Legal Counsel for Hospitality, Retail, Food and Beverage, and Leisure Enterprises in the UAE and MENA Region
JUR advises hotel owners, international operators, retail developers, food and beverage groups, and leisure enterprises on the complete legal and regulatory landscape governing the UAE's world-leading hospitality and consumer sectors.
Practice Overview
The UAE’s hospitality and retail sector operates at a scale and sophistication that few markets globally can match. Dubai and Abu Dhabi host some of the world’s most recognised hotel brands, the region’s most significant luxury retail destinations, and entertainment and leisure developments attracting over forty million international visitors annually. The legal environment governing this sector is correspondingly complex, spanning hotel management agreement negotiation and dispute resolution, branded and serviced residence legal frameworks, retail leasing and concession structures, food and beverage regulatory compliance, liquor licensing, entertainment licensing, and the employment frameworks governing a sector reliant on large-scale international workforces.
JUR’s Hospitality and Retail practice advises hotel owners, international operators, private equity sponsors of hospitality assets, luxury retail groups, food and beverage brands, franchise operators, entertainment developers, and tourism enterprises on the full spectrum of legal matters that define success in the sector. We act for hotel asset owners on management agreement negotiations and terminations where hundreds of millions of dirhams in asset value turn on legal precision, for retail developers structuring the leasing architecture of major mixed-use destinations, and for F&B operators navigating the intersection of licensing, franchising, and employment regulation.
Hotel Management Agreements
HMA negotiation and renegotiation, performance test structuring and cure right design, key money arrangements, FF&E reserve mechanisms, brand standard compliance frameworks, and operator termination advisory.
Branded Residences
Legal structuring of branded residence programmes, hotel and residential mixed-use development frameworks, operator licence agreements, and purchaser disclosure and consumer protection compliance.
Asset Transactions
Hotel and resort acquisition and disposal, sale and leaseback structuring, asset management agreement negotiation, and portfolio transaction advisory for private equity sponsors and institutional hospitality investors.
Retail Leasing
Anchor and in-line retail lease negotiation, turnover rent and revenue participation structures, concession agreement frameworks, and landlord and tenant dispute resolution for major retail destinations.
F&B Licensing
DTCM licensing, Dubai Municipality food establishment registration, liquor licence applications and renewals, franchise agreement structuring, and multi-outlet roll-out regulatory compliance advisory.
Entertainment Regulation
Theme park and attraction establishment licensing, large-scale event and concert permitting, gaming-adjacent leisure licensing advisory, and regulatory compliance for entertainment destination developments.
Employment Law
Employment contract structuring for international hospitality and retail workforces, DIFC employment framework advisory, staff accommodation regulatory compliance, and large-scale restructuring advisory.
Franchise Agreements
International and domestic franchise agreement structuring and negotiation, sub-franchise frameworks, territory rights and exclusivity provisions, and franchise termination and exit advisory.
Dispute Resolution
HMA performance dispute resolution, owner and operator disputes before DIAC, ICC, and DIFC-LCIA arbitral tribunals, retail lease disputes, and franchise termination and compensation advisory.
Why Global Institutions Choose JUR
Hospitality and retail legal advisory in the UAE requires practitioners who understand the commercial dynamics of the sector at the operator, owner, and investor level simultaneously. JUR’s hospitality and retail practice combines transactional experience across hotel management agreements, asset transactions, and retail leasing with the regulatory depth that complex licensing and compliance matters require. We advise the owners, operators, and investors whose assets and brands represent some of the UAE’s most significant commercial enterprises.
