Hospitality Law Quiz

Chapter 9: The Legal Relationship Between Innkeepers and Guests

• The relationship between innkeepers and guests has become more complex.
• The guest and the innkeeper have a legally binding relationship.

The Innkeeper / An Inn

• The Innkeeper: Willing to offer suitable accommodation in exchange for reasonable compensation. Compensation tied to quality.
• An Inn: Establishments like resorts, hotels, hostels, bed-and-breakfasts, motels, motor inns, short-term rentals, and campgrounds. Has a formal legal definition.

The Guest

• Includes tourists, business travelers, conventioneers, and family members.
• Stays at the inn with the consent of the keeper.
• Guest expectations: Attractive, safe, and comfortable shelter, various amenities, and services.

Complimentary Rooms

• Legal duties, responsibilities, and obligations owed by the innkeeper to a paying guest remain valid.
• Accommodation properties do not seek compensation for complimentary rooms; therefore, they are provided at no expense to guests.

Non-Guests / Permanent Residents

• Non-Guests: Include visitors of guests, attendees of events, pedestrians passing through, permanent residents and retail lease holders.
• Permanent Residents: Guests who stay long-term, negotiating a long-term rental agreement; altering the relationship to a landlord-tenant one.

Landlord-Tenant Relationship

• Long-term rental of a hotel room likely makes the guest a tenant.
• If contested, courts consider criteria and variables to determine the occupant's status.
• In Alberta, a guest becoming a tenant requires living at the property for at least six consecutive months.
• R. v. Lowry (2006 ABPC 209) case: Lowry claimed tenant status, but the court ruled he was a guest.

General Public Access

• Hotel properties legally obligated to accept and support paying customers who follow house rules.
• Cannot discriminate against members of the general public.

Obligation to Provide Accommodation

• Legal obligation to accommodate law-abiding citizens who need/desire it and can pay.
• Staff must welcome and assist.
• Reasons for refusal: no rooms due to renovations/repairs, or rooms blocked for guest reservations.

Screening Guests - 01,02,03

• 01: Inns are prepared and encouraged to screen guests. Basis of screening must not be a protected category under human rights legislation.
• 02: Under the Alberta Innkeepers Act, guests must demonstrate ability/willingness to pay and be fit to be received.
• 03: Innkeepers can refuse or evict guests with contagious diseases like cholera, influenza, COVID, or tuberculosis (AIDS is not considered contagious). Real/imminent threat of transmission is required.

Refusing Accommodation

• Innkeepers can refuse if sufficient grounds exist.
• Grounds for refusal: guest is highly impaired, carries a deadly contagious disease, is known for property damage/disturbances, is known for failing to pay, or is expected to commit illegal/immoral acts.

The Check-In Registration Process

• Guest-innkeeper relationship starts when:
  • Guest with a reservation consults an agent.
  • Guest with no reservation and hotel can accommodate the walk-in.

The Check-Out Departure Process

• Guest-innkeeper relationship ends when:
  • Guest pays and checks out.
  • Checkout time has passed.
  • Guest's room bill is presented, but they refuse to pay.
  • Property serves notice to leave by a specific time.

Innkeepers Have Rights Too

• Innkeepers may refuse based on available rooms, lack of luggage, suspicious/delinquent guests, pets/emotional support animals (except service animals).
• Innkeepers have the right to set room rates, assign rooms, control room access, collect compensation, create house rules, and enforce regulations.

Right to Establish House Rules

• Innkeepers may enforce reasonable house rules (e.g., no glass in pool area, no bare feet in lobby, no horseplay).
• These rules protect the inn and guests.
• Inns must communicate rules to guests and warn about consequences of rule-breaking.

The Right to Evict Guests - 01 and 02

• 01: Eviction must be proper and justified with valid cause; guest physical harm not required to evict properly. Eviction occurs when the guest is informed they must leave. Conduct going forward is subject to court review.
• 02: Request to leave should be made privately. If refusal, repeat request. If still refusal, call police. Discretion and courtesy are essential.

The Right to Evict Non-Guests

• Persons in the inn without guest status can be asked to leave.
• Reasonable force can be used to evict a non-guest.
• Eviction handled with care and discretion.
• Excessive force prohibited.

Nonpayment

• Hotels may request payment for services due.
• Guests must provide reasonable explanations for refusal to pay or face eviction for nonpayment.

Persons of III-Repute

• Inns can evict persons with ill reputations (prostitutes, gamblers, drug dealers).
• Eviction must be legally justifiable and based on legitimate grounds. Illegitimate grounds lead to legal action against the inn.

Chapter 10: Managing Employees

• Introduction: Human Resources (HR) influences workforce mindset & behavior; encouraging personnel to embrace core products/contribute well.
• Management: Responsible for a safe workplace & positive employee behavior.
• Knowledge/Standards: Communication, Management by Walking Around (MBWA), Five dimensions of service (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy).
• What is an Employee?: Employee responsibilities-representing the operation, selling to the customer, delivering on the company's promise.

Employee Orientation

• Crucial to set a tone for the workplace, focusing on corporate culture and employee orientation.
• Orientation includes manuals, overview of organization, job details, and teamwork environment.

Orientation / Training / Development

• Orientation increases employee knowledge & reduces anxiety. Reduces turnover & boosts morale. Decrease recruitment and training costs.
• Training includes learning roles/expectations in building skills and talent, fostering learning, providing performance feedback and employee investment.

Setting Operational Performance Goals

• Establish SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely.

Motivating Employees / MBO

• Employees are motivated by how they're treated, ability to perform tasks, understanding what's in it for them, and the idea of being a knowledge worker.
• Management by Objectives (MBO) includes goal setting, objectives, and the appraisal process.

Employee Satisfaction / Social Media

• Employee satisfaction examined through looking at thoughts, workload, stress levels, pay, recognition, and support.
• Positive social media posts enhance employer reputation; conversely, negative posts will harm it.
• Social media policies cover a wide range of issues.

Employee Empowerment

• Employment Equity Act (Federal): Employers work under the guidelines set by the Federal government to establish an equitable employment environment.
• Provincial acts provide guidance for employees.
• Duty to accommodate (examples of accommodation): visual impairment.

Safe and Healthy Work Environments

• Mental/physical health wellness measures.
• Employee assistance.
• Prevention of workplace harassment.
• Occupational health evaluations.
• Pay equity; equal pay for equal work.
• Occupational Health and Safety, rights to know, refuse and participate.

Chapter 11: Ownership and Property

• Introduction: Ownership structures vary (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, co-operative).
• Management takes different forms (private, public, franchise, REIT, management contract).
• Financial Commitment Equals Ownership:
  • Sole proprietorship (owner/operator): requires time, money, and motivation.
  • Partnership: requires agreement on structure and organization; each partner has legal authority. Includes limited partnerships with varied liabilities.
• Corporation: Common in hospitality, publicly or privately owned, with lower tax rates; has shareholders, a board of directors, an executive team, and employees.
• Co-operatives: Separate legal entity requiring five-or-more members to have equal voting rights in decision-making.
• Franchises: Extremely common, franchise licence is sold to franchisees. Franchisee takes all the risk.
• Chains of owners: Multiple locations owned by a parent company.
• Hospitality for Sale: External factors are prior considerations when making an offer. Good counsel is necessary for review of assets and details.
• Financial Management: Financing sources for hospitality include private equity (personal savings), public equity (shares), debt financing (loans, bonds), and internally generated funds.

Absolute Liability

• Innkeepers legally responsible for protecting guest personal property during the stay.
• The Innkeeper is responsible for loss or damage caused by negligent staff. Due care begins from contact.
• Exemptions exist—e.g., guest leaves a door unlocked, act of nature.

Full Disclosure of Guest Property

• Guests should disclose value of personal property.
• Innkeepers can then properly safeguard property by, for example, using hotel safes and/or banking institutions.

Property Valuation

• Fair market estimate. Three approaches to valuation: Income capitalization, sales comparison, and cost approach.

Licences, Regulations, and Codes

• Federal regulations (Competition Act, Food and Drugs Act, Criminal Code).
• Municipal licenses (alcohol, food).
• Codes/standards define minimum standards of performance and health and safety.

Chapter 12: The Industry Today and Emerging Issues

• Assessing Risk and Responding to Emerging Issues: Hospitality and tourism businesses must monitor external issues (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, legal) that can threaten operations. Comprehensive PESTEL analysis helps evaluate threats and mitigate risks.
• Cannabis Goes Mainstream: Cannabis-based hospitality is rising, including CBD treatments, cannabis-infused food/beverage, legal recreational usage, and smoking on property. Specific examples include health/wellness hotels owned by Vantage Hospitality Group, with Alberta Hotel and Lodging offering guidelines.
• Evolving Laws Around Intoxication and Operating a "Vessel": Laws regarding intoxication and vessel operation are evolving. Examples include canoe operation as a vessel under impaired driving laws versus land vehicles needing motorization to apply to impaired driving statutes.
• Technology and Privacy: Case example: Marriott International data breach; illustrating personal data values, and acceptable measures for fair compensation.
• Indigenous Rights and Land Development Pressures: Case examples of Supreme Court rulings in removing barriers/conflicts regarding development on sacred First Nation land.
• Gig Workers Unionize: Gig worker attempts to unionize under the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) raise legal and organizational implications.
• Freedom of Movement for Foreign Hospitality Workers: Examples/cases on temporary foreign worker mobility within Canada.
• Toward a Sustainable Tourism Industry: Examining overtourism impact, and the role of COVID-19 in causing a global tourism reset and its sustainable implications.