When Is a Hotel Liable for Guest Injuries? How to Get Compensation

Negligent hotels are financially liable for injuries to guests on hotel property. See how to get the compensation you deserve.

Hotels are an oasis. We stay at hotels during vacations, when visiting friends and family, and for business travel.

Travelers have access to over 5 million rooms in more than 52,000 hotels throughout the United States.¹ Most hotel owners and staff try to create a pleasurable experience for all their guests.

While guests usually have a wonderful stay at their favorite hotel, accidents can happen at any time.

Dangerous conditions common to hotels include:

  • Slippery floors
  • Broken furniture
  • Contaminated food
  • Criminal activity
  • Bed bugs and other insect infestations

Hotel owners are responsible if you’re injured because of their negligence. You have the right to expect fair injury compensation from the hotel or their insurance company.

Your Legal Rights in a Hotel

Laws can vary from state to state, but wherever you’re staying, the hotel always has a reasonable obligation to make their premises safe and to prevent foreseeable accidents. The rules for hotel liability may be different if you suffer a personal injury abroad.

“Reasonable” in this context means common sense. Reasonable steps are actions that any sensible hotel staff would take, like mopping up a spill.

A “foreseeable” accident is one that a sensible hotel manager knows or should know could happen under the circumstances. For example, after an overnight ice storm, a hotel manager should know that the walkways will be slippery if left untreated, and someone is likely to slip and fall.

Although a hotel has a legal duty of care to protect you from harm, it doesn’t extend to all harm. The duty is to protect you from harm that could reasonably happen at a hotel.

Icy walkways are a foreseeable danger for guest injuries. If the manager fails to have the walkways treated promptly, the failure is a breach of the hotel’s duty of care. If a guest is injured by falling on the ice, the guest has grounds for a premises liability claim against the hotel.

On the other hand, when the hotel has taken reasonable steps to clear the walkways, and an intoxicated guest falls and cracks his skull on his way to the entrance, the hotel will likely not be liable. The hotel cannot foresee or prevent the arrival of an intoxicated guest.

Your rights to safety and security at a hotel are not limited to your room. The hotel’s obligation to protect its guests extends to private and common areas of the property.

Hotel common areas include:

How to Prove Your Injury Claim

Before you can succeed in a personal injury claim against the hotel, you have the burden of proving the hotel is liable for your injuries. Prove your case with evidence of the hotel’s negligence and evidence of your injuries.

It’s up to you, or your attorney, to gather enough evidence to show:

  1. The hotel had a duty of care to protect you from harm.
  2. The hotel breached its duty and you were injured because of it.
  3. Your injury resulted in specific and identifiable damages.

Begin collecting valuable evidence from the moment you’re injured

Ask For the Manager

As soon as possible, you must link your injury to the event that caused it. The more time that passes before reporting your injury, the harder it will be to build a believable claim.

Write down the manager’s name, title, and contact information. Ask for the name and phone number of the hotel’s insurance company, and tell the manager you’d like a copy of the incident report written about your injury.

Seek Medical Attention

If your injuries are serious, ask someone to call 911. If you aren’t taken by ambulance to the emergency room, you’ll need to have a medical evaluation right away. If you’re away from your primary care providers, ask hotel management to help you get to the nearest emergency room or urgent care center.

Refusing or delaying medical treatment can seriously undermine your injury claim. Wherever you are treated, be sure to tell the medical provider when, where, and how you were injured.

Talk to Witnesses

Family and friend witness statements are helpful, although independent witness statements are best. Independent witnesses have no personal or financial interest in your claim, so the insurance company gives more weight to their testimony.

Example: Witness to Swimming Pool Accident

Let’s say you were out by the hotel pool. When you stepped down into the shallow end, your heel caught on something, and you fell, striking your head on the pool’s edge. Another guest happened to be sunning in a nearby chair. When she saw you go down, she jumped from her chair to help you out of the pool.

When you and the witness looked to see what caused you to fall, you both realized there was a step under the water, but because it had no marking or tread, it was virtually invisible beneath the water.

In this situation, you should ask the witness to write down what happened, including her discovery of the “invisible step.” Make sure she clearly explains how she saw you fall and hit your head on the side of the pool. She should sign and date her statement.

Take Pictures and Video

Use your smartphone to photograph and video the unsafe condition and your injuries. You can also record witness statements, employee admissions, and your version of the events leading to your injury.

Remember to take pictures of your injuries at the time of the accident and throughout your recovery.

Example: Capturing Video Evidence

In this scenario, while sitting down at the desk in your hotel room the chair gave way. You fell to the floor injuring your back.

After you call the manager, take out your cell phone and photograph the broken chair. Use the video function to take a panoramic view of the room and the chair as it sits broken on the floor.

If a housekeeper is close by, ask her to come in to witness what happened. Ask her if she normally cleans your room. Ask her whether she knew the chair was weak or whether someone repaired it recently.

The housekeeper may say something like, “Yes, I reported the chair to my supervisor. I told her the chair’s leg was loose and a customer could fall.” Such a statement is an admission against interest, meaning the statement made by the hotel employee is not in the hotel’s favor.

Admissions against interest make persuasive evidence.

Get Proof of Damages

If you don’t have medical treatment related to your injury, then you don’t have a claim. You’ll need copies of your medical bills and records, and receipts for prescriptions, bandages, and transportation expenses.

Ask your employer for a written verification of wages you’ve lost, missed bonuses, and any vacation or sick days you used.

Maximizing Your Compensation

If you’ve fully recovered from relatively minor injuries like scratches, bruises, small cuts, or sprained muscles, you can probably negotiate a fair settlement directly with the insurance company, without hiring an attorney.

Estimate a fair compensation amount by totaling the cost of your medical bills, out-of-pocket expenses, the value of ruined clothing or other personal items, and any lost wages. Add one or two times that amount for your pain and suffering.

Send a written settlement demand with copies of your medical bills and records, receipts, and other evidence.

Serious Injury Claims

If you suffered severe injuries at a hotel, you will need the help of an experienced personal injury attorney to get full compensation. If the hotel’s negligence was particularly shocking, your attorney might seek punitive damages in addition to available insurance money.

You need expert representation for cases of rape, assault, wrongful death, or severe injuries like traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, or permanent scarring.

When you meet with a personal injury lawyer to discuss your case, the lawyer will discuss the venue, meaning location, for a personal injury lawsuit if litigation becomes necessary. Venue is an issue if you were injured in a different state than your state of residence.

Most law firms offer a free consultation to injured victims. If you hire an attorney, most will agree to work on a contingency fee basis, so you only pay legal fees if the attorney settles your claim or wins your case at trial.

Hotel Injury Claim Questions