Planners face challenging and potentially expensive conditions due to certain Trump administration policies.
There are still many unknowns, such as the potential increase in tariffs, or whether hotel housekeeping or banquet services will be affected by immigration policies. But Paul Cataudella, chief attorney for Catola Law, said it is important to take action now.
“The mouse industry has been operating at the intersection of politics, economics and logistics,” he told the Skift conference. “What is changing now is the frequency and volatility of these disruptions. They happen more and more frequently at a higher level.”
This is his view on how planners resolved Trump administration policy disruptions in the conference contract.
How can planners legally protect themselves from the increased cost of tariffs?
One way is not to mention it. Sometimes, keeping silent about problems can be the best way to go. This gives you the opportunity to shape the future, both sides want it. I mean not irony, but bury your head on the beach, almost ignoring it until it is necessary and then resolve it when a dispute occurs.
Another option is language that is prepared to try to reach a common willing or mutually beneficial outcome in the case of a specific tariff. This is where it really sticks, because the language about tariffs needs to raise the level of specificity: what tariffs? Who imposed it? What country? How much? When will it be imposed? Does it actually have an impact on the program? What program elements does it affect? Do you need documentation to support the addition?
Some people can say that tariffs are imposed, so the cost is 20% higher – but? Are these items actually imported by your supplier or subcontractor? Are they affected by tariffs, resulting in an increase in the elements of the program?
In a legal contract, it is difficult to balance the balance between everything necessary for a reasonable contract that is reasonably agreed to. As long as all parties communicate, there may be a sweet spot between the two.
As riots are occurring due to immigration policies, what language should planners include in their contracts?
Undoubtedly, riots can fall under the definition of force majeure, which usually includes language about civil unrest and incident riots. The key to the force majeure provision is not only the riots, but also the impossible, impractical, commercially unreasonable, illegal, unintentional, unintentional, or all of these things.
Force majeure does not occur when there is riots in the city and people choose not to participate. You need to have a separate rule on any type of civil unrest, which can lead to reasonable fear or suspicion that the meeting will be unsafe and therefore cannot be carried out.
Planners are concerned that the government’s immigration policy will have an impact on hotel staffing, such as banquet servers and housekeepers. How do you contract to resolve this issue?
The labor shortage was stumbled on us about two years ago, coupled with high inflation and supply chain issues. I provide specific languages about the number ratio and minimum staffing levels for each service category. For example, how many people are required to provide at check-in to create measurable staff related to the number of guests.
How can planners address the loss from international players who can’t or won’t travel to the United States?
You can include languages like “around best efforts” and “market conditions” instead of benchmarks based on employee numbers or guaranteed employees, which is more ambiguous. That’s not my favorite approach, but an attempt to find some middle ground.
Not participating in a personal preference is different from not attending because you cannot, because you cannot participate because of a travel ban. This is not the reason for canceling the contract or severely modifying 99%.
