England - London • Industry focus

Fieldfisher

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With a network of offices across Europe, the Caribbean, Asia and the Middle East, the ‘extremely experienced and knowledgeable’ hotels and leisure team at Fieldfisher is pre-eminent in the franchising space. Instructed by a broad client roster spanning hotels, cruise lines, services apartments, food and beverage outlets, and casinos, the team fields specialist hotel and leisure lawyers covering tax, brand protection, competition, real estate, technology, employment, e-commerce, and corporate matters. 'Fantastic' team head Paul Houston focuses on the real estate aspects of corporate transactions, offering expertise in branded leisure concepts, hotel brands and large-scale portfolio sales. Senior partner David Wilkinson specialises in M&A transactions in the sector. Heading up the firm’s franchising and licensing group, David Bond negotiates franchise and hotel management agreements, as well as handling commercial and advertising issues.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘We really rate the team for their commerciality and willingness to pull out all the stops to meet their client's requirements. This is turn leads to great loyalty.’

  • ‘Paul Houston is really bright, incredibly hard working and very commercial. He is someone you definitely want in your camp.’

  • 'They offer a true "one stop shop" approach and once instructed on a transaction, the team can deal with all aspects of it. Our experience of them is that they offer down to earth commercial advice and understand the importance of getting deals done as quickly as possible without getting bogged down in esoteric "lawyers' points". They have an inclusive culture with high levels of awareness and a diverse team.'

  • 'Our experience of them is that they are extremely experienced and knowledgeable about the sector. They combine this with an extremely commercial approach and understanding of the client's needs and commercial objectives. They are really pleasant to work with and are really user-friendly.'

  • 'Paul Houston is outstanding and exemplifies a can-do attitude. He is a fantastic lawyer and he works incredibly hard for his clients and always ensures timing agendas are met. He is a top-class operator.'

  • 'David Wilkinson provides a partner-led service on our corporate matters. He is always all over the detail and he provides commercial advice which is focused on getting deals done quickly, without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail. Many of our details do not fit a particular pattern, but David is never knocked off his stride by whatever we throw at him.'

  • 'Laura Mackenzie is very knowledgeable and hard working. She really understands the issues that are important to clients and has a practical and commercial approach. She is great to work with and always goes the extra mile to deliver for her clients.'

Key clients

  • Al-Seef Tourism Investment LLC
  • Ambassador Cruise Line
  • BlackRock
  • Booking.com
  • Capricornus
  • Coffee-Bike International Limited
  • CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice
  • Creams Café Limited
  • Cynergy Bank
  • Dominus
  • DWS
  • EL&N International
  • Expedia, Inc
  • FRA LAN RB 26-28 GMBH & CO. KOMMANDITGESELLSCHAFT
  • GHG London Holdings
  • Haulfryn Group Limited
  • Interstate Hotels & Resorts
  • Millenium & Copthorne Hotels
  • Sairam Hotels
  • Secret Escapes Limited
  • Serani Hotels
  • Silk (Maxwell Street) Limited
  • Smith Global Limited (Trading as Mr and Mrs Smith)
  • State of Play Hospitality t/a Flight Club
  • The shareholders of Cruising Excursions Limited
  • TDA Capital
  • Vastint Hospitality B.V
  • Viacom/MTV

Work highlights

  • Advised Dominvs Group on the acquisition, restructuring and forward funding of a large hotel and PBSA development at the former Hammersmith Magistrates Court in West London.
  • Advised Vastint Hospitality on the restructuring of its European operating arrangements with Marriot in respect of its Moxy brand.
  • Advised Silk (Maxwell Street), the owner of a new hotel led mixed-use development in Glasgow, on its franchise and management agreement and development financing for the new Hilton Hotel.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Paul Houston

Other key lawyers

David Wilkinson, David Bond, Ramatu Banga, Owen Talfan Davies, Laura Mackenzie