What Should I Do If I Am Injured in a Hotel or Airbnb?

When you go on vacation or a business trip, you probably aren’t thinking about what happens if you get hurt. Most of the time, you’ll go and come back without any difficulty or injury. However, injuries at hotels and in Airbnb rentals do happen, and knowing your options for recourse can help you address any damages after the fact.

Hotels owe a certain level of responsibility to their guests. They must keep the premises safe (up to code) and follow a certain standard of cleanliness for their visitors. If you contract a horrible illness or fall through a railing and the hotel should have known about and addressed the issue, you have grounds for a personal injury case.

If you’re injured on the premises, you do need to immediately contact a hotel employee and notify him or her of your injury and provide details of the accident. Make sure you have pictures of the scene of the accident, and seek medical attention as soon as possible. You’ll likely have to fill out some type of accident report with the hotel. Do so as accurately as possible, but don’t accept any level of blame for the accident. Doing so on record could preclude you from pursing legal action later.

For serious injury and illness resulting from a hotel’s negligence, contact an attorney as soon as possible. Depending on the circumstances of the case, the hotel may not be the only defendant. A contracted service, manufacturer, or another guest may shoulder some of the blame for your injury. Hotel injury cases typically work like any other premises liability case.

Airbnb works differently than a hotel. In the company’s terms and conditions, you’ll find it’s absolved from any liability stemming from an accident. The company acts only as an intermediary, not as a rental maintenance or other type of service.

You could hold the homeowner responsible if he or she should have reasonably known about the hazard and failed to address it, but some homeowners may not have the insurance needed to cover a lawsuit. For instance, if the owner doesn’t have insurance or enough liquid assets, pursuing legal action may not yield any meaningful results. Airbnb does recommend hosts secure additional insurance or use proprietary host protection insurance programs.

In some cases, an Airbnb host will rent his or her home or apartment. In very limited cases, you may hold the landlord liable for the accident, particularly if the landlord knew of the Airbnb arrangement and is found to be negligent. Typically, this would require proof of prior knowledge of the hazard and failure to adequately address it.

Do inform the host of your injury and seek prompt medical attention. Document as much of the incident as possible, and reach out to an attorney. While the terms and conditions regarding Airbnb’s liability are fairly straightforward, the concept of the company is fairly new. You may have legal options against an Airbnb that aren’t covered under the release from liability.

If you travel frequently, you can also protect yourself with travel insurance. Regardless of where or how you’re injured, this type of insurance will cover the medical costs associated with an incident. Travel insurance may exclude certain parts of the world or situations, so look over potential policies carefully before investing.

Don’t hesitate to contact our team at Gordon, Elias, & Seely for more information about travel injuries, including hotel and Airbnb accident injuries. We can walk you through your legal options.

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