Zeidel & Associates Guides Staypineapple from Self-Operating Hotels to Third Party Management at the Watertown Hotel, Seattle, Washington

Staypineapple, an owner and operator of hotels operated under its own whimsical brand, retained Zeidel & Associates to develop a form of hotel management agreement, as it intended to pivot from owning hotels and instead sell certain of its hotel assets, and continue managing them as “Staypineapple” hotels under a management structure with the new owners. After caucusing with the various stakeholders at the company regarding its operating procedures and concerns, branding details, as well as its intended fee structures, the firm prepared a fair, but manager-friendly form of hotel management agreement, which would be adaptable for each property sold.  Shortly thereafter, the client entered into a contract to sell the Watertown Hotel in Seattle, which our client had acquired in 2008.  This hotel would be its first managed property.

The firm prepared and negotiated the form hotel management agreement for this individual asset, and ensured that the hotel management would be consistent with the terms of the purchase and sale agreement, as regards the assets being sold – in particular, which branding elements would be conveyed to the purchaser and which retained by the client. In the case of Watertown, the name of the hotel would be conveyed to the buyer, but the client would retain all other intellectual property, including names of certain services and enhancements offered to guests across all of the client’s hotels operating under different trade names.

The transaction closed in an expedited fashion, and the firm has been retained to handle additional hotel management agreements for other Staypineapple assets currently being marketed for sale.