Hotel Contract Negotiations Diane C. Barnette, CMP Director of Conference Planning National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

Meeting Specifications A good hotel contract starts with an accurate reflection of your meeting needs that shows the hotel the... Value of your program

Meeting Specifications Group name, title, preferred and alternate dates for program Sleeping rooms required Meeting space required

Food and beverage required Group history Ideally includes what you want to achieve in the hotel contract Meeting Specifications

Include all Properties to: Create the competition Get your name out

Compare the Obvious Hotel room rates Meeting room rental charges Food and beverage costs

Compare the Obvious Complimentary rooms policy Anything else that is an added benefit to your group for booking the property

Move Forward to a Formal Contract

5 Elements Needed 1.An offer with definite terms 2.Acceptance of the terms 3.Requirement of consideration

5 Elements Needed 4.Competent parties authorized to enter into the agreement 5.Statute of frauds (two types of contracts apply to this industry) Contract whose terms cannot be performed within one years time Sale of goods exceeding $500

Legal Implications of 9-11 Impossibility Impracticability Frustration of Purpose

Legal Principles Performance is impossible Purpose has been frustrated Performance is much more burdensome than expected (impracticable) Applies only when parties did not allocate the risk

Impossibility of Performance Destruction, deterioration or unavailability of the subject matter or tangible means of performance Failure of the agreed upon means of performance or contemplated mode of delivery or payment

Impossibility of Performance Supervening illegality Failure of intangible means of performance Death or illness

Impracticability of Performance Three Part Test Was there an unexpected contingency? Did the event make the performance impossible or impracticable? Upon whom should the risk of unexpected blame be placed?

Frustration of Purpose The object must be frustrated by a supervening event The other party must have contracted and the attainment of the object was a basic assumption There must be near total frustration The party seeking to use the defense must not have contributed to the frustration

Force Majeure Clause The intent of the parties must be very clear Consider making the Force Majeure clause broader in scope

So Now What Do We Do With this Contract?

Addendum Label the Addendum as Attachment 1 Cross reference any deleted paragraphs in the contract to Attachment 1 and the paragraph number

Cover Letter to Hotel The organization is accepting your proposal as amended Request hotel to initial all changes Request hotel to initial the bottom of each page Request hotel to counter sign contract and Addendum

Thank You Diane C. Barnette