Hospitality Industry: Changes to Gift Card Laws May Impact Hotel Gift Card Programs Alert - November 4, 2009
As hotels seek to expand their customer bases during these difficult economic times, one potential source of income and customers has been the rather prolific growth in gift card sales. Everyone is getting into the gift card game – restaurants, retailers, hotel companies, gas stations and more. Sales in 2008 alone totaled approximately $90 billion. For hotel companies, when someone purchases or gives a hotel gift card, it creates an opportunity to attract a new or returning customer to spend money at a hotel. However, implementing these programs requires careful consideration of both state and federal laws – which are complicated, sometimes inconsistent but necessary to understand in order to avoid fines and penalties for improperly designed programs.
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International Trade: Alert - November 3, 2009
The Obama administration has adopted a dual-track strategy toward Iran by opening a dialogue while also laying the groundwork for tougher sanctions. In addition to discussing this and other developments in U.S.-Iran relations, this alert examines what tougher sanctions – as well as pending House and Senate bills and increasingly aggressive actions taken by federal agencies against specific foreign entities that are believed to have violated U.S. embargo or export laws – could mean for foreign companies and U.S. subsidiaries that do business with Iran, particularly its petroleum industry.
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