Tag Archives: Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Hotel Sues Fla. Sheriff Over Unwanted Guests”

“…Florida law ‘clearly sets forth that [as] a hotel operator of a transient establishment — you can go in and say, ‘I don’t wish to entertain you anymore,” Blair said. ‘The statute says you can call the sheriff, and he has a duty to remove them.’Image A separate group of independent hoteliers has sued along similar grounds. It is seeking a declaration on whether the Sheriff’s Office is properly interpreting state law, but that case is still pending in state court…”

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Dianna Chane says she cannot get the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office to remove unwanted guests from her HomeSuiteHome hotel, even if they aren’t paying, are using drugs or committing assault.

Once a supporter of Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Chane has sued Sheriff Bob Hansell, saying he is forcing independent hotels on U.S. Highway 192 to become homeless shelters.

“What has crushed me is I have been denied the right to manage my own property,” Chane said. “I feel like we’ve been taken hostage.”

For more: http://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/7004783-Hotel-sues-Fla-sheriff-over-unwanted-guests/

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Filed under Crime, Hotel Industry, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Liability Update: “3 People Killed in Deadly Fire At New Jersey Hotel Read”

“…The New Jersey Hotel is only of few blocks from the beach and most of its guests work in the fishing industryImage or are building contractors in the area. Many of the residents at the hotel have been displaced by Hurricane Sandy and forced to stay in the hotel until they can afford to repair their homes…”

 

A deadly fire took the lives of three people and critically injured at least three more, when a New Jersey hotel burst into flames.

Mariner’s Cove Motor Inn at Point Pleasant Beach, suddenly caught fire early this morning and had firefighters struggling to control the flames.

The Jersey shore hotel was completely destroyed by the blaze and upon entering the building firefighters discovered the bodies of three guests that couldn’t escape the inferno.

For more: http://americanlivewire.com/2014-03-21-3-people-killed-in-deadly-fire/

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Filed under Fire, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Insurance, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Liability Update: “Palm Springs Hotel Guest Died of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, Coroner Says”

“…’There was a dangerous condition that posed an immediate and grave risk to the health of any customer,’ Kaufman said. Image‘It’s remarkable to me that a condition this dangerous could be allowed to persist for not days, but almost two weeks, and take the life of a successful, caring and wonderful man.’…”

An Ohio attorney whose body was found in a Palm Springs hotel room in November died of carbon monoxide poisoning, the Riverside County coroner’s office said Wednesday.

The Palm Springs Police Department has been investigating the death and will present its findings to the Riverside County district attorney’s office for possible criminal charges, said Palm Springs Police Lt. Mitch Spike.

For more: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-palm-springs-hotel-guest-died-from-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-coroner-says-20140319,0,5611674.story#axzz2wW6yGmmP

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Filed under Claims, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Liability, Management And Ownership, Pool And Spa, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Risk Management Update: “Stamford Hotel Worker Arrested for Sexually Assaulting Guest”

“…Police say that Oyola-Bandara knocked on the woman’s door at the Super 8 motel at 32 Grenhart Road at about 3:30 a.m. and told the woman, who has been a resident of the motel for some time, that he is there to fix something. ImageThe woman recognized the man as a hotel worker and let him in. Oyola-Bandara then pulled out a bottle of liquor and put two glasses on the table and began pouring the liquor into the glasses…”

A West Side hotel maintenance worker who talked his way into a 60-year-old woman’s room early Saturday morning and tried to force himself on her was arrested after police found the man asleep in the woman’s hotel room.

Carlos Oyola-Bandera, 35, of 501 West Main St., Stamford, was charged with attempted rape, unlawful restraint, criminal trespass, fourth-degree sexual assault and breach of peace. He was held over the weekend by police in lieu of a $50,000 court appearance bond and is being arraigned at the Stamford courthouse Monday.

For more: http://blog.ctnews.com/stamford411/2014/03/17/stamford-hotel-worker-arrested-for-sexually-assaulting-guest/

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Filed under Claims, Crime, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Liability, Management And Ownership, Privacy, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Risk Management Update: “Code Violations Plagued The Majestic Hotel Before Fire”

“…In an evaluation of the hotel in 2012, the fire chief predicted the hotel’s ultimate demise stating, “In the event of a fire it is anticipated portions of the yellow brick will begin to fail at an early state in the fire’s development.Image To place the cities firefighters inside the yellow brick building under those firefighting conditions is to needlessly expose them to injury or death…”

Two weeks ago today an historic hotel, more than 100 years old, went up in flames. Tonight, we’re learning more about what Hot Springs city leaders did to try and prevent the Majestic Hotel fire. Talk to just about any Hot Springs resident and they’ll give you a memory of the Majestic.

One bystander said, “That was the restaurant there and 20 years ago my husband and I had our first date there.” Another person said, “We had our wedding reception in the Majestic.” In the 1950’s the hotel became so popular, construction crews added on to it.

For more: http://www.arkansasmatters.com/story/d/story/code-violations-plagued-the-majestic-hotel-before/52879/rJ44s7w9-ku2EpG5lLKoGw

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Filed under Fire, Hotel Industry, Insurance, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Structural Damage

Hospitality Industry Risk Management Update: “NWC Student Dies in Fall at Denver Hotel”

“…Thamba’s death remains under investigation, according to Sonny Jackson, a spokesman for the Denver Police Department, but foul play is not suspectedImage….Thamba fell from a balcony at the Holiday Inn Denver East at 3333 Quebec St. between 3-4 a.m. Tuesday, Jackson said. How far he fell, and what caused the fall, have not been determined, Jackson said…”

An international student attending Northwest College died early Tuesday morning when he fell off a balcony at a Denver hotel.

Levy Thamba, of the Republic of Congo, Africa, began attending Northwest in late January. He apparently traveled to Denver during the college’s spring break.

For more: http://www.powelltribune.com/news/item/12164-nwc-student-dies-in-fall-at-denver-hotel

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Filed under Claims, Guest Issues, Health, Hotel Industry, Injuries, Insurance, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Technology Update: “The Hotel of the Future”

“…’The cookie-cutter in-room experience has to die,’ says internationally recognized keynote speaker Dr. Lalia Rach, associate dean, UW-Stout School of Hospitality Leadership, Menomonie, WI…timthumb‘We’ve talked about customization for a long time now,’ she notes. ‘We’ve talked about the colors of the room changing, about what’s on the walls changing to be more reflective of the person who is in the room. But it’s not just the physical, it’s the intangible.’…”

At the YOTEL New York, a towering robotic arm takes guests’ luggage and stores it in bar-coded storage bins. The Nine Zero Hotel in Boston uses iris-scan technology that opens the door to its presidential suite, while the Hotel Éclat in Taipei, Taiwan, has toilets with lids that open automatically. The hotel experience is changing, and the future will be here faster than you think. We asked planners, hoteliers, and hospitality experts to make some predictions on what the guest experience will be like; what follows are 20 features that are already here, or will soon be here before you even know it.

For more: http://www.successfulmeetings.com/Event-Planning/Technology-Solutions/Articles/The-Hotel-of-the-Future/

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Filed under Guest Issues, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Technology, Training

Hospitality Industry Guest Safety Update: “Placing Guests at the Heart of Safety”

“…Risk, along with return, is perhaps the most important part of any business calculation. Risk has to be managed correctly and one way of doing this is to have a risk strategy. A risk strategy helps everyone understand the importance of risk awareness.  It is useful because it sets down in black and white the kind of things you will and won’t do. It’s always difficult to look away when there is an opportunity to make more money and in the heat of the moment one can throw caution to the wind…”

When one purchases a high-priced item, it is natural and reasonable to expect a high-quality of performance. For most people, cars and holidays count as the two highest priced items of regular expenditure. People save money to take their annual holiday and also put aside money to be able to purchase a newer car.
During the past two to three decades, the automobile industry has made vast strides towards improving the quality of their products to the extent that faults on new cars are now a rarity. Yes, occasionally, manufactures ‘recall’ certain models owing to production defects, but the percentage of recalled cars is a tiny fraction to that of the thousands of cars that are globally sold daily.

For more: http://www.dailymirror.lk/business/features/43010-placing-guests-at-the-heart-of-safety.html

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Filed under Claims, Guest Issues, Insurance, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Va. AG Sues Richmond Magnuson Grand Hotel”

“Virginia consumers have every right to expect that agreements will be honored when it comes time for delivery of goods and services,” Herring said.Richmond-Magnuson-Grand “I will not tolerate businesses that misrepresent themselves or mislead customers and my office is absolutely committed to protecting Virginia consumers from such practices.”

RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) – Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced a lawsuit on Friday against the operator of a Henrico County hotel for allegedly violating the Virginia Consumer Protection Act and the state’s bait and switch statute.

GRM Management LLC, the operator of the Richmond Magnuson Grand Hotel and Convention Center, allegedly offered and confirmed room rates for one price but overcharged customers upon check-in or told them their requested room was unavailable.

For more: http://legalnewsline.com/news/247135-va-ag-sues-richmond-magnuson-grand-hotel

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Filed under Employee Practices, Employment Practices Liability, Guest Issues, Management And Ownership, Training

Hospitality Industry Guest Safety Update: “Florida Police Ask for Tourist Tax Dollars to Fight Crime”

“…The move is likely to face resistance from Florida’s influential tourism industry which has fought similar plans in the past Imageto use tourism tax dollars for anything other than marketing expenses in driving more business to the Sunshine State…”

“…Jim Preston, president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Florida said police, fire and ambulance services invest lots of money and resources protecting tourist areas. ‘I think it’s reasonable that some of those tourist-tax dollars should be going to those agencies to help offset those costs,’ he said…”

Following a spate of robberies in hotels in Orlando’s tourist district in recent weeks, a law-enforcement group proposed extra spending on public safety, directly financed by the local hotel tax.

The Fraternal Order of Police wants the Florida Legislature to let local councils use some of their tourist tax dollars to fund public safety improvements in tourist areas.

There has been over a dozen robberies targeting hotels and restaurants in the Orlando area, thought to have been carried out by the same armed gang.

For more: http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2010156&c=setreg&region=3

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Filed under Crime, Guest Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Theft