Hotel Laws

NameInstructor’s Name
Course
Date
Hotel Management Laws
The hospitality industry is an industry full of pressure due to the long hours of inventory control, purchasing of required goods, employees management, food preparations, service administrators and many more. These activities fall under the duties of the hotel manager who should always ready themselves to handle any incident in the hotel correctly and also ensure that his primary responsibility as a manager that is providing profit for the hotel as well as ensuring guest happiness (Brown, Ritcher and LLP 1).
The highest point of the management pressure is a lawsuit. Therefore, the management must put all the measures in place to avoid any lawsuits. This would involve appropriately managing hospitality operations. The proper legal management may be as follows;
On the Liquor License, the manager should ensure that the hotel is licensed to sell alcoholic beverages as well ensure that the liquor sold in the establishment is authentic. The manager is also supposed to ensure the presence of a responsible person inside the establishment to oversee the sale of the liquor. Education of all the staff selling liquor management is also an important step in handling any cases that would arise from the establishment on alcohol.
Junior employees bullying by the senior employees is a very common thing in most workplaces. A manager should ensure that he sets up proper punishments for any senior employees caught bullying the junior employees.

This will help avoid any bullying incidents in the hotel, therefore, avoiding lawsuits by employees or employee’s federations.
The management has a duty to protect the hotel from any lawsuits. Therefore, the manager is supposed to insert exclusion clauses like the hotel is not liable for any property lost by guests in the hotel. These terms should be explained to the guests thoroughly, and they should help keep the hotel from lawsuits in case the guests lose their properties in the hotel.
A managing contract is also critical when anyone is taking jobs in hotel management. These contracts explain the roles of the owner of the hotel and that of the manager, it also explains payment plans for the manager, bonuses as well as loss and cases of manager firing. This agreement is very significant, and so it should be adequately detailed and understood by both parties. It helps the manager avoid any misunderstanding that would lead to court battles (O’Follan & Rutherford 207).
Other lawsuits should be prevented by any hotel managers as they may end up tainting the hotel image. One of this lawsuit is the one involving hiring and firing of employees. This is possible through following a strict procedure that should be clearly outlined in the employees policy of the hotel as well as in their contacts. Each employee should sign a contract that should be performance based, and termination may occur when employees do not perform or when they behave inappropriately in workplaces. This would give the hotel legal ground to fire the employees. These contracts should also outline the basis under which an employee would receive any bonuses or any promotion to keep all the employees motivated and ready to work hard. As a manager listening to all complaints from the employees is a good idea since it provides the manager with information that he may never have gotten on an improvement of services as well as a rise in profit margins. The listening also helps weed out the bullies as the junior employees would get a chance to report the injustices to the manager. The bullies would receive warnings that would be acted upon if they persisted with their inappropriate behavior. This would help keep all employees disciplined and help keep a harassment-free environment (Barth 32).
A good manager also knows all the liabilities that lie ahead of the business he is managing. Liabilities like the Ohio state liquor laws that hold an establishment and its management responsible for any deaths of people drinking in the establishments. This burden can be handled by teaching the hospitality staff how to detect intoxication in their customers and how to deny them liquor when they are intoxicated. The manager also needs to be aware of the employee theft and fraud liability that can lead to losses in the hotel. The employees may be stealing food or money from the unsuspecting customers. This can be handled by doing full background checks before employing any employee, ensuring the fraud detection policies are put in place to help detect any fraudsters. The other liability is fire, which can come from the kitchen caused by a leakage or just any employee’s mistake (Hawes 4). Another liability is that of food spoilage as well as diseases resulting from the spoilt food. It’s the responsibility of any good managers to ensure that all the employees are well equipped to handle these liabilities by teaching them how to respond to any of them. In the case of a fire, the manager should carry out fire drills to ensure that all the employees get their responsibilities right in case a fire breaks out. The manager should also teach the kitchen staff how to detect gas leakages and how to respond to them.
It is the manager’s duty to guarantee that guests are safe in the hotel and that the guest properties do not get lost in the hotel. The manager should ensure that the hotels premises get the regular check for faults or non-functioning utilities like elevators. The faulty utilities should be repaired or replaced to avoid any accidents or injuries. The manager should also ensure that individual bins and inclined pavements set up where there are staircases for the differently abled to have easy movement around the hotel. Training the hotel staff on handling the differently abled is also another step in ensuring their comfortability in the hotel. Any guest properties lost inside the hotel fall under the responsibility of the manager and, therefore, he should ensure that there are security cameras to watch over the hotel 24 hours a day. He should also ensure that nobody can get unauthorized entry into the guest rooms (Barth 34).
The manager also has a legal obligation to keep the hotel safe and running as well as to save lives inside the hotel. Therefore, he should ensure that employees serving liquor are well trained on how to treat drunken customers, that they know all the liquor legislations as well as all the signs of an intoxicated customer and how to deny them more alcohol in a respectable manner. All the employees of the hotel should be trained on how to handle a case of a foodborne disease in case one happens in the hotel, and first aiders should be available around the clock to handle the case (Kan 7).
It is also the legal obligation of the manager to ensure that there are no insecurities or thefts in the hotel. This is possible by ensuring that there are enough trained guards patrolling the hotel 24 hours a day and that the guards are well equipped to handle any cases. The guards should be trained on communication skills so that they can handle any emergency cases adequately.
Any good manager should show a high standard of care for the hotel, its guests as well as its employees. This can be done by procuring insurance covers like auto insurance for any vehicles belonging to the hotel, Fire covers in case of any fire accidents, Medical covers for all the employees and guests, Accidents and Injuries covers for the employees and guests of the hotel, products and operations covers to cover any damages caused by the food of the hotel.
In conclusion, it is the duty of the manager to run a peaceful and calm hotel without any discrimination and to ensure that the guests are well served and happy. The manager should always find means to improve the hotel and keep the guests coming back for the experience.

References
Barth, Stephen. Hospitality Law: New York. John Wiley & Sons Inc. 2011. Print.
Brown, Dan, Ritcher, S.M. and LLP Hampton. Common Legal Issues that Confront Hotel Operators. 2000. Web. 5 Dec 2015.
Hawes, Catherine. ” 5 key legal issues that affect the hospitality industry.”
.2014. Web. 5 Dec 2015.
Kan D. “Hotel Management”. 1999. Web. 5 Dec 2015.
O’Follan, M.J and Rutherford, D.G. “Hotel Management and Operations”: New York. John Wiley & Sons Inc.2013. Print