The financing of hotels and resorts requires balancing the borrower’s need for flexibility to successfully operate the hotel against the lender’s desire to prevent cash leakage should conditions related to the borrower’s...more
The recent Tax Court opinion in Hyatt Hotels Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue informs a federal income taxpayer about its tax responsibility for funds for a guest reward program: when the taxpayer will be...more
In Hyatt Hotels Corp. v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2023-122, the Tax Court determined a taxpayer’s treatment of income and expenses related to its customer loyalty program did not implicate timing and, therefore, was not a...more
A recent Ninth Circuit panel held that Hyatt employees who were “laid off” in March 2020 were entitled to payment of their accrued vacation time immediately, even though the employees were not officially terminated until June...more
This past week (the unofficial end to summer for many of you) was a relatively busy one in the world of online travel. Highlights include: - EU (Unofficially) Kills Booking Holdings’ Planned Purchase of eTraveli. For...more
On August 18, 2023, Travelers United, a traveler advocacy organization, filed a class-action lawsuit against Hyatt Hotels Corporation and its affiliates, accusing Hyatt of falsely advertising hotel room rates and cheating...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including the latest news on the new cottage industry of resort fee litigation and Amazon’s growing (yet understated) significance in the travel industry. Enjoy....more
This week’s Online Travel Update is below. With summer now in full swing, it is no surprise that last week was another relatively quiet week in the online travel world. Speculation continues around the Expedia / Hopper...more
For the first time, our weekly Update delves into the world of artificial intelligence (AI). We’ve tried for several months now to avoid joining the chorus of voices proselytizing about the likely effects of AI, but as the...more
As evidenced by our list of stories, it was a relatively quiet week in online travel. The Texas Attorney General’s Office and its pursuit of hotel companies over their resort fee practices garnered most of the industry’s...more
Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending April 28, 2023, is below. It was another relatively quiet week in the online travel industry, with Hyatt garnering much of the attention with its end of week announcement...more
Last week, in Personalized Media Communications, LLC v. Apple, Inc., the Federal Circuit left intact Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s ruling of unenforceability based on prosecution laches and deprived Personalized Media...more
In this second post of our loyalty program mini-series, we delve into what we expect to be the most significant shift in data use and loyalty strategies. Specifically, we anticipate that sharing across industries will become...more
On Jan. 9, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in Franchise Tax Board v. Hyatt, a case addressing whether state agencies possess sovereign immunity from suit in sister state courts. Based on the oral argument,...more
Regulation of Large Online Platforms is Coming to Japan - ("Online platforms may face stricter rules, enforcement in Japan, panel says, MLex, November 5, 2018) Following up on a story (and prediction) included in last...more
Corporate Travel Sector Eyes a New Distribution Model Down Under - Skift Travel News on Aug 2, 2018 - Qantas, Serko, and Corporate Travel Management are leading the charge towards new distribution capability adoption...more
This week’s OTA & Travel Distribution Update features a variety of stories, including renewed federal efforts to legislate third-party booking engines’ disclosure requirements. Enjoy....more
This week’s OTA & Travel Distribution Update for the week ending May 25 is below. This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including one of our first (of many more likely to come) on the changing world of airline...more
Our weekly OTA & Travel Distribution Update for the week ending December 1, 2017 is below. This week’s Update features a variety of distribution stories as well as a report on the latest rankings of the large hotel loyalty...more
Hyatt Corp. was hit with a class action suit this week for allegedly violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting and storing employees’ fingerprints. This is the latest in a string of suits...more
US-CERT Warns of New Ransomware: Bad Rabbit - The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is warning companies in the U.S. about a new ransomware dubbed “Bad Rabbit.” US-CERT stated it has received multiple...more
Security researchers this week have found a new vulnerability that affects Wi-Fi Protected Access II, also known as WPA2, which is the security protocol used by many wireless networks. The vulnerability, Key Reinstallation...more
This week’s OTA & Travel Distribution Update for the week ending Friday, October 13, is below. This week’s Update features stories on short-term rentals (or should I say hotels?), OTAs and loyalty. I hope you enjoy....more
Hyatt Hotels Corporation recently announced that it had identified malicious software code resulting in unauthorized access to customer payment card information. Hyatt disclosed that upon investigating the incident, it...more
This week’s Update for the week ending August, 18, 2017 is below. Short-term rental regulation is featured prominently in this week’s Update...more