Common Risks Hotel Guests Face
Hotels offer respite and shelter for exhausted travelers, but as public gathering places, they’re not without their fair share of risks. Knowing the most common of these can help you avoid an unpleasant stay, financial damages, or a trip to the hospital. However, no amount of preparation can keep you completely safe, so being aware of what to do if you’re hurt in a hotel is a good policy for savvy tourists to have.
Hotel Risks and How to Avoid Them
Most hotel guests don’t spend much time on the property outside of their nightly stays, which can make it tempting to simply collapse into bed. Instead, you should perform routine inspections every time you enter your room, and walk cautiously elsewhere to avoid painful hotel property accidents:
- Miscellaneous Injuries: Faulty appliances in your room and on the premises (such as coffee pots and hot tubs) or the misuse of them can result in burns and other injuries. If a hotel hasn’t informed guests of wet floors or ongoing renovations, it’s easy to fall or cut yourself.
- Bedbugs: Bedbugs are especially common in hotels that scarcely wash and replace sheets and mattresses. Not only can these insects give you unsightly welts as you sleep, but worse still, if unnoticed, you could unknowingly carry them back to your home, resulting in a bedbug infestation you never asked for. Always keep an eye out for dark spots and other signs of a bedbug infestation, and inspect your body in the mirror periodically at less reputable hotels.
- Swimming Pools: As with any swimming pool, slippery surfaces and hard, concrete pathways can result in severe slip and fall injuries. Waterborne illnesses from other guests, chemical burns from improper chlorine usage, and shocks from electrical hazards only add to the mix, making pools dangerous places without caution and proper hotel oversight.
- Assault and Theft: The potential for individuals to target you in a hotel is beyond the control of either you or the hotel, but both can take measures to minimize risks; keep your key close, lock your room at all times, and avoid entering your room while strangers are nearby to stay as safe as possible. Hotels have a responsibility to maintain adequate security and make sure that hotel guests and staff are the only people with access to their rooms.
When is the Hotel Liable?
Commercial hotels obey the same laws as any other property owner and must take steps to protect their guests, so if the hotel hasn’t made reasonable attempts to prevent your injury from occurring (via maintenance, cleaning, security, etc.), the hotel is likely liable. Most hotels aren’t willing to compensate you unless they’re forced; exerting legal pressure with a potential lawsuit is likely the only way to receive compensation for your financial losses and any pain and suffering you endured under the hotel’s negligent oversight.
Aaron Law Group’s Nevada premises liability lawyers have the legal resources and expertise to pressure hotels into compensating you in full, and in the event of a lawsuit, we can handle most of the hard work, freeing up your time to focus on recovering. If you’ve been hurt in a hotel in Nevada, contact us today at (702) 550-1111 to schedule a free consultation with a compassionate personal injury attorney in Las Vegas who can prove that negligence occurred.
