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Nolo’s Encyclopedia of Everyday Law Phần 6 pdf
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T R A V E L
11.17
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the laws governing most types of accommodations are similar. To simplify matters, we use the term “hotel”
to cover all types of accommodations.
In addition, the following information
only applies to hotels in the United
States unless we indicate otherwise.
Must a hotel provide me with a
room, assuming there’s a
vacancy?
Generally, yes. The most basic legal
principal concerning hotels is the
“duty to receive.” Created hundreds of
years ago under the common law of
England, the duty to receive required
hotel keepers to accept and take care
of any traveler who presented himself
as a paying customer, as long as the
inn had room. Although this basic
duty to receive has been modified
somewhat by state laws, it is still the
basis for many of the fundamental
obligations that a hotel has to its
guests.
A hotel can say “no” only if it reasonably believes that you will:
• not pay for your room
• injure or annoy other guests, or
• physically damage or otherwise
harm the hotel (including giving it
a bad reputation).
If you arrive drunk and disorderly,
threaten another guest or appear to
want to use the room for prostitution,
you’ll probably be turned away.
Must a hotel honor my prepaid or
guaranteed reservation?
A prepaid or guaranteed reservation is
one where you give the hotel a credit
card number and the hotel promises
to have a room for you no matter
when you show up, even if it’s midnight or 3:00 a.m. If you have a guaranteed reservation and the hotel does
not hold a room for you, the hotel has
breached a contract and must do everything it can to find you a room—
even if that means sending you to
another hotel. If you guaranteed your
reservation with a credit or debit card,
the hotel may be required under the
terms of its agreement with the card
issuer to:
• pay for your first night’s stay at an
alternate hotel
• provide free transportation to the
alternate hotel
• pay for a three-minute phone call to
let your family or office know where
you’ll be staying, and
• forward all incoming calls to your
new hotel.
Be sure to request these services.
In all cases, if your alternate lodging
is more expensive, the hotel should
pay the difference.
Is a guaranteed reservation the
same as a confirmed
reservation?
If you have not paid for the reservation
in advance or guaranteed it, but have
received a “confirmed reservation”
from the hotel, the hotel must keep a
room for you unless you haven’t met
the conditions of the reservation. For
example, it is common for a hotel to
say, “We will hold the room for you
until 6:00 p.m.” or, “We will hold the
room for you if we receive a written
confirmation and deposit” by a certain
date. If you do not fulfill these obliga-
N o l o ’ s E n c y c l o p e d i a o f E v e r y d a y L a w
11.18
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tions, then the hotel does not have to
hold the room for you. If you do meet
your obligations and the hotel doesn’t
have a room for you, it must do its
best to find you comparable lodging.
Do I have the right to a
particular room?
Generally, no. A hotel manager can
put you anywhere or move you from
one room to another, as long as it is
not done in a discriminatory way. The
only exception is if you’ve reserved a
certain room, like the honeymoon
suite for your honeymoon.
If it’s crucial for you to have a particular room, make sure the hotel
management knows in advance and
that you receive written confirmation
for your reservation of that particular
room. If the room you reserved is occupied by other guests, the management may, but is not obligated to,
move those guests to another room.
(A hotel can satisfy its obligation to
you simply by providing a room comparable to the one you reserved.) If the
room is uninhabitable (say, a water
pipe breaks), then the hotel is excused
from providing that particular room.
Do I have a right to privacy
in my room?
If you are using your room in a normal way, not engaging in illegal acts
or disturbing other guests, then you
have a limited right of privacy in your
room. But if the hotel management
believes that you are carrying out
illegal activities (such as dealing
drugs), it is entitled to enter and
search your room, even without your
permission. The hotel management
cannot, however, authorize the police
to search your room without your
permission or a search warrant.
The hotel management also has the
right to enter your room to clean or
perform needed maintenance, or if
necessary, to stop you from disturbing
other guests (for example, if you are
playing the television very loudly) or
destroying hotel property.
It is generally considered a violation of your privacy if the hotel tells
an outside person the number of your
room. The hotel can tell an inquirer
whether you are a guest at the hotel
and can connect any caller to your
room. If you wish to maintain complete privacy, you must make it clear
to the management that you are not
to be contacted by anyone and that no
one is to be told whether or not you
are staying at the hotel.
Why do hotel room rates vary
so much?
There is no set formula for determining what amount a hotel can charge,
although rates must be “reasonable.”
Many states require hotels to post the
maximum charge for a room in a conspicuous place in each room (usually
on the back of the door). Although
the hotel may not charge more than
this maximum rate (often referred to
as the “rack rate”), it certainly may
rent the room for less.
Always check your hotel bill to see
whether it matches the rate you were
quoted when you reserved the room.
Frequently, additional charges will be
tacked on. Some, such as visitor fees
T R A V E L
11.19
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or “bed taxes,” may be mandated by
local or state law and are probably legitimate.
Other fees, such as service charges or
telephone charges, may not be legitimate. A hotel cannot legally charge
you more than the rate it quoted to
you when you made your reservation,
unless you approve the charges in advance. Many states have laws requiring
that all additional charges be posted or
approved in writing by guests.
Ask About
Discount Rates
When you reserve a hotel room, you may
be able to get a reduced price simply by
asking about discounts available to the
following people:
• corporate employees—many hotels
have negotiated rates with large
corporations that are 10%-30% lower
than their standard rates and these
rates are generally available to
anyone who asks for them (although
an occasional desk clerk will ask for a
business card or other ID)
• seniors
• families with children
• AAA members
• members of certain professional
associations (like the American
Medical Association or American Bar
Association)
• guests paying with certain credit cards
• members of frequent flyer or frequent
guest programs, or
• federal and state government
employees.
I paid a lot for a room that fell
way short of my expectations. Is
there anything I can do?
Sometimes you may find yourself in a
hotel room that looks nothing like the
one described to you or pictured in an
advertisement or brochure. If the advertisement or description was intentionally deceptive, the hotel may be
guilty of fraud. The law generally
allows a limited amount of exaggeration or “puffing” in advertisements,
but it does not allow intentional deception. When you find yourself in
such a situation, your best bet is to
talk to the manager immediately—he
may be able to reduce your room
charge or move you to a better room.
If the problem is with the entire hotel, however (for example, it’s in a
very dangerous neighborhood), you’re
better off requesting a refund and
finding other accommodations.
If your hotel room is unclean or
unsanitary, report it to the manager
and the housekeeping department immediately. If they are unable to clean
your room to your satisfaction, request a new room or a refund. Should
you end up in a serious dispute over
the cleanliness of a room, the health
N o l o ’ s E n c y c l o p e d i a o f E v e r y d a y L a w
11.20
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and safety codes for the city or state
where the hotel is located may provide the best support for your argument. Report any serious violation to
local health authorities, not only to
bolster your claims, but as a service to
future guests. Take photographs of
the offending conditions if you can.
I fell and hurt myself on a hotel’s
premises. Do I have any
recourse against the hotel?
A hotel may be liable if you slip or
trip and fall on the hotel premises—
for example, on spilled food or drink
in a hotel bar or restaurant, on snow
and ice that has not been cleared from
a walkway, or on moist tile floors or
other slick surfaces. You might also
be hurt because of a design or building flaw (such as steps that are too
steep) or the hotel’s failing to light an
area properly.
Does a hotel have any special
obligation to protect its guests
around the swimming pool?
Because swimming pools create a potentially dangerous situation, hotels
must be especially vigilant in designing, maintaining and controlling access to them. Disclaimers such as
“swim at your own risk” are unlikely
to protect a hotel from liability if it
didn’t use sufficient care to protect its
guests, such as failing to install a
fence around a pool. This is true even
if you are drunk. Most courts require
hotels to anticipate that children,
inebriated guests and others might
find their ways into the pool if safeguards don’t keep them out.
Is the hotel responsible if I am
the victim of a crime at or near
the hotel?
A hotel cannot be held liable for
crimes committed on or near the hotel
unless it should have anticipated the
crime (for example, the hotel is in a
very high crime area) and could have
prevented it, either by providing sufficient warnings or taking better security measures. In such situations, the
hotel’s general duty to warn you
about dangerous conditions may extend to a duty to warn about crime in
or around the hotel. Furthermore, the
hotel’s actions—such as failure to
install proper locks on windows and
doors, provide adequate lighting in
parking areas or take adequate measures to ensure that passkeys are not
used by criminals—may make the
hotel at least partially liable.
Is the hotel responsible if my
belongings are stolen?
Traditionally, hotels were liable for
virtually all loss or theft of a guest’s
property. Today, however, most states
limit a hotel’s liability if it takes certain steps to protect your belongings.
For cash, jewelry and other valuables,
a hotel is required to provide a safe.
Most states require the hotel to tell
you that the safe is available, that the
hotel has limited liability for valuables left in the safe and that the hotel
may have no liability if you do not
place valuables in the safe.
The limitation of liability also includes a limitation for clothing and
other personal goods you bring to the
T R A V E L
11.21
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hotel. While you are not required to
check expensive suits or mink stoles
at the front desk as valuables, clothing
and expensive luggage often exceed
the amount of the hotel’s maximum
liability.
Generally, these limited liability
laws were passed to protect hotels
from forces beyond their control, such
as fire or theft. If the hotel fails to use
reasonable care to protect your valuables (for example, it leaves the safe
unlocked), it will probably be liable
for the full value of your loss.
Is the hotel liable if my car is
damaged, broken into or
stolen?
Traditionally, hotels were strictly
liable for protecting your means of
transportation. This meant caring for
your horses, saddles, tack and the rest.
These days, hotels are required to use
reasonable care to protect your car.
Many state laws set a monetary limit
for loss or damage to a vehicle or its
contents. But even in these states,
negligence by the hotel—including
the valet—could make the hotel liable
for damage it should have foreseen.
Whether the contents of a car
parked at a hotel are the hotel’s responsibility is not clear. They do not
fall into the traditional categories of
goods within the hotel or transportation. The hotel is most likely to be
liable when you pay for parking, a
valet or other employee takes your car,
retains the keys and is informed of the
value of the contents of the car.
What if I don’t check out when I
say I will?
In most states, renting a hotel room
gives you what is called a “revocable
license” to use the room. This right is
much more limited than the rights a
tenant has when renting an apartment. Formal eviction proceedings
don’t have to be brought if you overstay your welcome. The hotel can
simply change the lock (easy to do
today because hotels often use
preprogrammed entry cards, not keys)
and pack up your items.
Travel Agents
One of the most common
disruptions of marital bliss is
the choice of where to spend a
vacation. What this country
needs is an ocean in the
mountains.
—PAUL SWEENEY
At some point you’re likely to rely on
a travel agent—someone authorized to
sell travel services to the public—to
help you make decisions about where,
when and how to travel. A travel
agent’s legal responsibilities vary de-