Safety & Security Risks + Workplace Protections + Workouts & Restructurings + Prevent Bedbugs + Ensuring Floor Safety

The extent of liability to the owner, operator, and insurer of a hotel for any injury to a guest on the premises must always be determined on a case-by-case and state-by-state basis. However, there are some general principles that can be helpful in mitigating risk for each of the aforementioned parties when a guest is injured. It is always important to note that there is, generally, no liability of one party for the criminal acts of another, unless, of course, there is a special relationship. A long-time and widely accepted special relationship exists between an innkeeper and its guest. Another separate, but similar relationship exists between a property owner and an invitee (someone who has come to the property for the benefit of the landowner).

Gone are the days of a single owner/manager of a hotel. There are many fragments to operating, owning, managing, franchising, and insuring hotels and motels with all of the aforementioned tasked with some form of safety and well-being of their employees, guests, and visitors. The handling of each of those fragments is normally contracted away to the person or entity that can most efficiently handle the task.

According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), slips and falls account for over eight million hospital emergency room visits annually. These visits include falling on stairs, ladders, tripping over a loose cord on the floor, an unseen obstruction, an unexpected drop in the floor, or an unexpected elevation in the floor.

Slip and fall accidents in this article refer to accidents that happen when someone slips or falls due to the condition of the floor. These accidents, according to the NFSI, account for approximately one million emergency room visits annually. Hotel owners and managers should know that for people over 65 years of age, slip and fall accidents are the second leading cause of injury-related deaths.