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Mike Patel, a past Chairman of AAHOA and the President of Diplomat Hotels, a hotel owner/operator says "Steve Belmonte understands franchising from the perspective of franchisor and franchisees, "He has unquestioned integrity and AAHOA's members are looking forward to availing themselves of the many services he can offer." Steve also knows how to avoid the land mines that can be found in franchise agreements. He’s a straight shooter, he knows how to cut through the red tape, and he doesn’t promise you anything that he can’t deliver, which is something lawyers do all too often. Even if you have a poor case, Steve can help soften the blow.”

Mike Leven, Chairman of US Franchise
Systems, has selected Belmonte to work with his company as an expert witness. "We hired him because he is an expert on franchising and is passionate about the hotel industry," Leven said. "

There is nothing intellectually dishonest about Steve. He has so much to offer our company.” Belmonte said he sees his new role in the hotel industry as an exciting venture into uncharted waters.

Bob Patel, who owns and operates a Super 8 hotel in Martinez, Calif., says Belmonte stepped in to help Patel keep his franchise agreement after he’d had it terminated by the chain. “We just weren’t up to standards, and that’s mainly because our cash-flow was down due to the economy’s impact on business,” Patel says. “I’d heard about Hospitality Solutions and got in touch with Steve. I told him I didn’t want to lose the franchise, and that if I needed to spend money I’d rather spend it on upgrading rather than on liquidated damages. He was a real comfort to me, told me everything was going to be fine—and it’s really turned out that way. He took my case to Super 8 executives, negotiated with them, and basically secured a second chance for me. Steve did well by me, and his services were worth every penny of his fee. I’ve since referred him to another franchisee who’s going through the same kind of problem.”

Roger Bloss, founder, President and C.E.O. of Best Value Inns, says Belmonte brings not only his decades of experience and knowledge to the table, but a sense of fairness. “I’ve seen Steve turn down business from a franchisee wanting to get out of an agreement so he could join our chain,” Bloss said. “The franchisee got together with Steve, who looked over the termination agreement and said, ‘I’d love to take the fee, but what you’ve negotiated here is the best you can do.’ Steve’s got heart and he’s genuine, and those are big reasons that he’s so good at what he does. You have to have the knowledge, the personality and the integrity to negotiate these agreements well, and Steve brings all of that to the table.”

Chris Iversen, C.E.O. of Chrisannpha Inc., a Gorham, N.Y.-based commercial development company, retained Belmonte and Hospitality Solutions to negotiate a Hampton Inn franchise agreement for a hotel Iversen is building in Geneva, N.Y. “Steve’s company has the experience and knowledge to be aware of avenues for maximizing and improving franchise agreements—avenues that we just weren’t aware of,” Iversen said. “He approached the franchise-agreement process with ideas that we would not have thought of, and we wound up getting terms in the agreement that we would not have gotten without his expertise and ability.”

Naresh “Harry” Patel
To the Editor, Asian American Hospitality Magazine
I read with interest Deborah Geering’s recent article, “Belmonte to Asian Owners: Reach Out to Broader Communities,” on Hospitality Solutions LLC President and C.E.O. Steve Belmonte.

In her article, Ms. Geering quotes Steve as saying, “If someone says to me, ‘Steve, how can you help me?’ I’ll tell them.” I’m writing this letter as testimony that what Ms. Gerring wrote is so true: Not only will Steve tell you how he can help, he will help in a way that’s professional, cost-effective and fast.

Not long ago, my company, which owns three hotels in the Clearwater, Fla., area, wanted to terminate a franchise agreement that still had two years to go. We felt we were within our rights, under the franchise agreement and the chain’s franchise policy, to terminate, but the process of getting it done would have cost a lot of money and time to negotiate. We could afford neither the franchise-termination fee we’d have to pay to terminate the agreement, nor the legal fees it would have cost us to hire an attorney to negotiate a solution or, possibly, take the case to court. So when one of my colleagues in the business told me about Steve Belmonte and Hospitality Solutions, I called him.

Without going into all the details, I’ll just tell you and your readers that very quickly, Steve and his partner, Wayne Miller, got together with us, looked over our franchise agreement, talked the problem over with me, and within a few days had made arrangements to sit down with the franchisor and mediate the dispute. Thirty days later, the agreement was terminated at a cost far less than we would have had to pay if we’d simply came up with the termination fee or retained a lawyer to solve the problem.

Without the in-depth knowledge of franchise agreements, and without the mediation skills that Steve and Wayne displayed during the negotiation process, I estimate our small company would have had to pay out almost $200,000, maybe even more, to get this problem resolved ourselves or by hiring a lawyer to do it.

Ms. Geering writes in her articles that in his 11 years as head of the Ramada chain, Steve “worked mostly with individual owners of single hotels.” That rings very true: Steve has an obvious affinity for the “little guy,” while at the same time having the experience, knowledge and skills to work with the “big guys” in mediating solutions to disputes between franchisors and franchisees.

In my opinion, big franchise companies have become more willing to work toward a mutually satisfying resolution to disputes between them and small companies or single-hotel franchisees, and I think one of the reasons for this change in attitude is that the chains know there are companies like Hospitality Solutions—and people like Steve and Wayne—who are ready, willing and able to represent the small hotel businessperson.

Thanks to Ms Geering and you for the article, and thanks to Steve Belmonte and Hospitality solutions for telling us how he could help us—and then for truly helping us effectively, quickly, and inexpensively.

Sincerely, Naresh “Harry” Patel Manager Sky Hospitality LLC

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