Tag Archives: Lawsuits

by | December 1, 2014 · 10:25 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Costa Mesa Sued Over Law Limiting Stays at Motels

Under the ordinance, which took effect last month, motel owners must apply for a conditional use permit to allow any new long-term tenants.Costa Mesa Hotel To be granted a permit, the motel must meet requirements such as providing on-site laundry facilities, installing kitchens in every room and having at least 75 rooms.

A recently enacted law that limits how long people can stay at motels in Costa Mesa was illegally designed to target low-income residents, a lawsuit filed against the city alleges.

The Public Law Center, a Santa Ana-based pro bono law firm, sued this week on behalf of a group of residents to block an ordinance adopted last August limiting when motel guests can rent a room for more than 30 days.

For more: http://lat.ms/1FHJlDm

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by | November 24, 2014 · 9:43 am

Hospitality Industry Risk Management Update: “Wyndham Hotel Group Partners with Polaris to Help Prevent Human Trafficking”

“The hospitality industry plays a critical role in the fight against modern slavery, since many traffickers exploit their victims in hotels and motels,” said Bradley Myles, chief executive officer of Polaris.  front desk“If we are to truly eradicate human trafficking, it’s absolutely essential that companies like Wyndham take proactive steps to combat this crime at the root while also helping victims rebuild their lives. Polaris applauds Wyndham Hotel Group for integrating a responsible business culture company-wide and for actively taking such a strong stance against human trafficking.”

Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company with approximately 7,590 hotels and part of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), today announced its continued commitment to preventing human trafficking by partnering with Polaris, a leader in the global fight to eradicate modern slavery and restore freedom to survivors.

As part of the joint effort, Wyndham Hotel Group and Polaris are developing comprehensive training and educational tools for hotel owners and franchisees, property-level staff and employees at its corporate offices and call centers to educate them about all aspects of human trafficking.

For more: http://bit.ly/1r2xZbX

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by | November 17, 2014 · 9:30 am

Hospitality Industry Security Update: “Cybersecurity Needs Planning, Periodic Review”

Whatever the cost, hoteliers are advised to take certain precautions. “Complacency” is dangerous, Schoshinski said, adding that hoteliers should update security protection plans periodicallyhackers…Despite such resources and other preventative measures in the hotel industry, “the bad guys are getting smarter,” Cividanes said. “The bad guys are watching what you do.

Data security breaches, a hot topic at last year’s Hotel & Lodging Legal Summit, took center stage again at the 2014 conference as the No. 1 topic that keeps hospitality lawyers “awake at night,” said Robert Lannan, program co-chair and principal of Lannan Legal PLLC.

His opening remarks mentioned several headline-making cases, including breaches at Target, Home Depot and White Lodging, where it was revealed in January 2013 that attackers allegedly collected customer credit and debit card numbers, security codes, card expiration dates and other personal information from guests who had stayed at 14 hotels.

For more: http://bit.ly/1zwrVIk

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by | November 12, 2014 · 9:42 am

Hospitality Industry Security Update: “Hackers Using Hotel Wi-Fi to Check Into Victims’ Computers”

Safeguarding against such an attack can be difficult for hotel guests. The best defense is to double check update alerts that pop up on your computer during a stay in a hotel.hackers Go to the software vendor’s site directly to see if an update has been posted and download it directly from there. Though, of course, this won’t help if the attackers are able to redirect your machine to a malicious download site

A hacking campaign known as Darkhotel has been deployed by Hackers to steal sensitive information from business executives, security researchers have revealed.

How it happened is that the sophisticated attackers had been lurking on the hotel’s network for days waiting for him to check in. They uploaded their malware to the hotel’s server days before then deleted it from the hotel network days after.

For more: http://bit.ly/1B9M6jS

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by | November 11, 2014 · 9:00 am

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “60 People Fall Ill With Norovirus at Bay Area Luxury Hotel” (VIDEO)

After the outbreak, staff members with the county’s Communicable Disease and Environmental Health Service began working with hotel managementNorovirus to implement infectious disease containment measures. The measures include frequent and comprehensive cleaning of common areas, educating employees about the virus and posting additional signage reminding employees to wash their hands.

Public health officials say 60 people who fell ill after staying at a Bay Area luxury hotel two weeks ago contracted the norovirus — a highly contagious virus that can lead to stomach pain, nausea and diarrhea.

San Mateo County health officials confirmed Friday that the guests and employees of the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood City became ill sometime after Oct. 28, and traced the illness to the highly contagious norovirus, which spreads after contact with an infected person or contaminated food and water.

For more: http://lat.ms/1uYVKCD

And for more on how to help prevent Norovirus at your property, check out the video below from Petra’s own P3 Risk Management Team.

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/98741016 w=500&h=281]

Petra Risk Solutions’ Loss Control Manager, Matt Karp, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Report – ‘Preventing Norovirus at Your Property’. 

P3 (Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America ’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.

For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.

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by | November 7, 2014 · 8:50 am

Hospitality Industry Insurance Update: “AH&LA, 80+ Hotel Organizations Call On House Leadership To Pass TRIA Now”

TRIA is intended to provide stability to the economy and assure investors and developers,ahla-80-hotel-organizations-call-on-house-leadership-to-pass-tria-now as they plan long-term projects, that insurance will be available to adequately protect their properties against the financial risk of a terrorist attack. However, a short-term extension creates uncertainty as to whether TRIA will still exist as these projects move forward.

Washington, D.C. — In the wake of the midterm elections, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), along with more than 80 other hotel industry groups including hotel brands, management companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs), owners and state hotel associations, called on the House of Representatives to get back to work and pass the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) in a letter sent to House leadership.

AH&LA urged lawmakers to focus on the immediate priorities, including passage of this vital piece of legislation, which is critical to protect job and economic growth within the hotel industry and across the broader economy. More than 80 groups joined AH&LA in signing the letter, which was sent to every member of the House of Representatives in addition to House leadership.

For more: http://bit.ly/10ym9JI

 

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by | November 3, 2014 · 9:09 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “California Ranks Highest For Workers’ Compensation Costs”

California employers are required by law to have workers’ comp insurance, even if they have only one employee.Workers Comp (NO LOGO) The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) imposes assessments on employers to cover the cost of potential workers comp claims. The amount a business pays into the system depends on how many employees a business has and what its total payroll is.

California has been ranked as the most expensive state for workers’ compensation costs, according to a newly released report.

The Workers’ Compensation Premium Rate Ranking Summary from Oregon’s Department of Consumer and Business Services shows that California businesses spend $3.48 for every $100 of payroll issued.

That’s 188 percent of the median cost of $1.85 for all 50 states. California was the third most expensive state in 2012 and the fifth most expensive in 2010.

“California’s workers’ compensation system is incredibly inefficient,” said Jerry Azevedo, a spokesman for the California-based Workers’ Compensation Action Network, which seeks to reduce costs for employers and improve services to injured workers. “It does not do a good job of achieving its goal. For as much as employers pay, they don’t get a lot out of it.”

For more: http://bit.ly/1pgVFZb

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by | October 22, 2014 · 8:37 am

Hospitality Industry Risk Update: “Liberty Mutual: Retail and Hospitality Institute II”

“Best practices for mitigating risk and reducing losses for guest and employee injuries and incidents in the retail, hospitality, restaurant, gaming and entertainment industries.”

Liberty

At the conclusion of this institute, you will be able to:

• Explain what drives best-in-class performance in safety and risk
management
• Implement best practices for achieving safety and
operational excellence
• Apply resources and take advantage of networking opportunities that
can lead to stronger risk mitigation practices and related expense control

For more information contact Liberty Mutual at LPED@libertymutual.com with questions.

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by | October 21, 2014 · 8:27 am

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Hotel Housekeepers Are at Great Risk for Sexual Assault From Guests”

“Women described men who insisted they close the door while cleaning, grabbed their hands as they handed over change and asked where they could “find a girl.”housekeeper-387x580 Kensbock and her colleagues identified a few factors that put women in the hotel industry at a heightened risk for sexual harassment, including the “gendered” nature of their work as housekeepers and their lack of power relative to the guests…Most of the women in Kensbock’s study coped with harassment using passive strategies, like humor or deflection. Though the hotel management had protocols they could follow to report inappropriate behavior, women—fearing guests would retaliate by leaving negative surveys—rarely complained.”

When Dominique Strauss-Kahn was accused of assaulting Nafissatou Diallo, the maid who was sent to clean his hotel room, hospitality workers thought the story seemed all-too-plausible. In a New York Times op-ed, Jacob Tomsky, a veteran of the hotel industry, wrote that housekeepers are assaulted by guests “more often than you’d think,” and that their employers don’t offer much protection. In a recent account on xoJane, an anonymous woman describes a decade’s worth of sexual harassment in different parts of the hotel industry—from working the front desk to cleaning rooms. It’s so systemic, she says, that the women developed coordinated strategies to cope with it—like enlisting other housekeepers to stay with them when they’re assigned to clean the room of a “known pervert.”

For more: http://bit.ly/124uEO7

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by | October 20, 2014 · 11:16 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Justices Will Decide Privacy Case on Hotel Records” (VIDEO)

“Los Angeles has said the ordinance makes prostitutes and drug dealers less likely to use hotels if they know that the facilities must collect information about guests and make them available to police on a moment’s noticegavel (1)…In dissent, Judge Richard Clifton said that courts previously have ruled that hotel guests have no expectation of privacy in records of their names and room numbers. “A guest’s information is even less personal to the hotel than it is to the guest,” Clifton said.”

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to referee a dispute over police access to hotels’ guest information without first getting a search warrant.

The justices said they will hear an appeal by the city of Los Angeles of a lower court ruling that struck down an ordinance that requires hotel operators to open their guest registries at the demand of police.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco divided 7-4 in ruling that the ordinance violates the privacy rights of the hotels, but not their guests.

For more: http://bit.ly/1zi8CGd

And for more information on how to best handle police requests for information, check out Petra’s own Director of Risk Management, Todd Seiders, in this P3 Risk Management Update “How to Handle Police and Law Enforcement Request for Hotel Guest Information”.

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/109469870 w=500&h=281]

P3 (Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America ’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.

For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.

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