Show me the miles!

Airline and other Loyalty Programmes will feature in the Leisure Industries Section panel at the IBA Singapore conference tomorrow. The session will also look at questions posted by members of such programmes on www.flyertalk.com.

First session a success! Hotel, Casinos and Gambling draw a crowd

The first session of the Leisure Industries Section, dealing with Hotels and Casinos in the SE Asia region, drew a full room. The session, chaired by John Vernon, brought together speakers from Hungary, the United Kingdom and Singapore.

IBA Conference in Singapore under way

The IBA`s annual conference in Singapore is well under way - with more than 3,500 particpants a record breaking event. Minister Mentor Lee, a lawyer by training, gave the keynote speech and remained for a Q&A session, sharing his views and the reasons for Singapore's success with the audience.

Blackstone acquires Hilton

Blackstone continues to gobble up travel players: after they bought the travel part of Cendant, putting them behind some of the more notable online intermediaries, CRS and aggregators, they have now decided to buy Hilton. Hilton, having just bought the owner of the international brand rights possibly will now look at major investment. Certainly, Starwood profited from being bought out and set up as REIT.

It will be interesting to see, whether integration continues beyond the already mentioned LaQuinta - Hilton angle. If I just dream, this could be a preferred channel through Blackstone-owned intermediaries, integrating certain CRS functions, synching of customer data beyond platforms and more. Details can be found at NYT.

Oh, and on a lighter note: will Paris Hilton get demoted from Diamond (or above?) status, once the acquisition has gone through?

ADR in Online Travel in Germany

The Association of German Online Travel Agents (AGOTA, or V.I.R. in German - see here) established an interesting ADR model for online travel disputes. The "Travel Dispute Resolution Panel" (Reiseschiedsstelle - see here) handles consumer complaints regarding online travel issues, ranging from booking problems to defects or breaches in performance. The panel has handled more than 200 cases since its inception in 2005; these cases are brought by consumers, for whom the ADR process is cost free, as the panel and its administration is funded by the members of the organization.

A new and sensible approach, especially since the panel has settled more than 50% of these complaints without having to address the courts.

This is one the examples where ADR can be used by entrepreneurs as a marketing tool, while at the same time providing real and tangible benefits to their customers.

Lost Luggage in Olso

The wonders of airtravel. Lost luggage. And what good does it do a lawyer if he can cite the relevant international conventions and EU laws, if the desk clerk at SAS Oslo station is new to the job and cannot find the luggage and the manager, who should handle compensation, just takes flight - figuratively.

Gambling and the WTO

As the Leisure Industries also comprise the Gaming Industry, some members of our committee have a keen eye on the legal developments in this area of the law. Our Section scholarship this year was dedicated to the legal complexities of Interlegal Gambling, Fair Trade, and such issues and one of our Singapore panels will deal with this topic.

In the meantime, a WTO Compliance Panel on March 30, 2007 ruled that US Federal Law prohibiting internet gambling violates the obligations of the United States under WTO GATS. The decision can be found at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/285rw-a_e.pdf. There is still a debate whether the victory of Antigua will be short-lived or fundamental: what does the US need to do to be in compliance? An interesting analysis can be found at Prof. I Nelson Rose informative site www.Gamblingandthelaw.com.

Of course, if you want the deep down analysis, you will need to make it to Singapore and join us and a panel of experts in the Suntec Centre on this topic on October 16, 2007.

Doping

Germany is currently ablaze with former cyclists coming clean and admitting to doping and active cyclists professing to not really know what is happening. The broadcasters are threatening a pull-out, should this year's Tour de France be marred by doping.

A former member of Team Telekom in a TV show mentioned that he was told that his contract would not be renewed, if his results did not improve and that doping was administered by physicians of a usually highly reputed university hospital.

I hope we will see a return back to clean sports, which is not a show of the pharmaceutical and medical industries abilities. And maybe we as spectators just need to get used to the fact that it is (nearly?) impossible to bike up a mountain at 30 km/hour.

New Name

The IBA is organized according to interests and legal specialisations. The former Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Law Committee has merged with the Sports and Gaming Committee and now is the Leisure Industries Section. A name that encompasses all we do, and clearly indicates the breadth of our topics. In this sense, we´d be very happy to also have contributions from sports and gaming. By the way, we´re happy for contributions. Please email them to hjvogel at gmail dot com, stating Travellaw Blog in the subject line. Keep them short, 300-500 words is fine.

Singapore!

The next IBA Conference will take place in Singapore. We will host a number of panels - on loyalty schemes (miles, show me the miles...), on low cost carriers in Asia, on hotels and casinos and cyber gambling. Check out the news at www.ibanet.org!

A New Blawg

The Travel Industry is one of the largest industries in the world. It creates immense value, has driven e-commerce as no other legitimate business has done, and touches all our lifes at least a couple of times each year. OK, more often, if you are lucky.

We strive to provide commentary and insight into the legal issues in and around this industry, from a diverse persepctive. We are members or (former and current) officers of the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Law Section and the Travel and Leisure Section of the International Bar Association, situated all over the world, raised in different legal systems, acting for different parts of the industry, and with different specialties. A broad perspective, we hope.

Come here for new legal developments, discussion of recent trends, and the whackiest cases that cross our desks!