By Danielle Graves. Last Updated 15th April 2024. This guide will provide you with information about making a hotel accident claim. If you suffer an injury in a hotel as a guest, whether you are on a business trip or took a package holiday, you could be eligible to claim compensation. We explain what circumstances could entitle you to make a public liability claim. Additionally, we’ll explore a few examples of injuries you could suffer and how they could occur. We’ll also look at some of the most accident prone areas in hotels.
If you are eligible for personal injury compensation, you may like to know more about how claims are calculated. We take a look at the different factors that determine how much a personal injury claim for hotel accident could be worth.
If you have valid grounds to seek compensation, you may wish to instruct a solicitor to work on your claim. This guide concludes with a look at the benefits of having the support of a solicitor on a No Win No Fee basis.
Get in touch with an advisor from our team to discuss hotel accident claims. They can check your claim, and if you meet the eligibility requirements, they can connect you to one of the No Win No Fee solicitors from our panel.
To speak with an advisor:
- Fill in our ‘online enquiry’ form for a call back.
- Call 0333 000 0729
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Jump to a Section
- Eligibility Criteria For Hotel Accident Claims
- Hotel Accidents And Injuries Abroad
- Examples Of Accidents And Injuries In Hotels
- Time Limit For Hotel Accident Claims
- How Do I Start A Hotel Injury Claim?
- Hotel Injury Settlements
- No Win No Fee Legal Help For Hotel Accident Claims
- Helpful Links and Resources On Claiming Hotel Injury Compensation
Eligibility Criteria For Hotel Accident Claims
You might be eligible for compensation if you have been injured in a hotel while staying there as a guest. However, when suing a hotel, you will need to prove that you suffered your injury because the hotel breached its duty of care to you.
The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 states that the party in control of a space must do all that they can to ensure the reasonable safety of members of the public who are using this space for its intended purposes. This duty of care applies to the hotel operator and owner. Some of the things that hotels could do to ensure they are maintaining their duty of care could include:
- Performing regular risk/hazard assessments. This could help identify accident prone areas so the hotel operator can take steps to make them reasonably safe.
- Fixing any internal/external structural issues within a reasonable timeframe.
- Ensuring that the hotel has high hygiene standards. Poor hygiene can cause food poisoning, spread bed bugs and result in various infections.
- Identify any other health and safety issues that need to be addressed.
If a hotel was to fail to maintain their duty of care, you could suffer harm. Later in this guide, we will share some examples of how you could potentially become injured due to a hotel’s negligence.
Contact our team of advisors today if you are still unsure how to sue a hotel for negligence. They could also provide you with free legal advice regarding your specific claim.
Hotel Accidents And Injuries Abroad
In most cases where a hotel accident claim is being made, it is usually the hotel owner that is being sued as it is their responsibility to ensure you are in a safe environment whilst on their premises, regardless of whether you are a guest or member of staff. This is also true if you are injured abroad except sometimes the tour operator may have some responsibility.
According to ROSPA, 30 children have drowned in holiday swimming pools in the last 6 years. Of this statistic, the most common location of these drownings was hotels. Hotels could be held liable if an accident occurred in their swimming pool as a result of their failings, which could range from poor implementation of water safety regulations to poor maintenance of facilities.
Additionally, if you are injured while on a package holiday, your claim might be made against the holiday company or tour operator. You could also claim against the tour operator for injuries suffered at a hotel abroad while on a business trip as long as the injuries sustained were caused by a breach of the duty of care.
The personal injury lawyers on our panel have successfully dealt with hotel accident claims for incidents that have occurred abroad. If you contact a member of the Legal Helpline team, they can assess whether you have good grounds to make a hotel injury claim and if you do, you could be connected to one of the personal injury lawyers from our panel.
Examples Of Accidents And Injuries In Hotels
There are many ways in which an accident might occur causing someone to become injured, with some being more common than others. Some of these are:
- Slips, trips and falls – See below for a more detailed look at these types of accidents.
- Scalding and burns – Incorrect temperature fittings or settings on taps, showers, baths and towel rails in the hotel room can lead to these types of injuries.
- Getting stuck in a lift — Poor lift maintenance can lead to it getting stuck, causing psychological injuries.
Or it could be that the food or drink served in the hotel bar or restaurant was too hot for consumption causing you to burn your lips, mouth and throat.
- Poor Hygiene standards – Food poisoning is quite common, particularly when abroad and although often passes after a day or two, can sometimes cause more serious complications resulting in lifelong problems. The hotel restaurant must ensure good hygiene standards.
- Faulty furniture and fittings – Accidents involving furniture that is old and worn are quite commonplace. Structural damage to beds, tables and chairs could result in them collapsing if never checked, maintained, repaired or replaced. Also, poorly positioned shelving and units may cause injuries, or shelving and furniture that has not been properly installed could result in them collapsing.
- Faulty Electrics – If electrical items or fittings are not regularly maintained, they could become dangerous.
- Bed Bugs – Bed bugs can cause bad skin irritation and are very hard to get rid of, often getting into clothing and travelling home with you. If the hotel is poorly maintained and with poor hygiene, it can increase the risk of these being present.
- Lift and Stair accidents – Accidents due to faulty lifts and staircases can result in someone becoming seriously injured and in rare cases their injuries could be fatal depending on the actual circumstances of the accident.
- Leisure facilities, spa and swimming pools – Sustaining an injury whilst in these areas may occur to a variety of reasons. If you have been injured or become ill after using the swimming pool for example, it may be due to poor cleaning regimes or problems with too many chemicals being added to the water for example. Or maybe you were injured due to broken or defective equipment in the leisure areas. Taking a photo of the defective equipment could be beneficial in proving liability. Also if you have suffered after a treatment in the spa, you may also be eligible to make a claim if the treatment was carried out incorrectly.
These are just a few of the possible accidents and injuries that could and do happen every year. If you have suffered an injury whilst working in a hotel or whilst staying there as a guest, and it wasn’t your fault, but due to the negligence of the hotel, call Legal Helpline for expert help and advice on how to make a successful compensation claim.
Time Limit For Hotel Accident Claims
As discussed earlier, you might be eligible to claim compensation for an accident in a hotel if it was caused by a liable party’s negligence. Alternatively, if your injuries were caused by the tour operator breaching their duty of care, you could claim against them. However, if you are suing a hotel for negligence or a tour operator, you must start the claims process within the personal injury claim time limit.
Under the Limitation Act 1980, this is typically three years from the date the accident happened. However, if your hotel accident occurred abroad, time limits may be different. In addition to this, there are exceptional circumstances that suspend time limits. They include:
- Injured parties who lack the mental capacity to start a hotel accident claim themselves. If this is the case, then time limits are suspended indefinitely. However, a litigation friend could start a claim on their behalf at any point during the time limit’s suspension. In the event that the injured party regains their capacity, then the time limit is no longer suspended.
- Children under the age of 18 also cannot start a personal injury claim. As with injured parties that lack the capacity to start the claims process, a litigation friend could be appointed to act on their behalf. However, once the injured party reaches their 18th birthday, they will have three years to start a hotel injury claim if one hasn’t been started already.
Seek advice about hotel, slip and fall settlements, from our advisors. Expert hotel accident claims advice is entirely free. If your hotel injury claim seems like it has a reasonable chance of success, they can help you get started right away. They can also help you get appointed as a litigation friend to claim for hotel accidents on behalf of a party who can’t claim for themself.
How Do I Prove A Hotel Injury Claim?
If you intend to make a hotel accident claim, you must ensure that you gather evidence to support your case. Evidence is an important part of the personal injury claims process, as it can help prove who is responsible for your injuries, how severe they are, and how they will affect you going forwards.
Some examples of evidence that you could use to help support your claim include:
- Medical records: Your medical records can be used as medical evidence to help you prove how severe your injuries are, and to give more insight into the treatment you will receive in the future.
- Witness contact details: Taking down the contact details of potential witnesses means that their statements can be taken by a professional at a later date.
- CCTV footage: If your accident was captured by a CCTV camera, you might be able to request the footage to be used as evidence.
- Photographs: Taking photographs of the accident site or any visible injuries can also help prove your case.
These are a small selection of the kinds of evidence that you could use to prove a hotel accident claim. If you choose to work with a solicitor on your case, they can help you explore other avenues of evidence.
To learn more about how to claim compensation for an injury in a hotel, contact our team of advisors today. They can discuss the claims process in more detail, and could potentially connect you with one of the personal injury solicitors from our panel. Alternatively, you can read on to learn about how much compensation you could receive for a hotel injury.
Hotel Injury Settlements
If you make a successful personal injury claim, your hotel accident compensation could consist of two parts: general and special damages.
The first part is general damages, and it pays compensation for the physical injuries and mental suffering caused by the hotel accident. Those responsible for valuing general damages may refer to the compensation brackets found in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help them. The JCG lists these brackets next to different mental and physical injuries to provide guidance when valuing compensation claims.
This part of your claim will consider what medical treatment you required (or will need in the future), the severity of your injuries and what effect they are expected to have on your lifestyle as well as the overall prognosis.
In our table below, we have listed some of the JCG’s compensation guidelines for some common injuries that could be compensated for in a hotel accident.
In addition to these figures, we include the top row, which illustrates how you could be compensated for multiple serious injuries and any incurred costs. This figure is not taken from the JCG. As all hotel accident claims are different, the table is only provided for guidance.
| Injury | Comments | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple severe injuries and special damages | Settlements may include compensation for multiple serious injuries plus the costs incurred, such as lost wages and home help. | Up to £300,000+ |
| Severe Back Injury (i) | A severe back injury that involved damage to the nerve roots and spinal cord and result in serious consequences. | £111,150 to £196,450 |
| Moderate Back Injury (i) | The lumbar vertebrae has suffered a crush/compression fracture that causes constant discomfort and pain. | £33,880 to £47,320 |
| Severe Ankle Injury | The ankle will require time in plaster or will need pins/plates inserted, which will limit the person's walking ability. | £38,210 to £61,090 |
| Wrist Injury | The person suffers with a significant permanent disability, however, some useful wrist movement will remain. | £29,900 to £47,810 |
| Moderate Neck Injury (i) | Fractures or dislocation that may require spinal fusion and cause immediate symptoms. | £30,500 to £46,970 |
| Moderate Foot Injury | A displaced metatarsal fractures that causes continuing symptoms and results in a permanent deformity. | £16,770 to £30,500 |
| Serious Shoulder Injury | Damage to the lower part of the brachial plexus and the shoulder is dislocated which causes neck and shoulder pain. | £15,580 to £23,430 |
| Arm Injury | Simple forearm fractures. | £8,060 to £23,430 |
| Less Serious Leg Injury (iii) | Simple tibia or fibula fractures that cause dull aching and restricted leg movement. | Up to £14,450 |
Hotel Injury Settlements – What Are Special Damages In Hotel Accident Claims?
In addition to general damages, you may also be awarded special damages as part of your hotel injury compensation. This is to compensate you for the financial losses you incurred due to your injuries.
However, to claim special damages, you will need to provide evidence of your losses. For example, receipts and bank statements could be used as proof.
Some examples of special damages that may be included with hotel accident claims include:
- Loss of earnings if you’ve required time off work to recover from your injuries.
- Travel costs. For example, taxi fares to medical appointments.
- Out-of-pocket medical expenses, such as the costs of prescriptions, physiotherapy and other medical bills.
- The cost of accommodation modifications, such as the fitting of railings or a ramp.
- Personal property damaged in the accident that caused your injuries.
If you would like to know how to sue a hotel for injury, get in touch with our advisors. They can also offer you free advice for your potential claim. Additionally, they can value your hotel accident claim, which can help you get a fair settlement should you be eligible to pursue it.
No Win No Fee Legal Help For Hotel Accident Claims
Now that you’ve learned more about claiming hotel injury compensation, let’s discuss how an expert solicitor could help you. While you aren’t obligated to work with a solicitor when you make a claim, their services can come with many benefits.
For example, a solicitor can help you negotiate a settlement. They can also talk to witnesses, request CCTV footage, and help you find other evidence to support your claim. Our panel of solicitors have years of experience in personal injury claims and can use this experience to help you through the claims process.
Plus, our panel work on a No Win No Fee basis. This means that you don’t need to pay them an upfront fee to start work on your claim, because they’ll ask you to sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) first. They also won’t ask you to pay for their work if your claim fails.
If your claim is successful, then your solicitor will take their payment in the form of a success fee, which is deducted from your compensation. They’ll take this as a small, legally-capped percentage of what you receive.
Contact Us
Our team are on hand to help whenever you need us. Get in touch today, and an advisor will start your free consultation. If they find that you could have a valid claim, they may then connect you with a solicitor from our panel.
- Call 0333 000 0729
- Contact us online.
- Use the live chat feature.
Helpful Links and Resources On Claiming Hotel Injury Compensation
Below, we’ve included some resources that you may find useful on claiming hotel injury compensation:
- Holiday accident abroad compensation claims: Have you been injured in a hotel while on holiday abroad? If so this guide provides advice on claiming compensation for holiday accidents abroad.
- Hotel GDPR Data Breach Claims: If a hotel has breached your data, find out what you can do in order to make a claim in this guide.
- Public liability claims: Learn more about how to make a public liability claim.
- Gov.UK – Package travel regulations: Government regulations and guidelines on the responsibilities of the travel industries when selling and providing a package holiday.
- NHS – Food poisoning: Here’s a guide by the NHS on food poisoning
To learn more about hotel accident claims and how to work with an injury lawyer to get compensation, please get in touch.
