Imagine you’re on a dream vacation or traveling for business, and you’re staying at a hotel in the area: Everything is wonderful, until you slip and fall in the hallway and injure yourself. Was it your fault, or does the hotel bear some level of responsibility for your injury? If you were injured in a hotel, it’s best to speak to an accident hotel lawyer to further discuss how to sue a hotel for injury.
Hotels bear a high duty of care and legal obligation to ensure that the facilities are safe for guests. For legal purposes, when you are a visitor in the hotel, you are considered a “guest,” which means that you are entitled to protection against any reasonably foreseeable damage, and can file a hotel negligence lawsuit in the event of injury.
Reasons to Sue a Hotel for an Injury On-Site
Hotel management is required to do everything reasonable to protect guests against any injury risks one might anticipate. Preventable risks in hotels can include:
- Swimming pools. Hotel pools can be dangerous if the pool deck is not maintained and becomes slippery – a guest can easily slip and fall. Pools not supervised by a lifeguard can cause additional risk.
- Slip and falls. This is the most common form of injury found at hotels and other public places. Slippery floors, worn carpeting and cracked flooring can cause a guest to trip or slip and injure themselves, and should be addressed by the hotel so these injuries are avoided.
- Broken furniture. Old or shoddily repaired furniture is known to have the potential to cause injuries to guests while at a hotel property.
- Bed Bugs. While you may not be able to see these pests, they can often be found in hotel mattresses, pillows and furniture. Bites from bed bugs can cause skin irritation and secondary infections due to the bites, as well as mild, moderate and severe allergic reactions.
- Assaults and Theft. Hotel guests can be targets of criminals since they are likely to be carrying cash or credit cards while traveling. When a hotel offers inadequate security, criminals can also physically injure these travelers.
- Burns. Hotel guests experience burn injuries more often that one might think. Faulty hot water thermostats, in-room heater defects and defective in-room irons are all common causes of this type of injury.
How to Handle Hotel Negligence Settlements
Most personal injury and slip and fall cases require the victim of the accident to show that their injuries were caused by negligence. Fault for an injury caused by negligence lies with the hotel when an incident occurs on the property’s grounds. Under premises liability law, a hotel guest is considered an “invitee” to the property and is legally given a high amount of protection.
Regularly, a hotel must inspect and maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition, which means quickly repairing any questionable conditions and protecting guests from known or logically discoverable conditions.
Under this level of protection for guests, common management responsibilities in avoiding lawsuits against hotels for negligence include:
- Maintaining adequate and functioning lighting
- Keeping steps and other common areas dry and unobstructed
- Repairing any damage to hotel property, furniture or equipment
- Controlling insect infestation
- Maintaining appropriate security on the property to avoid theft and assault
- Training pool staff to prevent guest injuries
- Maintaining hotel room door locks
Learn How to Sue a Hotel for Injury by Speaking to an Experienced Attorney About Hotel Litigation
When a hotel breaches its duties and responsibilities, and fails to keep the premises reasonably safe, or neglects to warn guests of questionable conditions on the property, they have failed to uphold its legal duty to guests. This can lead to a hotel lawsuit. If you were injured in a hotel, it is always a good idea to speak with an experienced personal injury firm, like Avrek Law, that is experienced in this type of personal injury case.
With more than 50 years of combined experience, Avrek has recovered more than $1 Billion in compensation for injury victims in over 45,000 cases. We’re here to help you get the compensation you deserve – view our locations, or contact us for a free hotel negligence lawsuit consultation to learn more!
