Accidents in hotels...who's liable? (Part 2)
Take the case of a hotel which has two upper floors with a bar on each level and linking the two floors are stairs of glass blocks, lit from below. Architecturally and visually it is stunning in appearance and has guests using the stairs to go to both bars. Now imagine that a guest falls after slipping on liquid on the glass stairs and suffers injuries as a result. A knowledgeable hotel manager should understand and accept that:-
Under these circumstances, the manager could have placed signs or warnings prohibiting the movement of drinks between the floors and could have had staff positioned outside the bars to enforce the prohibition or a system of regular inspection of the stairs for spills. Other methods of ensuring the stairs were not slippery when wet, include covering the stairs with carpet or ensuring the glass tiles were treated so that they achieved appropriate frictional qualities.
In the absence of any of the aforementioned precautionary measures, a court of law is likely to award damages to the guest who suffered the fall. In this instance, the hotel manager failed to exercise reasonable care to manage the hotel premises so as to avoid exposing patrons to a foreseeable risk of harm. In some countries, liability could also be apportioned equally between the manager and the architect where the law recognises that an architect has a separate duty to use reasonable care, skill and diligence in the performance of the work an architect undertakes. As there is no overlap in responsibility, the manager and architect cannot delegate their duties to each other so as to escape liability.
In the alternative, let’s say a hotel guest returning from dinner where he consumed an entire bottle of wine, trips and falls on a rubber mat outside the hotel entrance, cracking his skull. The guest’s voluntary intoxication makes his slipping and falling unforeseeable. It isn’t reasonable for a hotel manager to have to protect a guest from injuries because of the guest’s voluntary intoxication.
How much control does a hotel had over the situation.
For example, if a guest slipped in the restaurant on olive oil from a bottle dropped by an employee the hotel is likely responsible since they are accountable for the employee's actions. On the other hand, if the guest slipped by the poolside, because another guest accidently squirted suntan lotion on the ground, the hotel might not be responsible because the other guest is not under hotel authority. Of course, the hotel could be liable in this circumstance- if it fails to clean up the sun tan lotion in a timely fashion and a guest slips on it, later.
Even when it’s dark in the hotel room, for example, and a guest walks into the bathroom for the first time where in order to turn on the light he/she has to cross the entire bedroom, trips on the loose carpet and falls, the guest would not be negligent because nothing could notify him or her of the danger. In contrast, a guest who is injured going down the stairs in the dark without an emergency should have known that it is not safe, and will be negligent for not protecting his/her own safety. Conversely, if it happened to a minor, the hotel can be faulted for not having a door that makes it hard for children to have easy access to the dark stairway.
If the accident was the fault of the guest, no compensation can be claimed – for example if the guest broke safety rules whilst using the hotel pool and suffers some injury. For any guest to claim compensation it requires proof or evidence to show that hotel staff was negligent. For instance, if the hotel did not maintain the plumbing in the hotel bathroom properly leading to flooding water and causing a hotel guest to slip and break his wrist. The hotel will be held responsible for the accident due to negligence.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, ‘Hospitality Sri Lanka’, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier. |
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