Areas of Expertise

Skip Stearns along with highly specialized hotel and hospitality associates at THE HOTEL
EXPERTS, LLC (THE), offer experience as attorney case consultants and in providing unbiased
expert testimony.  In guiding counsel through discovery, depositions and case strategy, submitting
detailed opinions, and offering unbiased deposition and trial testimony both for and against hotel
properties, owners, operators, franchisors and individual litigants, THE has successfully served
plaintiffs and defendants for over ten years.

THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC has an extensive background in on-property and corporate hotel
management.  Additionally, THE’s expertise may be applicable to franchising, hotels, motels, the
cruise industry, casinos and other gaming operations, restaurants, bars and recreation industries.  
Cases in which THE has contributed include contractual disputes, wrongful deaths, premises
liability, slip, trip and fall incidents, scalding and other personal injuries.  Specific areas of expertise
include:

•        Hotel Industry Operating Standards
•        Product Standards
•        Safety & Security Standards
•        Emergency Procedures
•        Employee Qualifications, Hiring & Termination Practices
•        Standards for Training
•        Marketing Practices
•        Franchise Agreements & Management Contracts
•        Franchise Relations
•        Restaurant, Food & Beverage Standards
•        Alcohol Service
•        Accounting
•        Taxation
•        Valuation


•        Hotel Industry Operating Standards

Skip Stearns, and associates John Hogan, Linda Libby and Rob McIntosh all have considerable
corporate and field unit experience in hotel operations.  As vice presidents and directors of
franchising for Omni Hotels, Skip and Rob supervised the development of the company-wide
operating manual, trained hotel owners, general managers and other management executives in its
contents and supervised execution of standard operating procedures in all licensed hotels.  Before
and after his role as a corporate executive, Rob served as managing director of landmark full-service
hotels in Boston, Washington, DC and Lake George, NY.  As vice president of rooms operations at
Omni Hotels, Linda participated in standards development and in the training of owners, general
managers and other management level personnel new to the company.  In addition to serving as
general manager and other key positions in the field, Linda enjoyed ongoing company-wide
supervision of the rooms division, including front office, manager on duty, bell staff, door personnel,
housekeeping, maintenance and security, during her time as corporate vice president.  John trained
in the rooms division covering these same hotel operating departments.  He grew to become a hotel
general manager in a full-service Embassy Suites (all suites) Hotel in Nashville, in the full-service
Sheraton Hotel in Nashville and a full-service Hilton Hotel property in Raleigh.  John has enjoyed
multi-property management supervisory responsibilities as a corporate executive in both a
traditional hotel company and with a boutique brand, as well his ongoing consulting practice.  He
taught for 20 years as an adjunct professor in three different colleges and universities and served as
the Director of Education and Cultural Diversity for eight years at the world’s largest hotel company.   
John is one of the most widely published experts in hotel industry trade publications, with more than
400 columns, 200 blogs and is the co-author of a book on hotel sales.  For the last ten years, John
has and continues to be active as an advisor and commissioner with the American Hotel & Lodging
Association in areas concerning the education and training of hotel owners and operators.  He holds
several industry certifications which have been regularly renewed over the past 20 years.

•        Hotel Industry Product Standards

The significant field and corporate hotel management experience of John Hogan, Linda Libby and
Rob McIntosh described in the above paragraph translates into considerable hotel product
knowledge.  In addition to the knowledge they derived from various on-site hotel management
assignments and corporate executive positions, each maintained active roles in national and local
hospitality communities thus affording broader knowledge and experience of competitive product
standards.  Skip Stearns also maintains product survey experience in his current consulting
practice, and has previously served as the exclusive provider of product and service inspections for
the Bahamian government.  Skip, as VP, Director of Franchising at Omni Hotels, participated in
establishing company-wide product standards, trained all management levels in these standards
and was charged with overseeing their enforcement throughout the franchise division.  

•        Hotel Industry Safety & Security Standards

In John Hogan, Linda Libby and Rob McIntosh’s field experience, they directly supervised all safety
and security functions across all hotel operating departments.  In addition to overseeing dedicated
security departments in complex full service facilities, their roles included assuring knowledge and
training of safety and security practices for manager’s on duty, front desk, housekeeping,
engineering, food service, beverage service, kitchen, swimming pools, sports & recreation and other
areas of guest and employee activities.  Skip Stearns, Linda and Rob, in supervising the
development of hotel and corporate standards operating manuals, also drafted and approved
standard procedures to assure customer and employee safety.  Skip
continues to evaluate life safety and security practices in his current consulting role.  Litigation
consulting experience in over 100 cases since 2002 has also provided Skip and THE associates
with invaluable insights into a range of personal injuries, wrongful deaths and other complaints
related to guest and employee safety and security.

•        Hotel Industry Emergency Procedures

Paramount among safety & security standards are emergency procedures surrounding the duty to
protect guests and employees during a crisis.  Emergency procedures may relate to weather events
such as snow storms or hurricanes, blackouts, fire, evacuations, illness or injury, and response to
criminal acts among other things.  John Hogan, Linda Libby and Rob McIntosh, as on-site hotel
general managers and managing directors oversaw the establishment of such procedures, the
training, the drilling and the execution of such procedures.  Henry Tebbe, as a hotel director of
human resources and an executive committee member, has intimate knowledge and supervisory
experience concerning emergency procedures, and has been an active trainer in the behavioral
responses to various emergencies.

•        Hotel Industry Employee Qualifications, Hiring & Termination Practices

All associates of THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC have significant experience throughout their lengthy
hotel careers setting qualifications for a broad range of positions, directly and indirectly hiring at the
unit and corporate levels and terminating hotel and hospitality employees.  Amongst our associates,
Henry Tebbe is the one whose hotel career has been dedicated to the critical function of human
resources.  For over thirty years as a field and corporate management executive, Henry has been
focused on recruitment in the hospitality industry, matching the right employee with effective position
descriptions, reference and background checking, competitive hiring practices, employee
counseling and effective termination procedures.    

•        Hotel Industry Standards for Training

Skip Stearns trained and supervised corporate training for all management level executives at Omni
Hotels from 1988 to 1996.  Rob McIntosh and Linda Libby similarly participated in such training for
hotel owners and management personnel new to Omni Hotels.   As hotel industry consultants, Skip
and Linda continue to train employees to establish and attain objectives with respect to customers
and owners, and train owners to serve the needs of their employees.  Various associates of THE
HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC have distinguished themselves with academic and industry certifications
while creating, training, applying and supervising hospitality standards.  John Hogan and Henry
Tebbe are the two associates whose careers have been most linked to the development and
training of hotel industry standards.  In addition to his experience and titled roles in the industry, John
has meaningful experience as an adjunct professor in the academic community, and he has been a
leading contributor to curriculum and as an advisor to the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s
Educational Institute.  He is a training consultant, frequent guest speaker and seminar leader,
among the most published contributors in industry trade publications, and the CEO and co-founder
of HospitalityEducators.com.  Henry is a human resources specialist.  Each step of his impressive
career has included a focus on training and development dealing from unit line staff up to executive
management, company-wide positions and corporate responsibilities.  In his current consulting
practice, Henry offers line and management training to complement his human resources abilities.

•        Hotel Industry Marketing Practices

Skip Stearns spent the first 13 years of his hotel career directly in sales & marketing field and
corporate roles for Dunfey, then Omni Hotels.  As vice president, director of national sales for four
years, he led the reorganization of Omni’s national sales offices, drafted company-wide sales
contracts and introduced remote booking capability to the hotel industry.  As a consultant, Skip
remains actively involved in the analysis of hotel and corporate sales & marketing organizations and
practices and in problem solving for increased revenues.  John Hogan, Linda Libby and Rob
McIntosh have extensive experience supervising the hotel sales & marketing function.  While John’s
upbringing was on the rooms operations side of the business, his keen interest in sales &
marketing has paved the way for him to serve as a frequent keynote and seminar speaker in sales &
marketing.  John has also designed sales & marketing materials for the American Hotel & Lodging
Association’s Educational Institute, and he is a frequently published author of sales & marketing
articles in the hotel industry’s most well-read trades.     

•        Franchise Agreements & Management Contracts

As vice president, director of franchising for Omni Hotels, Skip Stearns has participated in the
drafting of Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars, negotiated terms, authored and served as signatory
on license agreements.  Rob McIntosh has similarly led Omni Hotels Franchising Corporation and
served as the company’s principal liaison for its franchisees.  Skip and Rob maintained
responsibility for licensor adherence to contract terms and standards of operation and product
contained therein.  Skip has reviewed and contributed to the development of management
agreements.  Rob has vastly more experience managing under a management contract as well as
supervising performance of contracts for Omni Hotels as a third-party manager.  John Hogan and
Linda Libby contribute experience as general managers for full service properties that were under
management agreements.

•        Franchise Relations

Skip Stearns served in the two most senior franchising positions for Omni Hotels from 1987-1996.  
He has since consulted to franchisees in his consulting practice.  Rob McIntosh also led Omni
Hotels Franchising Corporation as a senior vice president.  John Hogan served as a senior
executive in the area of training and cultural diversity with Best Western for eight years.  While Best
Western distinguishes itself as a “membership brand” versus a franchisor, day to day operations
between the corporate entity and its members very much resemble the important relationship
between franchisor and franchisee.    

•        Restaurant, Food & Beverage Standards

Skip Stearns has knowledge in these areas as a drafter and overseer of hotel food and beverage
operating standards, while associates John Hogan and Rob McIntosh have had direct supervisory
experience over the food & beverage function during their experiences as general managers and
managing directors of hotels and in their corporate multi-property responsibilities.  Linda Libby is
considered to be THE’s most knowledgeable associate in the various areas relating to food &
beverage: restaurants, bar operations, room service, catering and special events.  Like John and
Rob, Linda has supervised the food & beverage function in the field at multiple hotel general
manager roles.  More recent years have distinguished Linda specifically in the discipline by virtue of
her seven years as managing partner of a Charlotte-based event planning company, and in a current
consulting position where she serves in the role of general manager of four distinct food & beverage
outlets under one roof.

•        Alcohol Service

Associates of THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC have specialized experience supervising and training in
the service of alcoholic beverages.  Familiarity with dram shop practices and certified trainers of
recommended alcohol service programs offer credible direction and testimony.  Henry Tebbe has
previously been certified as a master trainer in TIPS, and he maintains current alcohol server
certification.  Linda Libby, as consultant acting in the role of general manager at Portsmouth Gas
Light Company, where there are four distinct food & beverage operations under one roof, has
assured her intimate knowledge and supervision of all issues concerning alcoholic beverage
inventory and distribution practices.  John Hogan has managed high volume clubs and other
beverage serving outlets in multiple hotel locations.  Rob McIntosh has similarly overseen beverage
outlet performance in multiple hotel markets.

•        Accounting

Michael Losapio is a New Hampshire CPA leading his own accounting practice for over ten years. A
significant portion of the firm’s focus is New England area hotel properties, many with significant
food & beverage operations.  Mike’s practice represents over 50 hotel and hospitality clients.  
Previously, Mike spent four years at the corporate offices of Omni Hotels where he was a key
corporate manager in the finance department.  Linda Libby spent a meaningful part of her early hotel
career in financial services in the field and leading special corporate projects for Omni Hotels.  As
general managers and managing directors, Linda is joined by John Hogan and Rob McIntosh as
THE associates who have gathered significant experience in hotel accounting and finance.

•        Taxation

The year following Michael Losapio’s Certified Public Accountant designation, he earned a Master of
Science in Taxation.  In nearly all subsequent career stops spanning more than 25 years, Mike has
been hired for and/or applied his skills and particular interest in field taxation.

•        Valuation

Michael Losapio has been accredited by the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts as
a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) and by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in
Business Valuation (ABV).  Even preceding these achievements, Mike was active with Omni Hotels
in both internal and external valuations and appraisals.  The firm Mike presently owns for over ten
years has made valuations and appraisals an integral part of the service package it offers to it offers
to its more than 50 hotel and hospitality clients.

THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC’s experience and knowledge base is not limited to its principal and
single member, Skip Stearns.  THE has a library of operating standards from various hospitality
companies and textbooks used in the teaching of university level students enrolled in hotel and
hospitality-related business programs.  Further, THE subscribes to the most widely-read industry
trade publications and is well-versed in expeditiously identifying and conducting relevant internet
research.

THE frequently enlists the services of  associates who are non-employee experts. The CVs of
John Hogan, Linda Libby, Michael Losapio, Rob McIntosh and Henry Tebbe appear on our website
under the “Expert CVs” link.  These associates expand THE’s geographic accessibility.  More
importantly, they broaden the expertise available at THE versus the more typical sole proprietor
serving in the capacity of a hotel or hospitality expert.  The field of hotel & hospitality experts is
extremely narrow.  By offering more than one such expert, THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC represents
an efficient means to shop for the competitive edge.  THE endeavors to assure that attorney
clients are matched with the expert most appropriate to the litigation consulting needs and
unbiased opinions and testimony specific to each plaintiff’s or defendant’s case needs.  Integrity
is unshakable at THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC.  As consultants, THE is prepared to advocate for all
clients.  As report writers and testifying experts, THE will, at all times, require exposure to all
relevant materials and evidence. Opinions and all forms of testimony shall be impartially
delivered.  
THE HOTEL EXPERTS, LLC
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