Laura Lee Blake left AAHOA in 2014, but her passion for the group and its mission never left her. Blake, who served as VP of fair franchising, government affairs and general counsel for nearly 10 years, was named president and CEO of the group in May. She is succeeding Ken Greene, who served as president and CEO for five months, stepping down in February.
Blake said she is thrilled to be back and at the head of the group where she spent such an important part of her career.
“It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve as the president and CEO of the world’s largest hotel owners association,” she said. “It’s just such a vibrant, really incredible group of hoteliers and leaders and businessmen and women and so I really couldn’t say no.”
Returning Home
According to Blake, it’s almost as if nothing has changed in the years she’s been gone, but at the same time nothing is the same.
“I’m still seeing a lot of the same people and even concerns and issues. But yet, as I walk back in the door, everything has changed because it’s now the younger generation that is coming into their own and leading the association,” she said. “What’s remarkable about it is there’s not a divide. They all have the same common interests and both are supporting each other. This younger generation feels a desire to rise up and to continue to take this amazing association that their parents started to the next level.
“It’s really happening so it’s an exciting time with everything the same but completely different.”
During her first stint with AAHOA, Blake advocated on members’ behalf; worked with officials at the federal, state and local levels to pass laws and regulations that would protect the interests of hoteliers and small business owners; promoted fair franchising; hosted franchise law educational sessions; and spoke with members about their legal rights.
Blake said her zeal for these issues, especially fair franchising, is what prompted the leaders of AAHOA to consider her for the top spot.
After her time at AAHOA from 2005-2014, Blake returned to Southern California, where she started her legal career. She most recently was a partner with Connor, Fletcher & Hedenkamp in Irvine, Calif. She brings decades of experience in the fields of law, government, business and academia to AAHOA.
On The Table
AAHOA is well known for its 12 Points of Fair Franchising, and Blake intends to keep pushing for a level playing field for franchisees. One front she will be fighting on involves franchise disclosure documents.
“There are 450 pages, approximately, of legal terms written by the franchisors’ teams of high-powered, highly intelligent attorneys,” she said. “These are minimum 10-, 15-, 20-year agreements that they’re signing, and investing millions of dollars into this franchise, and then all of a sudden they realize what they’ve stepped into. The fees continue to increase and the regulations continue to increase and things are not being disclosed.”
Franchisees are struggling under the weight of this unfairness, she said.
“It is highly unbalanced, and if they have an issue, they really cannot even go to court,” she said. “They’re required to go to a legal proceeding known as arbitration, in the backyard of the headquarters of these franchisors who use the same group of arbitrators to make decisions, so even any attempt to resolve disputes is unfair.”
While there have been some wins in regard to fair franchising, including a fair franchising bill successfully making it through a committee in New Jersey recently, Blake said there’s a lot of work ahead.
“It’s sending a message to the franchisors that we want to sit down and we want to discuss this,” she said. “I don’t know if legislation is the answer … but when things are so highly unfair and unbalanced and there’s such a difference in the bargaining power of the franchisor versus a single franchisee, sometimes we need this just to get the conversation started and to move it forward.”
Education will be another angle to the fair franchising fight, according to Blake.
“The last thing we want to do is fight with the franchisors; that’s not going to accomplish anything,” she said. “But we do want to have this dialogue. We want to try to find fairness and balance, but we also think it’s important to educate the members and so that’s also going to be a top priority, too. [We want to make sure] that when they get these 450-page FDDs or they get franchise agreements they’re aware of some of the key provisions and they can read it and see if that’s going to work for them or possibly negotiate some special terms if they have that ability to do so. But at least then they’re aware of what they’re walking into and it’s not a surprise.”
Another of Blake’s goals as head of AAHOA is to continue to empower women in their journey in the hotel industry.
“They are really coming into their own. They’ve always been there and what I love about it is I’m often hearing the leaders onstage, the officers making comments or the regional directors making comments that the women are the backbone of the association and they’re recognizing that,” she said. “That is a big change from in the past where yes, the women were still the backbone doing a lot of this work, but they were not recognized for it. And now suddenly that is happening and they are stepping into it and I’m seeing excellent results.”