No Vacancy: Duff on Hospitality Law : Northwest Attorneys & Lawyers for Hospitality, Travel & Tourism based in Seattle

Days 2 and 3 at this year's ALIS conference were filled with numerous highlights, including a very well attended presentation (or should I say, political commentary) in the Nokia Theater by "the Donald" himself, Mr. Donald Trump.  Days 2 and 3 were also filled with hundreds of meetings by conference attendees in nearly every hallway and corner of the hosts JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton.

While optimism continued to be the theme most often heard in the meetings I attended, the optimism was far from unbridled.  With so many unknowns remaining in the world (e.g. European debt crises, continued high unemployment, the upcoming presidential election), nearly everyone recognized that the many signs pointing to an industry rebound could quickly change.

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It has been reported that the producers of the conference this year were torn between an exclamation point and question mark in the program title  As you can see, the optimistic decision was made to include an exclamation point.  As I explain below, I tend to agree with that decision.

Monday marked the opening of the 11th annual ALIS here in Los Angeles.  This year's attendance of 2400 makes the 2012 conference the third largest in its 11 year history.  From the many conversations I had throughout the day, the optimism expressed in pre-conference survey results was shared by many.

The first day included an opening presentation by Wells Fargo chief economist John Silvia.  According to John, five key economic fundamentals that he regularly follows (growth, profits, interest rates, inflation, and currency) lead him to believe that the United States will continue to enjoy sustained growth in 2012, though at rates lower than prior economic recoveries.

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Room Key, a brand new player in the on-line hospitality market, launched in beta on January 11, 2012 to some excitement and some hard questions. Room Key is a joint venture among six U.S.-based hotel chains—Choice Hotels International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels*, InterContinental Hotels, Marriott International* and Wyndham Hotel Group—that allows users to search for available rooms at almost all of the chains’ global properties, or about 23,000 rooms total. More Kayak than Expedia, users search the Room Key site for inventory and are then redirected to the individual property (or chain’s) home site to complete booking. The idea is to drive traffic to the hotel websites and away from on-line travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia, Priceline, and Travelocity. And, of course, to provide a customized, personable hotel booking experience to the user--and who better to do that then a group of hoteliers--says CEO John Davis.

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This week’s post comes from Hospitality Team member Mike Brunet (Employment and Litigation), as a follow-up to his January 21, 2011 post on revisions to the public accommodations sections of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Mike recently presented on these revisions to the Seattle Hotel Association, and, in this post, shares his extensive presentation on the ADA revisions, applicable deadlines, and what you should get done before March 15.

In a blog post here almost a year ago, I provided an overview of the first significant revisions to the ADA regulations since 1991. At that time, I focused primarily on the new regulations that became effective in March 2011, related to communications accessibility, service animals, and mobility devices. Hopefully you were able to implement changes to your operations and policies to address those regulations; if not, then this blog post should serve as a reminder to do so as soon as possible.

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Understanding Basic Menu Health Warning Requirements in the State of Washington

Our current post comes from our Seattle Hospitality Team member Ryan McFarland. Over the past several months, we’ve received a number of client inquiries regarding menu labeling requirements, specifically the warnings required under Washington’s Food Code. A companion piece on Oregon’s requirements will be posted soon. Enjoy.

From fine dining to family-style restaurants, menus set the tone and begin a dialog with their patrons about the variety of food and drink options offered by the dining establishment. They also serve as real estate for public safety and legal disclaimers intended to protect patrons from food borne illness--and restaurateurs from claims and lawsuits. Aside from Pacific Northwest Portlandia comic relief (a television show based in Portland whose first episode features diners inquiring about the quality of life of the chicken they are about to order), many actually read the fine print off menus: Where are those oysters from? How was that albacore caught? Are the tomatoes heirloom?

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As many of you will recall, I dedicated two posts earlier this year to tip pooling and Oregon and Washington restaurant owners' ability to share tips with traditionally non-tipped employees - Tip Pooling in Oregon and Washington, Tip Pooling Update.  With the amount of attention that tip pooling continues to receive, I thought it time to enlist my Portland, Oregon partner, Eric A. Lindenauer, the lawyer who actually represented the Portland restaurant owner in the seminal Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc. decision, to provide a brief summary of the Woody Woo decision and recent developments in the ongoing tip pooling saga.

Thank you Eric for updating all of us.

The extent to which an employer can require employees to share tips with non-tipped employees remains a hot topic, especially in the federal Ninth Circuit, which encompasses Alaska, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, California, Arizona and Hawaii.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) where an employer claims “tip credit” toward the federal minimum wage, the employer may only require that employees pool tips with other employees who “customarily and regularly receive tips.” Assuming an employee is informed of the intent to take tip credit and other requirements are met, an employer can use an employee’s tips to offset all but $2.13 of the federal minimum wage.

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We’re back . . .  With the incredibly busy and challenging past four weeks behind us, it gives me great pleasure to announce that Diana Shukis, Ryan McFarland, Michael Brunet, Ruth Walters and I have joined the team of attorneys at the law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer.  Effective November 1, 2011, our hospitality team joined Garvey Schubert Barer to launch Garvey Schubert Barer’s new Hospitality, Travel and Tourism practice. 

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This week's post comes courtesy of Cairncross & Hempelmann attorney, Margaret Breen and highlights changes to the Washington State and United States definition of "service animal' as it relates to required accommodations in public places, such as hotels, motels and restaurants.

Both the Washington legislature and the U.S. Department of Justice have acted recently to specify what is and is not a service animal requiring accommodation in public places and to limit abuses of the Americans with Disabilities Act by extreme animal lovers.

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Washington hotel owners, operators and suppliers enjoyed two days of learning, socializing and recognizing their colleagues' successes at the recent Washington Lodging Association's 2011 Annual Conference at the incredible Tulalip Resort and Spa. This year's Conference featured a variety of presentations on workforce challenges, recent changes to the ADA, revenue management, fraud prevention and social media. 

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Just two weeks ago over 300 restaurateurs, hoteliers and industry suppliers came together in Bend, Oregon, for the 2011 Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association Annual Conference. I had the chance to attend this year's Conference and to present during Sunday's opening sessions.

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I know. I know. Here it is the end of September and I am only now posting details on the 2011 ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum that occurred weeks ago. What can I say, it is fall conference season and the many seminars, conferences, panels and presentations scheduled for the months of September, October, November and December are taking their toll. That said, I wanted to take the time to share highlights from this terrific all day investment forum put on by our friends at ZINO at Seattle's Museum of History and Industry.

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This week, Employment Law partner & Hospitality team member, Diana Shukis, breaks down the effects of Seattle’s recently enacted “Sick Leave” requirement. On September 12, 2011 the Seattle City Council approved an ordinance that requires businesses with five or more employees to provide paid leave for employees when they or their family members are ill or a victim of domestic violence. The new leave requirement goes into effect on September 1, 2012. Here are answers to common questions to help guide you as you think ahead toward compliance:

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Fall is upon us and like every fall, there is no shortage of upcoming travel and tourism industry events to attend. Over the next few months, our team will be busy attending and speaking at a number of industry-related events.

Upcoming events include:

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