CMS is Europe’s leading law firm for the hotel industry.

CMS Cameron McKenna has been ranked as the number 1 legal adviser to the hotel industry for five consecutive years by the Legal 500 (2004-2009) and has been nominated as Adviser of the Year at the Hotel Report Awards 2008 and 2009.  Our lawyers are regularly invited to speak at hotel industry conferences and write articles on the latest developments in the sector.

You can get advice from our specialist hotel lawyers on every aspect of your hotel transactions or operations, whether domestic or cross-border, including:

• Acquisitions and disposals
• Management agreements and leases
• Financing and structuring
• Construction and development
• Operational issues

Using lawyers who are known in the industry means you get access to the latest information, ideas and opportunities.  We can introduce you to other advisors or contacts who may be beneficial to your business. 

Access the latest legal updates for the hotel industry at www.law-now.com/hotels.

Relevant experience in the UK includes advising:

• Accor on the sale and lease back of 30 UK Novotel and Ibis hotels to Land Securities Trillium for £440 million
• ARG Hotels/Mr Galadari on the acquisition of the Crowne Plaza in London for £84 million with a management agreement with IHG 
• Azure Mondiale on the acquisition of 11 UK Courtyard by Marriott hotels from Whitbread and their lease and subsequent sale to Kew green 
• Corus Hotels on two disposals of UK hotels 
• JJW Hotels and Resorts on the US$268 million acquisition of two luxury hotel properties and two golf courses in the Algarve, Portugal from Starman Hotels 
• Managed Hotels Unit Trust and The Royal Bank of Scotland on the €583 million acquisition and manage back of a portfolio of 16 UK Hilton Hotels 
• Moorfield Group on the acquisition of a £110 million UK hotel portfolio from WA Shearings and subsequent additional single hotel acquisitions 
• A large UK bank on the £951 million acquisition and manageback of 47 UK Marriott hotels from Whitbread and Marriott International and their subsequent sale to a consortium of private investors
• A large UK bank & Allied Irish Bank on the financing of Arora Hotels’ acquisition of the Airport Hotels Partnership (the owner of nine UK airport hotels) and construction of a Sofitel at Terminal 5, Heathrow

Highlights of our relevant experience across Europe:

• Acquisitions and disposals
• Management agreements and leases
• Financing and structuring
• Construction and development
• Operational issues

Acquisitions and disposals:

• Accor
  - on the sale and lease back of 30 UK Novotel and Ibis hotels to Land Securities Trillium for £440 million
  - on the sale and lease back of a portfolio of 91 hotels in Germany and Holland with a value of around €863 million
  - on the combined buy-back and sale of a portfolio of 91 hotels in Germany and Holland with a value of around €863 million, focussing on corporate, real estate and tax law issues, the bidding procedure and negotiations with two preferred bidders
  - on various ongoing legal transactions and employment law in Germany 
• Azure Mondiale on the acquisition of eleven UK Courtyard by Marriott hotels from Whitbread and their lease and subsequent sale to Kew Green 
• St. Martin's International on the sale and leaseback of the Carlton Hotel in Bratislava, Slovakia 
• Corus Hotels on two disposals of UK hotels 
• Highridge Partners & DB Real Estate Global on the acquisition and subsequent €145 million sale of the Hilton and Ibis Karlin hotels in Prague 
• InterContinental Hotel Group on the sale of Holiday Inn and InterContinental hotels in Germany 
• JJW Hotels and Resorts on the US$268 million acquisition of two luxury hotel properties and two golf courses in the Algarve, Portugal from Starman Hotels 
• Le Méridien on the €3 billion acquisition of the Le Méridien chain of 150 hotels in over 55 countries including the CEE region, the refurbishment and lease of Hotel Des Indes, The Hague and on the lease of the Hotel Eden, Rome 
• Losan World, the Spanish investor on the €51 million acquisition of the Berlin Steigenberger Hotel (the financing of this project was complicated by a heritable building right which could only be encumbered with the consent of the owner) 
• Managed Hotels Unit Trust and The Royal Bank of Scotland on the €583 million acquisition and manage back of a portfolio of 16 UK Hilton Hotels 
• Moorfield Group on the acquisition of a £110 million UK hotel portfolio from WA Shearings and subsequent additional single hotel acquisitions   
• Quinn Group on the multi-stage acquisition of the Hilton in Sofia, Bulgaria
• Sol Melia on the acquisition of the InnSide chain of hotels which included 12 four and five star hotels in Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna
• Starman UK Services Company/Le Meridien
  - on the sale of the 4-star Hamburg-Stillhorn hotel to the Fattal Hotel Group, including advice on termination of the previous sale and lease back structure, exercise of a pre-emptive right, re-sale of the land and sale of the hotel operation (including staff)
  - on the sale of Le Meridien hotel in Hildesheim, including advice on the sale of the hotel operation
  - on the sale of Le Meridian Dom-Hotel in Cologne
• A large UK bank on the £951 million acquisition and manageback of 47 UK Marriott hotels from Whitbread and Marriott International and their subsequent sale to a consortium of private investors

Management agreements and leases:

• ARG Hotels/Mr Galadari on the acquisition of the Crowne Plaza in London for £84 million with a management agreement with IHG
• Grosvenor Estates in relation to the management agreement for the Liverpool Hilton Hotel
• HLH on management agreements for a pipeline of 30 Hampton by Hilton hotels to be developed over the next few years
• i.gen on the master franchise agreement for the easyHotel budget hotel chain in Germany
• InterContinental Hotel Group on termination and re-drafting of hotel lease and management agreements
• InterEstates on the management contract for the Ramada Hotel in Budapest
• Le Méridien on the refurbishment and lease of Hotel Des Indes, The Hague and on the lease of the Hotel Eden, Rome
• A large UK bank as lenders to the owners and developers of the Millennium Southampton, including advising on the management agreement with Millennium & Copthorne
• Realstar Group on the asset management of a portfolio of 73 UK hotels which were bought by Lehman Brothers, GIC Real Estate and Realstar from InterContinental for £1 billion
• Starman UK Services Company/Le Meridien
  - on a range of issues including the refurbishment of leased hotels and the negotiation of existing lease agreements
  - on negotiation, amendment to and conclusion of the new lease agreement on Le Meridien Frankfurt airport in the Airrail Center Frankfurt am Main

Financing and structuring:

• Aareal Bank
  - on the €46 million financing of the acquisition of Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Prague, and the refinancing of Hotel InterContinental in Prague, Czech Republic
  - on the landmark re-financing of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Moscow 
• Accor on a refinancing transaction involving the sale and leaseback of a Mercure hotel and four Ibis hotels in Poland 
• Anglo Irish Bank Corporation on financing of various international operations and expansion plans of Gort Securities Ltd., including the acquisition of the Radisson in Sofia 
• CBRE on the tax structure on the acquisition of the 'Dynamique Hotel' portfolio of 10 hotels 
• Choice Hotels International on restructuring of CHE Hotels Group and the acquisition of the Continental European franchising business of CHE 
• EuroHypo AG on the $450 million re-financing of five hotels in Moscow, Russia 
• Europe Arab Bank on the €20 million refinancing of an existing facility for le Mélézin Hotel, Courcheval and the €22 million acquisition and renovation of the Bonsai Hotel Portfolio across France 
• Golden Tulip on several hotel projects in Holland 
• InterContinental Hotel Group
  - in connection with two restructurings of Dorint AG
  - on various hotel projects including 'Triade in Kreuzberg' for Express by Holiday Inn, in particular the creation of zoning law requirements (conclusion of town-planning agreements, drafting a development plan), infrastructure requirements (road, water, energy) and conclusion of property purchase agreements 
• A large UK bank & Allied Irish Bank on the financing of Arora Hotels’ acquisition of the Airport Hotels Partnership (the owner of nine UK airport hotels) and construction of a Sofitel at Terminal 5, Heathrow

Construction and development:

• CitizenM on a pipeline of innovative hotel development projects, including their first hotel to open at Schipol Airport Amsterdam and their first hotel in Berlin
• Emaar Hotels & Resorts on the joint venture arrangements with Giorgio Armani and the development of the Armani Hotels & Resorts chain 
• NDC on the development of a 300 room NH Hoteles in Berlin
• OTP-DSK Bank on two hotel constructions near the Black Sea in Bulgaria
• Jupiter Adria, the resort and golf course developer and investment company on various matters relating to their developments in Croatia

Operational issues:

• Mövenpick Hotel on the business and operational issues relating to the Mövenpick Hotel Prague
• Four Seasons Gresham Palace Budapest on various operational matters
• InterContinental Hotel Group on operational matters in Germany and Spain
• Marriott on contractual and employment issues in UK and Bulgaria
• Choice Hotels International on data protection issues across Europe
• Cipriani on its high profile trademark litigation against Orient-Express hotels