HospitalityLawyer.com Blog

With the pervasiveness of in-room safes, the industry needs to request clarifying language in innkeeper statutes.

Do state statutes requiring safes/safety deposit boxes include in-room safes? The statutory language needs to clarify whether in-room safes are included in the definition of a “safe” or “safety deposit box.”  And if so, are innkeepers still required to have safety deposit boxes at the front desk?

So far, we are aware that Hawaii and Massachusetts have modified their statutes.

Hawaii’s innkeeper statute contains a separate clause limiting liability when  a “security box” is in a guest’s room.  The statute is available at http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol11_Ch0476-0490/HRS0486K/HRS_0486K-0004.htm and is excerpted below:

If the keeper of a hotel provides a security box in the room of any guest and prominently posts a notice stating that a security box is provided in which valuables may be deposited and explains the liability for losses therefrom, the keeper of the hotel shall not be liable in any sum for any loss sustained by the guest unless the loss is due to the negligence or fault of the keeper of the hotel.

Similarly, Massachusetts’ statute also contains a separate clause limiting liability when a safe is provided in a guest’s room.  The statute is available at http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/140-10.htm and is excerpted below:

Whenever an innholder provides a security box in the room of any guest, the innholder shall not be liable for the loss of any items deposited in the security box, by theft or otherwise, in excess of one thousand dollars; provided, however, that the provisions of section thirteen have been complied with.

If your hotel has in-rooms safes, have you continued to maintain safety deposit boxes at the front desk?