Qualifications
R. Maurice Robinson, ISHC, CRE, ASA

Mr. Robinson is an expert in the field of hotel and resort consulting. He has been providing litigation support services, strategic advisory services, hotel development consulting, market feasibility studies, and appraising hotels and other hospitality-related real estate for over thirty years. His expertise includes dispute resolution, expert witness testimony and advising clients on development planning, deal structuring and financial issues related to hotel and resort development and investment.

Representative Accomplishments

Mr. Robinson's accomplishments include providing property valuation, market demand assessment, due diligence, market repositioning, investment analysis and other acquisition and development advisory services to hundreds of clients nationwide. He has also been involved in resolving disputes, structuring ground leases, loans and other agreements, and working out troubled hotel and resort assets.

Mr. Robinson has extensive trial experience, having testified as an expert witness on many occasions, in venues including jury trials, AAA- and JAMS-sponsored arbitration panels, Federal Bankruptcy Courts in California, Arizona and Utah, and mediations. His valuation qualifications and expertise have resulted in many unique assignments, such as one involving appraising the Grand Canyon, for which he was awarded the coveted James Felt Creative Counseling Award. His case load as an expert witness in the past few years includes numerous State and Superior Court cases, arbitrations, bankruptcy court cases and mediations, involving over $3 billion of visitor-serving assets, including more than 130 hotels.

Additionally, Mr. Robinson has provided assistance to hotel owners, investors, lessors and lenders in the areas of negotiating management contracts, development agreements, franchise agreements, ground leases, loan documents, financing arrangements and partnership agreements.

As Principal with KPMG Peat Marwick, Mr. Robinson was the primary resource in the western United States for hotel development and financing issues, particularly full-service urban and resort properties. KPMG's clients included numerous upscale hotel companies.

Mr. Robinson has conducted appraisals, workouts and/or the original market feasibility studies on dozens of full-service hotels and resorts over the past thirty years, totaling over $12 billion in hotel assets. Additionally, he has been a financial advisor to the National Park Service, consulting on over thirty concessions nationwide, including Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon.

Background

Mr. Robinson is President of Maurice Robinson & Associates LLC, providing advisory services to lenders, investors, public agencies and developers in the Hospitality and Real Estate industries. Prior to founding Maurice Robinson & Associates LLC in 1999, Mr. Robinson was a Principal with KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, leading their western region Hospitality and Real Estate consulting practice for twelve years (1986-1998). Prior to KPMG, Mr. Robinson was a Manager in the real estate and hospitality consulting practice of Pannell Kerr Forster (now PKF Consulting) for five years (1982-1986). His previous work experience also includes three years as senior economist with the real estate consulting firm of Williams-Kuebelbeck and Associates (1979-1982), and a year as an independent consultant (1978).

Education

Mr. Robinson holds a General Real Estate Appraisal certificate from the State of California; a master of public administration degree from the University of Southern California; a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota; a certificate of environmental management from the Environmental Management Institute in Los Angeles; and a professional designation in financial planning from UCLA; and a California General Real Estate Appraisal certificate.

ADR Training

Mr. Robinson is a trained and experienced arbitrator and mediator. He has completed training in arbitration, both as a panel member and chairperson, with both the NASD Dispute Resolution, and the Institute of Conflict Management (ICM). He has also completed Mediation training with both the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Dispute Resolution Services, and ICM. He has also completed training in Issue Review Boards, both as a panel member and chairman, with ICM.

Speeches

Mr. Robinson is a frequent lecturer at various real estate and hospitality industry-related seminars and conferences across the United States, and has spoken more than two dozen times at national and local hotel industry conferences over the past twenty years. Two of his most recent panels included the topics of Litigation Support Services and Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Hospitality Industry. Additionally, he has been a Guest Lecturer at the Haas School of Business in UC Berkeley's MBA program.

Articles

Mr. Robinson is the author or co-author of numerous articles, including "How to Value Commercial Improvements in a National Park"; Issue Review Boards™ – "The Next Wave of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Hospitality Industry"; and "Mega-Resort Development Surges in Race to Meet New Demands of Business Travelers". He also co-authored the "Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Hospitality Industry" chapter of the 2006 Hotel Investments – Issues & Perspectives book for the AH&LA.

Awards

Mr. Robinson was awarded the prestigious James Felt Creative Counselor Award by his peers in the Counselors of Real Estate for his groundbreaking work appraising the land and buildings at the Grand Canyon National Park. His innovative new methodologies have created a resolution to the complex disputes involving the valuation of our National Parks and their concession contracts. He is also the 2005 recipient of the Chuck Pinkowski Volunteer of the Year Award by the International Society of Hospitality Consultants, for establishing an ADR training program for hospitality industry experts.

Affiliations

Mr. Robinson is a member of the Board of Directors of the prestigious International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC), and is Chairman
of the Professional Conduct Committee and Alternative Dispute Resolution Task Force. Other professional memberships include the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE), where he is a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, as well as the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and the Forensic Expert Witness Association (FEWA). He is also a member of the Board of Arbitrators for the National Association of Security Dealers (NASD) Regulation, Inc.