Hotels vary hugely in size, style, facilities and comfort levels but all of them represent a typically large investment for their owners.
Uncertainty
Of course, everybody hopes that your hotel business will run smoothly and never face any serious problems. Unfortunately though, most of us realise that this is something we can’t rely on.
It’s a sad fact of life but things do go wrong and in the context of a hotel, that can prove to be exceptionally and possibly ruinously expensive. In a nutshell, that’s why hotel insurance exists.
What can go wrong?
At Specialist4Business, we have a long and in-depth history of providing hotel insurance to cope with some of the unexpected disasters life can throw at business owners in this area. Our knowledge here isn’t just theoretical because we have seen many examples of how just a little misfortune can became a financial catastrophe for the hotel concerned.
We’re most certainly not trying to frighten you but here is just a sample of the some of the perils that can arise from nowhere, throwing your business into potentially huge debt:
- fire;
- flood;
- burglary (including arson, theft and vandalism);
- claims against you from guests (for injury, damage to their property or various forms of commercial dispute such as misrepresentation);
- similar claims from members of the public who might have been passing through the hotel even if not as guests;
- being sued by an employee for compensation due to injuries they’ve suffered whilst progressing legitimate activities on your behalf (insurance cover in this area is typically a legal requirement under employers’ liability insurance legislation);
- natural disasters that put your building itself or its contents at risk. Note that if you have a mortgage or other substantial loan secured on the property, then your loan agreement might well contain clauses requiring you to keep your building fully insured at all times up to and including total re-build costs;
- business interruption that removes or drastically reduces your income. For example, not only might fire repair costs be extensive but while those repairs are being carried out, you might be unable to have guests on the premises and your income stream could shrink to zero for the duration of the work.
In almost all such cases, your first thought will be for the safety of your guests and employees but after that, the financial considerations will start to hit home. It’s exactly that moment that hotel insurance exists to address. In other words, hotel insurance is providing you with the peace of mind of knowing that you and your cheque book alone aren’t going to be left to foot the bill.
Your options
With the possible exception of employers’ liability insurance and buildings cover, you might not be under any obligation to take out such cover. However, it is possible that some local authority licencing regulations might oblige you to have more extensive cover in place.
In the final analysis, this perhaps shouldn’t be question of compulsion. Hotel insurance might be all that stands between you and financial disaster. Leaving things to chance and a hoped-for continuation of good luck might not be a sensible business strategy.
Why not contact us to find out more of what hotel insurance could do for you and how?
