THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC
P.O. Box 113
Stratham, NH 03885-0113
603-778-0110 Fax: (603) 778-0333
Email: Skip@THEHOTELEXPERTSLLC.com
Web Site: www.THEHOTELEXPERTSLLC.com


FIRM OVERVIEW

Recognizing the increasing number of attorneys in need of a hotel expert to guide them through hotel & hospitality industry standards & practices, career-long hotel executives Steve & Skip Stearns formed THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC (THE) in 2002.

Building on the competitive advantage of offering more than one hotel expert to the specialized needs of each lawsuit, THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC practice has grown to include associates with highly specialized hotel & hospitality expertise in Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts & New Hampshire. In addition to the basics of day-to-day hotel operations, THE's associates offer professional restaurant ownership & experience, human resources, professional training, teaching & cultural diversity experience, standards development & inspection for compliance, corporate behavior, brand management & franchising knowledge. THE has most recently added disciplinary expertise in hotel & hospitality accounting, taxation & valuation. THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC works with attorneys to determine who is most knowledgeable & location appropriate to deliver effective support in each case.

THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC has been disclosed in over 100 cases covering 35 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico & the U.S. Virgin Islands. THE has appeared both for & against hotel properties, owners, operators, franchisors & individual litigants. THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC is skilled at research & developing recommendations for discovery & deposition questioning. As litigation consultants, THE can provide strategic direction. As testifying expert witnesses, THE associates deliver unbiased opinions & reports as well as impartial testimony at deposition & trial. THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC serves in matters from accounting to valuation, contract & brand disputes, employment conduct to premises liability & safety & security issues including various personal injuries & wrongful deaths.

THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC maintains a library of North American hotel company operating standards manuals, university level textbooks used to train aspiring hotel, restaurant & hospitality executives & relevant industry articles published in the most visible hotel industry trade publications.

Hourly fees may be obtained by contacting Skip Stearns. THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC will not charge more than ten hours per calendar day when traveling for site inspections, deposition or trial. Retention of THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC is only effective upon receipt of retainer. Minimums, retainer amounts & other applicable terms are disclosed & agreed upon prior to retention.


Skip Stearns
P.O. Box 113
Stratham, NH 03885-0113
603-778-0110 Fax: (603) 778-0333
Email: Skip@THEHOTELEXPERTSLLC.com
Web Site: www.THEHOTELEXPERTSLLC.com

Areas of Expertise

Skip Stearns along with highly specialized hospitality associates at THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC (THE), offer experience as attorney case consultants & in providing unbiased expert testimony. In guiding counsel through discovery, depositions & case strategy, submitting detailed opinions & offering unbiased deposition & trial testimony both for & against hotel properties, owners, operators, franchisors & individual litigants, THE has successfully served the plaintiffs & defendants of, among others:

Allyn, Hausner & MontanileValley Cottage, NY
The Law Firm of Peter G. AngelosBaltimore, MD
Borkon, Ramstead, Mariani, Fishman & CarpMinneapolis, MN
Borofsky, Amodeo-Vickery & BandazianManchester, NH
Boswell Law FirmBryant, AR
The Branch Law FirmAlbuquerque, NM
Brennan, Holden & KavouklisWinter Haven, FL
Broadfoot & AssociatesBurlington, VT
Law Offices of Salvador M. Brocato, IIIMetairie, LA
Law Firm of R. Kent BrownCharlotte, NC
Cadeaux & TaglieriWashington, DC
Cassiday & SchadeChicago, IL
Morris B. Chapman & AssociatesGranite City, IL
The Cochran Law FirmNew Orleans, LA
Conroy, Simburg, Ganon, Krevans & AbelOrlando, FL
Cook, Kotel & FitchDenver, CO
Coolidge, Mathieu, Barrington & CoutureSomersworth, NH
Daniels Kashtan Downs Robertson & MagathanCoral Gables, FL
Devereaux, Stokes, Nolan, Fernandez & LeonardSt. Louis, MO
DeZao & DiBrigidaParsippany, NY
Dixon, Truman, Fisher & CliffordSt. George, UT
Law Office of James W. DodsonClearwater, FL
Epstein, Becker, Green, Wickliff & HallHouston, TX
Flynn & AssociatesQuincy, MA
The Law Firm of Michael FrazellePhoenix, AZ
Freishtat, Burke, Mullen & DubnowBaltimore, MD
The Law Firm of Arthur C. FulmerLakeland, FL
Gohlson, Hicks & NicholsColumbus, MS
The Gold Law FirmGrnwood Village, CO
Goodin, MacBride, Squeri, Day & LampreySan Francisco, CA
Gordon, Silberman, Wiggins & ChildsBirmingham, AL
Hale & DorrBoston, MA
Hall Jaffe & ClaytonLas Vegas, NV
The Law Firm of Donald L. HarveyHouston, TX
Higgins, Himmelberg & PiliponisNashville, TN
The Law Firm of Joseph J. HochbeinCincinnati, OH
Howell, O'Neal & JohnsonJacksonville, FL
Hunter, Cole & BennettChristiansted, USVI
Jardine, Baker, Hickman, HoustonPhoenix, AZ
Robert John & AssociatesEvansville, IL
Jolly & PetersonTallahassee, FL
The Joye Law FirmN. Charleston, SC
Kern & WooleyIrving, TX
Kilpatrick StocktonAugusta, GA
Kinney & LangeMinneapolis, MN
Law Office of Sidney H. KirsteinLynchburg, VA
Koonz, McKinney, Johnson, DePaolis & LightfootWashington, DC
Kutak RockIrvine, CA
Langston & LottBoonesville, MS
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green & MacRaeBoston, MA
Leighton LawMiami, FL
Lenahan & DempseyScranton, PA
Leventhal, Brown & PugaDenver, CO
Law Office of John LewisDallas, TX
McDowell & OsburnManchester, NH
Patrick S. McElhoneLouisville, KY
McGartland & BorchardtFort Worth, TX
The Law Firm of Michael McGownBeaumont, TX
Meagher & GeerScottsdale, AZ
Law Offices of Wanda I. Medina de SolerSan Juan, PR
Metier Law FirmFort Collins, CO
Miller & HauptmanFeasterville, PA
Musi, Malone & DaubenbergerMedia, PA
Neiser & NeiserSt. Petersburg, FL
Nixon, Raiche, Manning Casinghino & LeachManchester, NH
The Law Firm of Phillip P. O'ShaughnesseyBaltimore, MD
Parsons, Powell & LaneWestfield, NJ
Pitzer SnodgrassSt. Louis, MO
Poore, Roth & RobinsonButte, MT
Jeffrey S. Pop & AssociatesBeverly Hills, CA
Pope & HowardAtlanta, GA
Rasmussen & MitchellOmaha, NE
Redwine Law OfficesDallas, TX
Richardson, Stoops, Richardson & WardTulsa, OK
The Romano Law GroupW. Palm Beach, FL
The Law Firm of Douglas RozellePalm Beach, FL
Rouson & BrumleySt. Petersburg, FL
Scheutze, Gordon & DubofskyBoulder, CO
Scibelli & WhiteleyBoston, MA
Sellers, Hinshaw, Ayres, Dortch & LyonCharlotte, NC
Sherin & LodgenBoston, MA
Shuffield LowmanOrlando, FL
Snapka, Turman & WaterhouseCorpus Christi, TX
The Stiell Law FirmTallahassee, FL
Swartz CampbellPhiladelphia, PA
Swenson, Storer, Andres, Frazelle & SayrePhoenix, AZ
Law Firm of William H. TwichellPinedale, WY
Ungerman HillDallas, TX
James S. Usich, P.A.Palmetto Bay, FL
The VanSteenburg Law FirmScottsbluff, NE
Venable, LLPBaltimore, MD
Webb, Sanders & WilliamsTupelo, MS
Wicker, Smith, O'Hara, McCoy, Graham & FordW. Palm Beach, FL
Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & DickerPhiladelphia, PA
Winston Grays & AssociatesCleveland, OH
Zbinden & CurtisPortland, OR


THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC has an extensive background in on-property & corporate hotel management. Additionally, THE's expertise may be applicable to franchising, hotels, motels, the cruise industry, casinos & other gaming operations, restaurants, bars & recreation industries. Cases in which THE has contributed include contractual disputes, wrongful deaths, premises liability, slip, trip & fall incidents, scalding & other personal injuries. Specific areas of expertise include:

Skip Stearns & associates John Hogan, Linda Libby & Rob McIntosh all have considerable corporate & field unit experience in hotel operations. As vice presidents & directors of franchising for Omni Hotels, Skip & Rob supervised the development of the company-wide operating manual, trained hotel owners, general managers & other management executives in its contents & supervised execution of standard operating procedures in all licensed hotels. Before & after his role as a corporate executive, Rob served as managing director of landmark full-service hotels in Boston, Washington, DC & Lake George, NY. As vice president of rooms operations at Omni Hotels, Linda participated in standards development & in the training of owners, general managers & other management level personnel new to the company. In addition to serving as general manager & other key positions in the field, Linda enjoyed ongoing company-wide supervision of the rooms division, including front office, manager on duty, bell staff, door personnel, housekeeping, maintenance & security, during her time as corporate vice president. John trained in the rooms division covering these same hotel operating departments. He grew to become a hotel general manager in an all suites hotel in Nashville, a second full-service hotel in Nashville & a full-service property in Raleigh. John has enjoyed multi-property management supervisory responsibilities as a corporate employee & as a consultant. He has trained hundreds of hospitality school students as an adjunct professor from 1991-2000, hundreds more as corporate director of training & cultural diversity for Best Western over eight years & John is one of the most widely published experts in hotel industry trade publications. For the last ten years, John has & continues to be active as an advisor & committeeman with the American Hotel & Lodging Association in areas concerning the education & training of hotel owners & operators.

The significant field & corporate hotel management experience of John Hogan, Linda Libby & Rob McIntosh described in the above paragraph translates into considerable hotel product knowledge. In addition to the knowledge they derived from various on-site hotel management assignments & corporate executive positions, each maintained active roles in national & local hospitality communities thus affording broader knowledge & experience of competitive product standards. Skip Stearns also maintains product survey experience in his current consulting practice & has previously served as the exclusive provider of product & service inspections for the Bahamian government. Skip, as VP, Director of Franchising at Omni Hotels, participated in establishing company-wide product standards, trained all management levels in these standards & was charged with overseeing their enforcement throughout the franchise division.

In John Hogan, Linda Libby & Rob McIntosh's field experience, they directly supervised all safety & security functions across all hotel operating departments. In addition to overseeing dedicated security departments in complex full service facilities, their roles included assuring knowledge & training of safety & security practices for manager's on duty, front desk, housekeeping, engineering, food service, beverage service, kitchen, swimming pools, sports & recreation & other areas of guest & employee activities. Skip Stearns, Linda & Rob, in supervising the development of hotel & corporate standards operating manuals, also drafted & approved standard procedures to assure customer & employee safety. Skip continues to evaluate life safety & security practices in his current consulting role. Litigation consulting experience in over 100 cases since 2002 has also provided Skip & THE associates with invaluable insights into a range of personal injuries, wrongful deaths & other complaints related to guest & employee safety & security.

Paramount among safety & security standards are emergency procedures surrounding the duty to protect guests & employees during a crisis. Emergency procedures may relate to weather events such as snow storms or hurricanes, blackouts, fire, evacuations, illness or injury & response to criminal acts among other things. John Hogan, Linda Libby & Rob McIntosh, as on-site hotel general managers & managing directors oversaw the establishment of such procedures, the training, the drilling & the execution of such procedures. Henry Tebbe, as a hotel director of human resources & an executive committee member, has intimate knowledge & supervisory experience concerning emergency procedures & has been an active trainer in the behavioral responses to various emergencies.

All associates of THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC have significant experience throughout their lengthy hotel careers setting qualifications for a broad range of positions, directly & indirectly hiring at the unit & corporate levels & terminating hotel & hospitality employees. Amongst our associates, Henry Tebbe is the one whose hotel career has been dedicated to the critical function of human resources. For over 20 years as a field & corporate management executive, Henry has been focused on recruitment in the hospitality industry, matching the right employee with effective position descriptions, reference & background checking, competitive hiring practices, employee counseling & effective termination procedures.

Skip Stearns trained & supervised corporate training for all management level executives at Omni Hotels from 1988 to 1996. Rob McIntosh & Linda Libby similarly participated in such training for hotel owners & management personnel new to Omni Hotels. As hotel industry consultants, Skip & Linda continue to train employees to establish & attain objectives with respect to customers & owners & train owners to serve the needs of their employees. Various associates of THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC have distinguished themselves with academic & industry certifications while creating, training, applying & supervising hospitality standards. John Hogan & Henry Tebbe are the two associates whose careers have been most linked to the development & training of hotel industry standards. In addition to his experience & titled roles in the industry, John has meaningful experience as an adjunct professor in the academic community & he has been a leading contributor to curriculum & as an advisor to the American Hotel & Lodging Association's Educational Institute. He is a training consultant, frequent guest speaker & seminar leader, among the most published contributors in industry trade publications & the co-founder of HospitalityEducators.com. Henry is a human resources specialist. Each step of his impressive career has included a focus on training & development dealing from unit line staff up to executive management, company-wide positions & corporate responsibilities. In his current consulting practice, Henry offers line & management training to complement his human resources abilities.

Skip Stearns spent the first 13 years of his hotel career directly in sales & marketing field & corporate roles for Dunfey, then Omni Hotels. As vice president, director of national sales for four years, he led the reorganization of Omni's national sales offices, drafted company-wide sales contracts & introduced remote booking capability to the hotel industry. As a consultant, Skip remains actively involved in the analysis of hotel & corporate sales & marketing organizations & practices & in problem solving for increased revenues. John Hogan, Linda Libby & Rob McIntosh have extensive experience supervising the hotel sales & marketing function. While John's upbringing was on the rooms operations side of the business, his keen interest in sales & marketing has paved the way for him to serve as a frequent keynote & seminar speaker in sales & marketing. John has also designed sales & marketing materials for the American Hotel & Lodging Association's Educational Institute & he is a frequently published author of sales & marketing articles in the hotel industry's most well-read trades.

As vice president, director of franchising for Omni Hotels, Skip Stearns has participated in the drafting of Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars, negotiated terms, authored & served as signatory on license agreements. Rob McIntosh has similarly led Omni Hotels Franchising Corporation & served as the company's principal liaison for its franchisees. Skip & Rob maintained responsibility for licensor adherence to contract terms & standards of operation & product contained therein. Skip has reviewed & contributed to the development of management agreements. Rob has vastly more experience managing under a management contract as well as supervising performance of contracts for Omni Hotels as a third-party manager. John Hogan & Linda Libby contribute experience as general managers for full service properties that were under management agreements.

Skip Stearns served in the two most senior franchising positions for Omni Hotels from 1987-1996. He has since consulted to franchisees in his consulting practice. Rob McIntosh also led Omni Hotels Franchising Corporation as a senior vice president. John Hogan served as a senior executive in the area of training & cultural diversity with Best Western for eight years. While Best Western distinguishes itself as a "membership brand" versus a franchisor, day to day operations between the corporate entity & its members very much resemble the important relationship between franchisor & franchisee.

Skip Stearns has knowledge in these areas as a drafter & overseer of hotel food & beverage operating standards, while associates John Hogan & Rob McIntosh have had direct supervisory experience over the food & beverage function during their experiences as general managers & managing directors of hotels & in their corporate multi-property responsibilities. Linda Libby is considered to be THE's most knowledgeable associate in the various areas relating to food & beverage: restaurants, bar operations, room service, catering & special events. Like John & Rob, Linda has supervised the food & beverage function in the field at multiple hotel general manager roles. More recent years have distinguished Linda specifically in the discipline by virtue of her seven years as managing partner of a Charlotte-based event planning company & in a current consulting role where she serves in the role as general manager of four distinct food & beverage outlets under one roof.

Associates of THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC have specialized experience supervising & training in the service of alcoholic beverages. Familiarity with dram shop practices & certified trainers of recommended alcohol service programs offer credible direction & testimony. Henry Tebbe has previously been certified as a master trainer in TIPS & he maintains current alcohol server certification. Linda Libby's general manager role at Portsmouth Gas Light Company, where there are four distinct food & beverage operations under one roof, has assured her intimate knowledge & supervision of all issues concerning alcoholic beverage inventory & distribution practices.

Michael Losapio is a New Hampshire CPA leading his own accounting practice for over ten years. A significant portion of the firm's focus is New England area hotel properties, many with significant food & beverage operations. Mike's practice represents over 50 hotel & hospitality clients. Previously, Mike spent four years at the corporate offices of Omni Hotels where he was a key corporate manager in the finance department. Linda Libby spent a meaningful part of her early hotel career in financial services in the field & leading special corporate projects for Omni Hotels. As general managers & managing directors, Linda is joined by John Hogan & Rob McIntosh as THE associates who have gathered significant experience in hotel accounting & finance.

The year following Michael Losapio's Certified Public Accountant designation, he earned a Master of Science in Taxation. In nearly all subsequent career stops spanning more than 25 years, Mike has been hired for and/or applied his skills & particular interest in field taxation.

Michael Losapio has been accredited by the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts as a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) & by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Business Valuation (ABV). Even preceding these achievements, Mike was active with Omni Hotels in both internal & external valuations & appraisals. The firm Mike presently owns for over ten years has made valuations & appraisals an integral part of the service package it offers to it offers to its more than 50 hotel & hospitality clients.

THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC's experience & knowledge base is not limited to its principal & single member, Skip Stearns. THE has a library of operating standards from various hospitality companies & textbooks used in the teaching of university level students enrolled in hotel & hospitality-related business programs. Further, THE subscribes to the most widely-read industry trade publications & is well-versed in expeditiously identifying & conducting relevant internet research.

THE frequently enlists the services of associates who are non-employee experts. The CVs of John Hogan, Linda Libby, Michael Losapio, Rob McIntosh & Henry Tebbe appear on our website under the "Expert CVs" link. These associates expand THE's geographic accessibility. More importantly, they broaden the expertise available at THE versus the more typical sole proprietor serving in the capacity of a hotel or hospitality expert. The field of hotel & hospitality experts is extremely narrow. By offering more than one such expert, THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC represents an efficient means to shop for the competitive edge. THE endeavors to assure that attorney clients are matched with the expert most appropriate to the litigation consulting needs & unbiased opinions & testimony specific to each plaintiff's or defendant's case needs. Integrity is unshakeable at THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC. As consultants, THE is prepared to advocate for all clients. As report writers & testifying experts, THE will, at all times, require exposure to all relevant materials & evidence. Opinions & all forms of testimony shall be impartially delivered.

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