands
  • Litigators well-versed in common issues arising in hotel and restaurant construction and operations, including disputes concerning the interpretation of construction contracts, management agreements and hotel formations
  • Tax lawyers whose practices focus on incentives and historic and new market tax credits, sales and use tax, hotel/motel tax and joint venture structuring issues

These lawyers have deep experience in and knowledge of the hospitality industry, which enables them to provide strategic legal advice and cost-effective service to our hotel and hospitality clients.

What we do

  • Real estate
  • Transactional
  • Franchising
  • Environmental
  • Employment
  • Litigation
  • Tax
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Examples of our work and how we’ve helped companies of all sizes with a wide range of challenges.

  • Negotiated and led the closing of a well-known boutique hotel developer’s $300 million mixed-use development involving the historic rehabilitation of a decommissioned power plant in Savannah, Georgia.  This project involved eight different debt sources, including construction, mezzanine and tax credit facilities. The tax credit financing involved working with the State of Georgia General Assembly to increase the maximum limit of state historic tax credits for the project. The deal also brought together four equity sources all knit together in five inter-creditor agreements, and six operating agreements
  • Negotiated and led the $250 million acquisition from an opportunistic New York private equity firm of 194 quick-service restaurants (QSR) in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi and negotiated the related refinancing of the acquirer’s entire restaurant portfolio. The acquisition included negotiation of equity funding from family offices. This deal catapulted the client into the #1 ranking of fastest growing companies in the Southeastern US, according to the Association of Corporate Growth
  • Represented Hilton Grand Vacation in connection with its spin-off from Hilton Worldwide in a $9.0 billion reorganization transaction
  • Served as lead counsel on all aspects of the $100 million development of a five-star luxury hotel in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, including land acquisition, zoning and land use issues, regulatory matters and construction financing