Karen Friebe

I am a member of the Real Estate Group at Bird & Bird. I have many years' experience in real estate transactions and I also lead Bird & Bird's international Hotels, Hospitality and Leisure team, specialising in the acquisition, development and disposal of all types of hotels, from budget to luxury and in the negotiation of hotel management agreements.

Working with my skilled global team, we buy, sell and develop hotels. We also negotiate hotel franchise agreements and hotel management agreements and related documents such as IP licences and technical services agreements.

In the commercial property arena I represent investors, developers, landlords and tenants and have long standing expertise in the acquisition of corporate headquarters as well as the negotiation of many types of leases, including hotel leases and sale and leaseback transactions .

You'll find me listed in the legal directories as an expert in the Hotels and Leisure sector, and in October 2023 I was honoured to be given a place in the Legal 500's "Hall of Fame" for my work in the sector. I am also a regular panelist at industry conferences such as the International Hotel Investment Forum.

I have a strong interest in ESG and am working with the Energy Environment Alliance and other hotel industry stakeholders, looking at how ESG commitments might best be incorporated into operational agreements.

I am one of the founders of Real Estate Balance, which works to address the gender imbalance in the real estate sector and has over 100 corporate members. In 2022, I led the REB team that published a guide to the collection of EDI data in the workplace and in October 2023 I was delighted to receive, alongside my REB co-founders, the EDI Team of the Year Award from Property Week at their Inspiring Women in Property Awards.

• Advising the owner of a hotel in Albania on its conversion to an international high-end brand; including the negotiation of a hotel management agreement (HMA) and related documents including a technical services agreement and trade mark licence, with the brand.
• Advising the owner of a luxury hotel in central London on its negotiations with the current operator, a major international brand, for the grant to the operator of an operational lease.
• Advising Qatari Diar on an ongoing basis in the run-up to the prospective opening of the ultra-luxury Rosewood hotel scheduled to open around 2022, having represented QD on the negotiation of the management agreement with Rosewood in 2017.
• Advising Cadogan Estates Limited on matters relating to its hotels in Chelsea, including the five star luxury Belmond Hotel, Sloane Street, London, to be opened in Spring 2019. In 2018 Karen advised Cadogan on the negotiation of a food and beverage consultancy agreement for the operation of the hotel restaurant and other food and beverage areas within the hotel, with Adam Handling (UK Celebrity Masterchef winner and owner of the Frog Restaurant in London).