A tremendous number of people do some traveling during the holiday season, and not everybody can stay with friends or family. A sizable percentage will end up staying in hotels.
When you’re a guest at a hotel, it’s only natural to expect a safe, relaxing stay – but a slip and fall accident can turn your entire holiday season upside down in an instant and leave you with serious injuries.
Is the hotel responsible for your injuries?
Not every slip and fall in a hotel is the hotel’s responsibility. It all depends on whether or not the hotel neglected its duty to its guests. In general, premise liability laws require a hotel to ensure that its grounds are reasonably safe and that any hazards are promptly addressed.
It may be possible to hold the hotel responsible for a slip and fall injury over falls caused by things like:
- Wet or slippery floors: Whether someone spilled a drink on the floor in the lobby or the ice machine overflowed, that can create a significant risk of a fall. The hotel staff should always be on the lookout for these kinds of problems so that they can post warning signs and clean up the spills as quickly as possible.
- Poorly maintained flooring: A loose or broken piece of ceramic tile in the lobby or a torn piece of carpet in a hallway can be disastrous if someone catches the heel of their shoe and goes tumbling. Hotels are supposed to keep their premises in good repair.
- Inadequate lighting: It can be difficult to walk around unfamiliar hallways or climb up and down unfamiliar stairwells without the proper lighting. When a hotel overlooks burned-out lights and guests trip and fall as a result, the hotel may be liable.
Hotels know that they are supposed to put considerable effort into protecting the safety of their guests. If you get injured in a slip-and-fall accident, be sure to report the incident to the manager right away and seek immediate medical assistance. Exploring your legal options later can help you recover fair compensation.