Individuals who own, operate or manage hotels, motels, apartments and other accommodations face many risks every day. Fire can ruin the facility completely. A guest may sustain a fall and possibly sue the entire establishment for medical damages. stolen property of guests can be stolen or damaged while on the hotel’s property.
Beyond these threats, unforeseen events may occur which cause large unexpected losses. Hoteliers must protect their interests as well as those of their customers by exercising reasonable precautions. Many types of incidents, such as fires, floods, slips and falls, theft and even robbery can occur. To protect its interests, a hotel or motel may need to obtain special liability insurance to cover the expenses and losses that are caused by these incidents.
Hotels are exposed to levels of risk which other businesses in the hospitality industry aren’t. In a hotel, customers will sleep, eat, and entertain themselves on the premises. This means that they’ll generate more risk by sheer virtue of the increased amount of time they’ll spend in the building, but there are also unique kinds of risk that come with theft, vandalism, and unauthorised behaviours like smoking.
Hoteliers might take a range of steps to minimise the risk, but given that it can never be reduced to zero, insurance is necessary to offer a safety net in case of disaster. In some cases, it’s a legal obligation; in others, it’s merely sensible. Specialised kinds of insurance for hotels bring together multiple insurance products to cover every kind of conceivable risk, while discounting those that aren’t applicable to hotels.
What Insurance do I need to have?
Every employer in the UK is legally obliged to have what’s called Employer’s Liability Insurance. This is there to protect your employees against harm. If your cleaning staff slip and fall while cleaning the lobby floor, then your ELI will cover the cost you might incur as a result.
What’s optional, but desirable?
Commercial Property Insurance is what will protect your property against things like fire. If you don’t have cover, and a fire starts, then you might well lose everything. Given that so much in a hotel is beyond the control of the hotelier, this kind of insurance is a necessity – if not a technical one. For example, if guests ignore your prohibition against smoking, disable the smoke alarm, and manage to start a fire, you may be in big trouble.
What might be useful?
Hotels come with a range of features and facilities, each of which might confer a specific type of risk. These might include bars, gyms and swimming pools. There exist specialised kinds of insurance which cover the risks presented by each of these facilities. Gyms and swimming pools in particular have the potential to inflict serious injury and even death if they’re used improperly, which makes insurance worth considering.
Innkeeper’s Insurance deals with the liability stemming from the hotel storing the property of guests. These policies tend to stipulate a limit that’s per-guest – which means that guests who bring in masses of expensive consumer electronics might not enjoy the same level of protection.
If you’re selling alcohol, then liquor liability insurance will offer protection against specific kinds of injury which arise from alcohol consumption. You might assume that the responsibility lies with the person purchasing the alcohol, but this is not always the case – especially if you mistakenly serve someone who’s not of legal age.
A hotel or motel may obtain an insurance policy that provides for “business interruption losses.” This type of coverage is similar to that of an “all risks” policy. It requires that the business owner purchase an amount of coverage that will compensate him or her for all loss or damage that occurs during a specific period of time. Although this type of insurance policy covers a variety of unforeseeable events, there are a number of things that can occur that threaten a hotel’s ability to remain operational. A “business interruption” insurance policy should be in place before the insured property is affected by a disaster or other incident that causes it to lose business.
In addition to general liability, some hotel and lodging businesses also require hotel and motel liquor liability insurance. Liquor liability insurance protects hotel operators from liabilities that arise when they provide alcohol to their patrons. Some jurisdictions require hotel and motel liquor liability coverage, but in some areas it is not a required legal requirement. For small business owners who do not already have this type of insurance, it can be a wise choice to get it just to be on the safe side.
Another area that is often covered by hotel insurance coverage is for “guest” related accidents. These accidents generally occur when a guest falls or suffers an injury on a hotel property, but sometimes they occur when guests trip, stumble or fall onto the hotel property. In either case, if the accident wasn’t averted by the owner’s negligence, it can result in claims against the hotel for injuries and property damage. This type of insurance coverage can help avoid potential losses for the hotel and for the guest.
In addition to protecting hotel operators from unexpected fluctuations in the hotel and lodging business, there are also times when an insured product can cause harm or injury to a customer. Many types of products have “fixed” replacement cost. This means that as long as the product is sold, the cost of replacement will never change. While this is seldom the case, some products such as computers, printers, televisions, clothing items, furniture and appliances can have fixed replacement cost. It’s important to be aware of the replacement cost in case a claim is filed because, if it’s higher than the fixed replacement cost, it may entitle you to a percentage of the profits of the product being replaced.
from Feedster https://www.feedster.com/travel/why-is-it-important-to-insure-your-hotel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-is-it-important-to-insure-your-hotel
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