COVID-19: Some Lessons Learnt For Hotel Owners

The hospitality industry has arguably, together with the airline industry and the tourism industry, been the most impacted globally by the on-going Covid-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding this, there are several lessons which hotel owners and hotel operators can learn from the disruption created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the immediate focus in light of Covid-19 has been on performance test and force majeure provisions of a hotel management agreement or franchise agreement, in this article, we highlight some of the other provisions of hotel operating contracts which may have significant commercial and legal implications for hotel owners and developers in light of Covid-19 and which hotel owners should consider when negotiating future hotel operating contracts or re-negotiating existing contracts.