Overview
With a global perspective and local insight, Manatt’s hospitality group has been at the forefront of innovative deals that reflect the industry’s future. What truly sets us apart is our ability to anticipate trends and deliver actionable insights that fuel business success.
Drawing on years of experience in hospitality, we help clients strengthen their brands, optimize asset performance, and adapt to changing consumer preferences. Our team handles transactions that span the entire hospitality value chain—including management and operation of hotels, creation of branded mixed use project structures, acquisitions and dispositions, and representing the interests of family offices and institutional investors in hospitality assets.
We deliver innovative, practical advice that anticipates challenges and captures value at every stage of the transaction, bringing clarity, confidence and creativity to each engagement in an ever-evolving market. Our work includes mixed-use projects that seamlessly integrate high-end residences, hotels, retail and cultural spaces to create vibrant urban and resort destinations.
With deep industry experience, our team combines specialized knowledge and boutique service with Big Law breadth and depth, advising hotel companies, managers, developers, lenders, family offices, and providers and users of capital on significant hospitality and leisure transactions, as well as day-to-day issues and concerns.
We collaborate and work closely with our entertainment practice, navigating the complexities of IP licensing, talent agreements and content partnerships that increasingly define the next generation of branded mixed-use spaces. Our multidisciplinary approach ensures clients can leverage marquee branding, curated experiences and innovative programming to differentiate their business while mitigating legal risks and unlocking new sources of value within the evolving real estate and entertainment landscape.
Manatt Phelps & Phillips’ team boasts considerable strength in the leisure and hospitality space… Its practitioners are well versed in handling significant matters, ranging from high-profile acquisitions to complex hotel management agreements…[and] matters involving cross-border components. —Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
We work with clients to identify trends, think strategically, build solutions and solve problems. We know the industry, the key players and the important business and legal concerns in all tiers of the market.
Our projects include:
- Hotels, resorts and mixed-use developments
- Branded residences, serviced apartments and condo hotels
- Master planned communities
- Entertainment venues, stadiums and sports arenas
- Fractional, timeshare, equity and non-equity clubs
- Celebrity restaurants and license arrangements
- Golf clubs and other major amenities
We forge enduring client relationships by offering attentive service, responding quickly to requests, providing hands-on, personalized attention and demonstrating that every client is valued—large and small. Our strategic outlook and deep knowledge of the industry turn first-time clients into long-term relationships.
Our services include:
- Hotel management, franchise and license agreements
- Mixed-use structures, CC&Rs, condominiums and REAs
- Purchase and sale of hospitality assets
- Joint ventures, corporate and private placements
- Debt and equity financing of hospitality assets
- Land use and entitlements
- Development and construction
- Environmental issues
- Labor and employment
- Intellectual property and trademarks
- Privacy, guest data and compliance
- Real estate and leasing
Clients
AJ Capital Partners
Alchemy Ventures, LLC
JMA Ventures
Kennedy Wilson
Lendlease
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Lowe
PlumpJack Fund LP
Ronald (Getty) Family Trust
Salamander Hotels & Resorts
The Robert Green Company
