HET301A: Risk Management and Legal Issues in Hotel Incident

This case study examines a hotel incident involving a guest injury due to a wrinkled carpet, leading to significant medical expenses and legal repercussions for the hotel. The incident highlights the failure of the hotel management to address known maintenance issues, particularly the loose carpet in the restaurant area. The study identifies foreseeable risks and explores potential risk mitigation activities, such as using gripping pins or properly attaching the carpet to tack strips, which could have prevented the accident. The legal ramifications included a substantial settlement payment to the injured guest. The analysis underscores the importance of proactive risk management and regular maintenance to ensure guest safety and avoid costly legal consequences, referencing academic articles on hotel management, disaster risk management, and customer relationship management to support its findings.

Risk Management
in Hotel
NAME OF THE STUDENT
NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY
AUTHOR NOTE

Description of the Incident
 Norma Minke comprised of a part
of a visiting tour group which
stayed at the hotel Heritage New
London on the October 3, 2010,
on the basis of words of her
attorney, Joseph M. Barnes of
that of Reardon Law Firm.
 She was engaged in walking
from that of the restaurant to
front lobby at the time when she
tripped over on a wrinkled
carpet, caught her toe on it and
landed on her elbow.

Kind of Incident
 The incident was minor as she
caught her toe and landed on
elbow
 Minke suffered from five
surgeries and she also had to
undergo total elbow replacement

Date and Location of the
Incident
 The incident took place on the 3rd
of October in the year 2013
 The location of the incident was
the Holiday Inn on that of North
Frontage Road

Parties of the Incident
 The different parties pertaining
to the incident was Norman
Minke who had to suffer injuries
on account of the incident
 The management of the hotel
knew about the different kinds of
maintenance issues and when
the hotel was inspected they had
found out that the carpet of the
hotel was loose but still no step
was taken to avert this incident

Legal Issues
 The attorney of Norman Minke
Joseph M. Barnes said that Minke
had to undergo five surgeries and
since the elbow was not healing in
the right manner had to pot for total
elbow replacement
 Barnes said he deposed the
corporation owner, Sunil Nayak of
Princeton, NJ.
 The hotel was represented by the
lawyers Attorney Paul Meade of the
Hallor & sage law firm
 Heritage New London had to pay $ 1
million for the trip and fall case
within the hotel

Foreseeable nature of
Incident
 The incident was foreseeable as
there were talks about the
licence of the hotel being pulled
down on account of maintenance
issues but the hotel continued to
deliver services
 The inspection carried out at the
hotel had revealed that the
carpet within that of the
restaurant was quite loose.

Impact of incident on all
parties
 The incident caused grievous
injury for Norman Minke and she
suffered injuries on account of
the incident
 In the event of her elbow not
healing right she had to undergo
total elbow replacement
 The medical bills of Norman
Minke amounted to $ 240,000

Identification of risk mitigation activities that could have been undertaken
 In the year 2009, the inspection
carried out at the hotel revealed
maintenance issues .It was found
that the carpet of restaurant was
loose however no step was taken
 The nail-like gripping pins could
have been made use of that can
help in sticking the carpet to the
ground. The pins can penetrate
through that of the backing layer
of the carpet that can help in
keeping the carpet in the proper
position

Appropriate risk control that could
have been utilised
 The carpet being attached to
the tack-strip along one wall and
stretched on the tack-strip on
that of the opposing wall can
help in the prevention of
accidents
 This procedure should be
continued throughout entire
perimeter pertaining to the room.
This kind of risk control could
have helped in minimizing the
risk control

References
Ling, L., Dong, Y., Guo, X., & Liang, L. (2015). Availability management of
hotel rooms under cooperation with online travel
agencies. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 50, 145-
152.
Nguyen, D. N., Imamura, F., & Iuchi, K. (2017). Public-private
collaboration for disaster risk management: A case study of hotels in
Matsushima, Japan. Tourism Management, 61, 129-140.
Rahimi, R., & Kozak, M. (2017). Impact of customer relationship
management on customer satisfaction: The case of a budget hotel
chain. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34(1), 40-51.
Ryan, C. (2015). Trends in hospitality management research: a personal
reflection. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 27(3), 340-361.

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