People may treat hotels and resorts as their home away from home while on vacation. Even if they only spend a few hours sleeping there every night, they expect to be safe at the hotel resort.
Injuries at such facilities are relatively common. In some cases, poor property maintenance might lead to slip-and-falls or similar incidents that put people in the hospital. Other times, injuries might be the result of criminal activity. Obviously, those who assault or rob hotel guests are responsible for their own choices. In some cases, a resort or hotel might also be partially liable for crimes that occur at the property.
When can a crime lead to premises liability for a hospitality business?
Was the crime preventable?
Negligent security practices could put customers at unnecessary risk. Businesses generally have an obligation to identify risk factors and take steps to minimize them to safely provide services to the public.
Hotels and resorts attract opportunistic criminals. Muggings, thefts from vehicles, thefts of vehicles or even assaults are common. If better security practices could have prevented the crime, the person affected could have grounds for a premises liability lawsuit.
They need to show that other reasonable adults could recognize the risk factors and ways to reduce the possibility of a crime at the property. Fences and secure building access could prevent many crimes. On-site security professionals and better staff training could deter many other types of crime as well.
If a business fails to take appropriate and reasonable steps to address easily predictable criminal activity, the company may be liable for the losses sustained by visitors and customers. Reviewing a hotel crime that resulted in injury with a skilled legal team can help frustrated consumers determine if a premises liability lawsuit might be an option.
