In Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Hospitality Industry hospitality expert witness Maurice Robinson writes on arbitration:
Arbitration is a well-established form of dispute resolution that provides the parties with a final and legally binding decision. The decision is enforceable by a court of law typically after only a very limited review and may not be appealed except under very limited circumstances. Occasionally, the parties may agree to a non-binding arbitration, but this is the exception rather than the rule.
For years arbitration was viewed as an effective alternative to litigation and trial through the court system only in certain types of disputes, such as construction and design, labor and employment, disagreements over the purchase and sale of residential real property, consumer stock brokerage, and medical care. Early on, arbitration was pushed primarily by certain industries, such as stock brokers, architects, construction professionals, labor unions and hospitals, who perceived arbitration as an effective alternative to trial for a variety of reasons: they had a large number of lawsuits largely involving repetitive, cookie-cutter issues; they wanted to achieve some uniformity of result; they wanted confidentiality to the extent possible; and they wanted their disputes to be “tried” by an arbitrator with industry savvy, if not industry expertise.