Hurt at a Hotel? Here’s What You Need to Know

Whether you are traveling for business, visiting family, or vacationing, when you pay to stay in a hotel, you expect at least a safe environment. Other amenities may vary by hotel brand or room rate, but every hotel should be reasonably safe.

Frequently, however, they are not. Hotel guests are injured frequently, often because the person or team responsible for managing the premises failed to take proper steps to ensure guests’ safety. If you’ve been hurt in a hotel, there’s a good chance that negligence on the part of staff played a role in your injury. If that’s the case, a personal injury attorney may be able to help you recover compensation to cover the cost of your medical needs, wages lost due to time off work, and other factors, including the pain and anguish you’ve experienced.

But it is important to understand your rights and how to protect them, or you could end up losing the opportunity to recover full compensation for your losses.

Premises Liability in Georgia

Many lawsuits arising from hotel injuries are based on the legal theory of premises liability. This is the concept that the owner (or manager) of property can be held liable for injuries that occur on the property. The theory does not assign liability in every situation. For instance, if someone is trespassing on another person’s property, then the owner of the property will probably not be liable if the trespasser trips over coils of wire or hose left in the grass.

Generally, the only time the owner is liable for harm to a trespasser is when the owner has set up a trap to deliberately harm people. If a property owner knows that people frequently trespass in an area and that there is something dangerous in that area, the property owner should install warning signs. In addition, property owners have a duty to protect children when there is a swimming pool or construction equipment that is both enticing and dangerous. Young children do not understand the concept of trespass and are unable to appreciate the danger; therefore, it is the property owner’s obligation to protect them.

Hotels Have Special Obligations to Guests

While property owners have little obligation to protect trespassers from harm, the situation is entirely different with respect to customers and guests. When a business owner invites individuals onto the premises, the owner stands to benefit from their presence. Customers and guests are said to be “invited” onto the property. Simply putting an “open” sign in the window constitutes an invitation to come do business on the property.

People invited onto the property for the owner’s ultimate benefit must be protected from dangers that the owner knew or should have known about. If it is not possible to repair a dangerous condition, the property owner or manager should install a barricade and warning signs to prevent invitees from being injured.

The duty to protect customers from harm extends not only to dangers of which the owner is aware but also to hazards the owner would have known if regular inspections were conducted. Owners have a duty to be aware of the condition of their property when it is open to the public and to take adequate steps to keep that property safe. If they fail to do so and someone is injured, the owner may be liable for the resulting harm.

Hotel owners have a duty to protect guests by doing things such as:

• Repairing loose handrails on stairs
• Ensuring that hallways, stairwells, and parking garages have adequate lighting
• Making sure the water in the rooms is not so hot that it will scald people taking a shower
• Warning people when the floors are wet
• Ensuring that smoke detectors work and that fire exits are not blocked
• Repairing and reinforcing furniture so that it does not collapse

When a hotel owner fails to take appropriate steps to keep the property safe and a guest is injured, the owner may be liable for damages, including pain and suffering.

Harm Caused by Violent or Reckless Conduct

Hotel owners have additional obligations regarding the wrongful acts of persons on the hotel premises. If an employee engages in reckless or negligent conduct that causes injuries, such as driving too fast in a parking garage, the employer may be liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior. This doctrine requires employers to take responsibility for their employees’ actions.

If someone comes onto the property and commits an act of violence, such as sexual assault or robbery, the owner could be liable for that person’s conduct even though it was illegal and the person who committed the act was not rightfully on the property. The theory for recovery in this situation is negligent security. When a hotel owner knows (or should know) of criminal activity in the area and fails to implement adequate security measures to protect guests, the owner may be liable for damages arising from the harm suffered by the victim of criminal activity. 

The owner’s security obligations depend on the area. The obligations could be simple, such as the requirement to ensure that the parking area has enough light and that the locks on the doors work properly. Or the owner could have more extensive obligations, such as a duty to install and monitor security cameras.

Michael M. Day Law Firm Fights to Hold Hotels Accountable When Guests Get Hurt

While many arguments can be used to hold hotel owners liable for harm suffered by guests on hotel property, those hotel owners work with defense lawyers who focus all their energy on finding ways to deny liability. They are very good at their jobs. Often, they can trick injured guests into making statements that prevent them from recovering, or pressure them to accept a low settlement when they should receive much more. To hold the hotel accountable, injured guests must work with a legal team with the experience and knowledge to prevail against the hotel’s defense lawyers and insurers. At Michael M. Day Law Firm, we are dedicated to protecting the rights of individuals who have been injured by corporate negligence. To discuss what we may be able to recover in your situation, call us now at 404-480-4284 or contact us online for a free consultation.