Hospitality law

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1. H HOSPITALITY LAW Slides by SAJAN SEN (BHM 5 th SEM)

2. Contents Introduction What is a hotel? The SARAIS act, 1867 Who is a guest? Laws of torts or torts law or common law. Duties of a Hotelier towards guests.

3. Introduction Hospitality  is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. The word has its origin from the latin word hospes , which literally means hostis or host and the old french word hospitalite . Law can be defined as a universally accepted body of rules that aims at creating a social system that encourages people to interact voluntarily in an orderly civilized manner; as an when there is an infringement or a violation of these rules the judicial system steps in to enforce order by the imposition of penalties.

4. Cont’d Hospitality law  is a legal and social practice related to the treatment of a person's guests or those who patronize a place of business. Related to the concept of legal liability, hospitality laws are intended to protect both hosts and guests against injury, whether accidental or intentional.

5. What is a hotel? The hotel proprietors acts, 1956 (UK) defines an inn or a hotel as an establishment held out by the proprietor as offering food, drink, and if so required, sleeping accommodation, without special contract, to any traveller presenting himself who appears able and willing to pay a reasonable sum for the services and facilities provided, and, who is in a fit state to be received. A hotel is a building or a part of the building where the owner offers to travellers or general public willingness and ability to pay primary sleeping accommodation with or without food and drink and other services and facilities without any prior or special contract.

6. The SARAIS act, 1867 “ Sarai ” means any building used for the shelter and accommodation of travellers , and includes, in any case in which only part of a building is used as a sarai , the part so used of such building. It also includes a purao so far as the provisions of this Act are applicable thereto. “Keeper of a Sarai ” includes the owner and any person having or acting in the care or management thereof. “Magistrate of the District” means the chief officer charged with the executive administration of a district in criminal matters whatever may be his designation.

7. Clause 5 and 6 The act state that no one can operate a sarai if it is not registered and licenced by the local administration, and stipulates that an innkeeper or a general manager is required to produce a character certificate in order to manage the affairs of a sarai . A general manager is required to register himself or herself under this act with the authorities, and this is normally done by the human resources division of the hotel. Clause 8 A general manager is further required to maintain a record of all guests staying at the sarai and furnish the details to the local administration from time to time. This record in common hotel parlance is called Guest Arrival and Departure Register listing the details of all registered guests and is maintained by all hotels in the format as required by law and shown to the authorities, as and when required.

8. Under clause 7 Duties of a hotelier include (1) when any person in such Sarai is ill of any infectious or contagious disease, or dies of such disease, to give immediate notice thereof to the nearest police-station; (2) at all times when required by any Magistrate or any other person duly authorized by the Magistrate of the District in this behalf, to give him free access to the Sarai and allow him to inspect the same or any part thereof; (3) to thoroughly cleanse the rooms and verandahs, and drains of the Sarai and the wells, tanks, or other sources from which water is obtained for the persons or animals using it to the satisfaction of and so often as shall be required by, the Magistrate of the District, or such person as he shall appoint in this behalf; (4)  to remove all noxious vegetation on or near the Sarai , and all trees and branches of tree capable of affording to thieves means of entering or leaving the Sarai ;

9. (4)  to remove all noxious vegetation on or near the Sarai , and all trees and branches of tree capable of affording to thieves means of entering or leaving the Sarai ; (5)  to keep the gates, walls, fences, roofs and drains of the Sarai in repair; (6) to provide such number of watchmen as may, in the opinion of the Magistrate of the District, subject to such rules as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf, be necessary for the safety and protection of persons and animals or vehicles lodging in, halting at or placed in the Sarai ; and (7) to exhibit a list of charges for the use of the sarai at such place and in such form and languages as the Magistrate of the District shall from time to time direct.

10. Clauses 9 and10 of the act The Act requires the hotelier to display the room charges being leived and focuses on the safety and security of guests, proper maintenance of the property, hygiene, sanitation, and cleanliness of the premises. In case the above requirements are not met, the local administration has the powers to impose fines and penalties, and in extreme cases, can withdraw a hotel’s operating licences . In cases the above requirements are not met, the local administration has the powers to impose fine and penalties, and in the extreme cases, can withdraw a hotel’s operating licence . If the safari is in a state of disrepair , the premises can be temporarily sealed till the repairs are carried out .

11. Who is a guest? The commonly accepted description of a guest is ‘any traveller or person who is a recipient of hospitality or entertainment extended by another in the role of a host at a restaurant, hotel, or other establishment and pays for meals or acccommodations offered’.

12. Types of guests and visitors

13. There are various types of guests and visitors . Guest are of two types: resident visitors (in-house guests) who hire accommodation and use the various facilities of the hotel, and non-resident visitors (also called patrons) To qualify as a resident guest or in-house guest , a person has to stay for a minimum period of 24 hours in a hotel room for which he has paid and therefore entitled to the use of the facilities offered by the hotel. Non-resident visitors (also called patrons) are visitors who enjoy the facilities located in the public areas such as restaurants and bars, health club and spas, banquets, business centres upon payment for the services utilized.

14. There are two types of visitors to a hotel: ( i ) guests who are invitees of resident visitors or in-house guests for social meetings or meals to the resident visitor’s room or hotel’s restaurants , and (ii) vendors or suppliers of goods and service to the hotel attending meetings with various members of the management team.

15. Laws of torts or torts law or common law The legal difference between duty of care and negligence is defined under the law of torts. It is an intrinsic part of ‘public duty’, which the law recognizes to be the foremost duty of a hotelier. In the hotel, the most common reasons that can lead to litigation are negligence, assault and batterty , private nuisance, invaision of privacy, false imprisionment , theft and trespas . Tort is a French for wrong, a civil wrong, or wrongful act, whether intentional or unintentional (accidental), from which injury occurs to another.

16. Cont’d Torts include all negligence cases as well as intentional wrongs that result in harm. Negligence is unintentional tort, whereas assault and battery, trespas , false imprisonment, defamation, invasion of privacy and private nuisance are the examples of intentional tort.

17. Important legal terms of torts law Assault : the act or instance of unlawfully threatening or attempting to injure another person without physically touching the person. Battery : The unlawful and unwanted touching of striking of one person by another directly or indirectly with the intention of bringing about a harmful or offensive contact. Private nuisance : a broad legal concept including anything that disturbs the reasonable use of a property or endangers life and health or is offensive. Invasion of privacy : The wrongful intrusion by individuals or the government into the private affairs of individuals with the public has no concern or any wrong doing for which an action for damages may be brought.

18. Cont’d Theft: The dishonest taking of property belonging to another person with the intention of depriving the owner permanently of its possesion . Trespas : Committing an unlawful injury to the person, property, or rights of another, with actual or implied force or violence, especially to enter onto another’s land wrongfully or to infringe on the privacy, time, or attention of another person. False imprisonment: Restraining a person without lawful authority.

19. Liability Defined by the oxford dictionary as ‘the state of being legally responsible for something’ and by the online legal dictionary as:’ one of the most significant words in the field of law, liability means legal responsibility for one’s acts or omissions. Failure of a person or entity to meet that responsibility leaves him/her open to a lawsuit for any resulting damages or a court order to perform’ Vicarious liability : Based on the doctrine of respondent superior(Latin for let the master answer), imposes responsibility upon one person for the failure of another, with whom the person has a special relationship (such as an employer and an employee, or owner of a vehicle and a driver), to exercise such care as a reasonably prudent person would use under similar circumstances.

20. Cont’d Strict liability: Sometimes called absolute liability, is the legal responsibility for damages or injury, even if the person found strictly liable was not at fault or negligent. Strict liability has been applied to certain activities in tort, such as holding an employer absolutely liable for the torts of their employees, but today it is most commonly associated with defectively manufactured products. Due care: Means all employees are well trained and knowledegable of the industry standards and the standards of the hotel that they are required to follow when interacting with guests and in their interactions they exercise reasonable care that would be expected of any prudent person in a similar situation ensuring that their actions or inactions will not result in injury, loss, or damage to guests.

21. Negligence The failure to exercise reasonable care resulting in injury, loss or damage to the guests. Negligence is also referred to unintentional tort and can be gross negligence, contributory negligence or comparative negligence. Gross negligence : A conscious and voluntary disregard of the need to use reasonable care, which is likely to cause foreseeable grave injury or harm to persons, property, or both. Contributory negligence: A doctrine of common law that if a person was injured in a part due to his or her own negligence ( his or her negligence ‘contributed’ to the accident), the injured party would not be entitled to collect any damages (money) from another party who supposedly caused the accident.

22. Comparative negligence: A rule of law applied in accident cases to determine responsibility and damages based on the negligence of every party directly involved in the accident.

23. Duties of a hotelier towards guests The primary public duty is to welcome guests as per the standards of the hotel while exercising due care. A hotelier is duty bound to: Provide room reservation against confirmed room reservations. Provide safety and security to guests and their belongingness, which involves exercising ‘duty of care’ as follows: Maintaining guest privacy; Preventing personal injury and subsequent law suits; Liability for loss or damage to guest property; Bailment; Responsibility for guests lost and found items; Handling unusual incidents; Establishing and maintaining service standards;

24. Warning guests of any unsafe conditions or areas of the hotel; Hiring employees who are qualified and well trained in the hotel operations; and Handling guests with disabilities. Circumstances under which he or she can deny accommodation to a guest. Circumstances under which he or she can evict a guest. Serve food and beverage responsibly. Handle fraud committed by guests.

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