Injured at a Hotel, Motel, or Airbnb? Your Rights Under Ohio Premises Law

Published June 25, 2019 · Injury Law Basics

Summer travel season is here. Families are heading to tournaments, reunions, and weekend getaways, and a lot of them will spend a few nights in a hotel off I-75, a motel near the lake, or a rented house they found online. Most stays are uneventful. But every summer, some guests go home with a broken wrist from a slippery tub, a child's injury from an unsafe pool, or worse, an assault in a dark parking lot.

When the injury happens away from home, people tend to pack up, drive back, and try to forget about it. That is understandable, and it is often a mistake. Here is what Ohio law says about the duties owed to hotel and rental guests, and what you should do before you check out.

What a hotel owes its guests

A hotel or motel guest is what Ohio law calls a business invitee: someone who is on the property for the owner's commercial benefit. The Supreme Court of Ohio has long held that a business owes invitees a duty of ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition, so that customers are not exposed to needless and unreasonable risks. Paschal v. Rite Aid Pharmacy, Inc., 18 Ohio St.3d 203 (1985). The business is not an insurer of every guest's safety, and the defense will often argue that a hazard was so obvious the guest should have protected himself. But a hotel that knows or should know about a dangerous condition and does nothing about it can be held responsible.

That duty applies to the guest room, but also to everything else the hotel controls: the lobby, hallways, stairways, elevators, pool and fitness areas, breakfast room, and parking lot.

Common hotel and motel injuries

Pool and hot-tub injuries. Slippery decks, broken drain covers, missing depth markings, inadequate fencing or gates, poor water chemistry, and pools left open without required safety equipment can all cause serious harm, especially to children.

Bathroom and tub falls. Hotel bathtubs without slip-resistant surfaces or grab bars, leaking fixtures, and loose tile cause a steady stream of falls. A guest is entitled to expect that the bathroom provided is reasonably safe to use. I wrote about how fall cases are proven in an earlier post on store slip-and-falls; the same principles of notice and proof apply in a hotel.

Balcony, railing, and stair defects. Loose railings, broken steps, poor lighting in stairwells, and balconies that have not been inspected can cause catastrophic falls.

Bedbugs. Bites, allergic reactions, infections, and the cost of treating luggage and belongings can all be part of a claim when a hotel knew or should have known about an infestation and rented the room anyway.

Inadequate security. Assaults in parking lots, corridors, and rooms are among the most serious hotel cases. A hotel that knew of prior crimes on or near the property and failed to take reasonable steps, such as lighting, working door locks, cameras, or security staff, may be responsible for injuries caused by a criminal. I covered how these claims work in a post on negligent security.

Who actually gets sued: the brand or the owner?

The name on the sign is often not the company that owns or runs the hotel. Many hotels are franchises: a local company owns and operates the building under a license from a national brand. Sometimes a separate management company runs the day-to-day operations.

Who is responsible depends on who controlled the condition that caused the injury. Usually that is the local owner or operator. In some cases the franchisor's own standards or involvement can make it responsible too. Identifying the right parties early matters, because each may have its own insurance.

Short-term rentals: a different situation

Renting a house or apartment through an online platform is a different legal setting. Ohio's landlord-tenant law, which imposes specific duties on residential landlords under R.C. 5321.04, such as keeping the premises fit and habitable and keeping common areas safe, does not apply to hotels, motels, tourist homes, and similar facilities used for transient occupancy. R.C. 5321.01(C)(3) excludes them from the definition of "residential premises." A short-term rental may fall into the same transient-occupancy category, and in any event the injured guest's claim will usually rest on ordinary premises-liability principles: did the host know or should the host have known about the danger?

The practical complications are about insurance:

• The host's own policy. A homeowner's policy may or may not cover injuries to paying guests. Some policies exclude business use of the home.
• The platform's programs. Some rental platforms advertise liability protection for hosts. The terms, limits, and exclusions vary and can change, and they may not apply to every situation. They must be read carefully, not assumed.
• Other parties. A property manager, a cleaning or maintenance company, or the owner of a defective product in the home may also be responsible.

Waivers and fine print

Some rentals and resort activities ask guests to sign a waiver or accept terms online. In February I wrote about how Ohio courts enforce liability waivers. Those documents are read strictly, and many do not cover what happened. Keep a copy and let a lawyer read it.

What to do before you check out

The single most important thing is to create a record before you leave.

1. Report the injury to the front desk or host in writing, and ask for a copy of the incident report or at least the name of the person you spoke with.
2. Photograph the hazard: the tub, the wet floor, the broken railing, the pool gate, the bites, the dark corner of the lot.
3. Get names and contact information for staff and other guests who saw what happened.
4. Ask that video be preserved, and follow up in writing. Hotel security footage is often recorded over quickly.
5. Keep your receipt or reservation confirmation, and save messages with an online host.
6. Get medical care where you are, and follow up with your own doctor when you get home.

If you were hurt out of town

Ohio residents injured while traveling, and visitors hurt in the Dayton area, can still pursue claims. When the injury happened in another state, that state's law and deadlines may govern, so do not wait. Our office handles cases for people injured here in the Miami Valley and helps Ohio families sort out claims arising elsewhere. More about our premises liability and personal injury practice is on our site.

What this means for you

Hotels, motels, and rental hosts owe their guests reasonable care. When a pool, a tub, a railing, or a security failure causes a serious injury, there is often a claim, and often more than one responsible party and more than one insurance policy. The key is documenting it before you leave and not letting the claim fade once you are home.