Hospitality

Our Group

Miller Thomson’s lawyers in our Real Estate — Hospitality practice provide a broad range of expertise on matters involving the hospitality industry across Canada. Our lawyers have the in-depth legal and industry knowledge to assist decision-makers with their legal needs. We have been involved in the negotiation and completion of some of Canada’s largest hospitality industry transactions.

Our Clients

Among others, we represent clients such as operators of restaurants, hotels and convention centres and chains thereof, franchisors, developers, banks and trust companies — be they buying, selling, leasing, managing, developing, borrowing or lending.

Our Expertise

• Acquisitions and dispositions
• Hotel management agreements
• Licence and franchise agreements
• Condominium hotel and securities law compliance
• Rental pool and rental management agreements
• Financing
• Trusts, partnerships and joint venture agreements
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Retail and ground leasing
• Conveyancing
• Mortgages and hypothecs
• Easements, servitudes and shared services agreements
• Real estate and mortgage brokerage
• Municipal and planning
• Environmental
• Development and construction agreements and dispute resolution
• Labour and employment, pension and benefits, health and safety
• Liquor licensing
• Intellectual property and technology
• Corporate and tax

Our Services

For our hospitality clients, we provide services to:

• Represent operators, managers, investors, lenders and developers to establish and implement the legal structure for hotel, restaurant and other hospitality industry assets
• Structure transactions to maximize tax efficiencies, such as off balance financing and sales of consumer lease or other debt contract portfolios for tax savings through capital cost allowance deductions
• Assist with acquisitions and dispositions of assets or shares
• Assist hotel and restaurant operators with regulatory compliance, for example, to obtain liquor licences
• Negotiate management, franchise and licence agreements
• Register trade-marks, prepare franchise disclosure documents and advise on franchise matters
• Provide compliance advice for e-commerce, Web based transactions, consumer protection legislation, federal and provincial privacy legislation and all aspects of day-to-day operations
• Assist with labour relations, unionization, immigration for employees coming into Canada, workplace health and safety compliance and payroll deductions
• Assist condominium hotel developers structure and finance their projects and ensure compliance with securities laws in the sale of project units
• Represent receivers and lenders in exercising their rights

Representative Work

• Advised a large American hotel chain on all aspects of its entry and business expansion in Canada
• Represented a major Canadian Hotel REIT on its initial acquisition of a portfolio of hotel properties from multiple vendors located across Canada in conjunction with its initial public offering
• Acted for a major Canadian hotel chain on the wind-up of its pension plans
• Assisted various restaurant chains on their day-to-day operations
• Acted on the acquisitions and sales of major hotel properties
• Advised a major hotel company with ongoing operations in Canada
• Represented various franchisors in Canada on enforcement issues
• Provided advice to Canada’s largest convention centre on corporate and labour and employment law
• Assisted with various contracts for a western Canadian convention centre
• Advised on general liquor licensing applications, special applications associated with entertainment venues and policy changes for the regulatory framework
• Assisted two major international hotels with changes in the restructuring of their pension and benefits programs
• Assisted an Ontario city with changes to liquor licence legislation to acquire a stadium licence
• Represented the builder of 32 timeshares units and 118 residence inn units in western Canada
• Represented the developer of 94 unit condominium hotel in Quebec
• Acted for the court appointed receiver of the general partner of a major Canadian hotel chain
• Advised an Alberta property developer on its partnership and dissolution of that partnership
• Represented a management company in the acquisition and ongoing operation of a prominent Alberta inn