You’re injured at a Marriott, Hilton, or Holiday Inn hotel and assume you can sue the hotel chain for your injuries. However, most major hotel brands don’t actually own the properties operating under their names. Complex franchise agreements, management contracts, and corporate structures create liability questions about who’s responsible when guests are injured. The sign on the building says one thing, but the legal entities owning and operating the property might be completely different companies with varying degrees of responsibility for your safety.
Our friends at The Layton Law Firm regularly unravel these corporate relationships to identify all potentially liable parties. A personal injury lawyer experienced with hotel premises liability knows that franchise agreements, management companies, property owners, and brand corporations all have different duties and insurance coverage that affect who you can sue and how much you can recover.
The Franchise Model Dominates Hospitality
Most hotels operating under nationally recognized brand names are franchises. A local property owner pays franchise fees to use the Marriott, Hilton, or other brand name, comply with brand standards, and participate in the reservation system.
The franchise agreement creates a business relationship between the brand corporation and the local franchisee, but it doesn’t make them the same legal entity. The property owner remains a separate company that owns and operates the hotel.
Identifying The Property Owner
The actual property owner is typically your primary defendant in hotel injury cases. They control the premises, employ staff, maintain facilities, and make operational decisions affecting guest safety.
Property owners might be:
- Limited liability companies created specifically for the hotel
- Real estate investment trusts
- Private individuals or families
- Investment groups
- Parent corporations owning multiple properties
Finding the true property owner requires investigating business records, franchise agreements, and corporate structures that aren’t always obvious to guests.
Management Company Responsibilities
Many hotel owners hire separate management companies to operate properties. These management firms handle daily operations, hire staff, maintain facilities, and implement safety protocols.
Management companies might share liability for injuries when they control aspects of hotel operations related to the dangerous condition that caused your injury. Their duties under management agreements affect whether they can be sued alongside property owners.
Franchisor Brand Standards And Control
Major hotel brands like Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt create detailed standards that franchisees must follow covering everything from room design to safety protocols. These brand standards exist to create consistent guest experiences across all properties.
When brand corporations exercise significant control over safety matters, they might share liability for injuries at franchise locations. The level of control determines whether franchisors can be held responsible for franchisee negligence.
When Brand Corporations Face Liability
Franchisors generally aren’t liable for franchise location negligence under the independent contractor principle. The franchisee operates independently and makes its own decisions about daily operations.
However, franchisors can face liability when they:
- Exercise direct control over the specific aspect of operations that caused injury
- Require franchisees to use particular equipment or procedures that create dangers
- Become aware of safety problems at franchise locations but fail to address them
- Undertake safety inspections and approve unsafe conditions
- Market themselves in ways that create apparent authority
The key is whether the franchisor simply set standards or actually controlled operations related to your injury.
Apparent Agency And Brand Identity
Some courts find franchisors liable under apparent agency theories when they’ve created public impressions that franchise locations are owned and controlled by the brand corporation. If reasonable guests believe they’re dealing with Marriott corporate rather than an independent franchisee, Marriott might be liable for franchise negligence.
This theory recognizes that guests choose hotels based on brand reputation and reasonably expect the brand to ensure safety across all locations.
Common Hotel Injury Scenarios
Certain injury types occur frequently at hotels, each with different liability questions.
Slip And Falls
Wet floors in lobbies, bathrooms, or pool areas cause many hotel injuries. Liability depends on who maintains these areas under franchise and management agreements.
Property owners and management companies typically control daily maintenance, but franchisors sometimes mandate specific cleaning products or schedules.
Swimming Pool Accidents
Pool safety involves equipment maintenance, supervision requirements, and compliance with local codes. Management companies often control pool operations, but franchise agreements might specify safety standards.
Inadequate Security
Assaults, robberies, and other crimes at hotels create liability when hotels fail to provide reasonable security in high-crime areas. Property owners make decisions about security staffing and systems, though franchise agreements sometimes require minimum security measures.
Elevator And Mechanical Failures
Equipment maintenance responsibilities might be divided between property owners, management companies, and outside contractors. Determining who failed to properly maintain equipment requires investigating maintenance agreements and contracts.
Bed Bug Infestations
Bed bug problems creating health issues involve housekeeping supervision and pest control decisions typically controlled by property owners and management companies.
Food Poisoning
Hotel restaurants might be operated by separate restaurant companies under lease agreements. Food poisoning liability could involve the restaurant operator, property owner, or both depending on contractual relationships.
Multiple Defendants Provide More Coverage
Hotel injury cases often name multiple defendants including property owners, management companies, and sometimes brand corporations. This strategy provides access to multiple insurance policies and increases total available coverage.
Property owners carry premises liability insurance. Management companies have professional liability coverage. Franchise corporations maintain umbrella policies covering their brand exposure.
Serious injuries requiring millions in compensation benefit from multiple defendants with separate insurance coverage.
Investigation Requirements
Identifying all potentially liable parties requires investigating corporate structures and contractual relationships that aren’t public information. Documents needed include:
- Franchise agreements
- Management contracts
- Property ownership records
- Insurance policies
- Corporate formation documents
- Maintenance contracts
These documents reveal who controlled what aspects of hotel operations and who bears legal responsibility for your injuries.
Strategic Litigation Considerations
Naming franchise corporations as defendants complicates litigation because they have substantial resources to defend claims aggressively. They employ experienced defense attorneys who fight to dismiss franchise claims early.
However, the threat of bad publicity from litigation and potential judgments creates settlement pressure that might not exist when suing only local property owners.
Forum Selection And Choice Of Law
Franchise agreements often include forum selection clauses requiring litigation in specific jurisdictions and choice of law provisions determining which state’s laws apply.
These provisions can force you to sue far from where the injury occurred and under laws less favorable than your home state’s laws.
Determining Who Pays
When multiple defendants share liability, they might dispute among themselves who should pay what percentage. These allocation battles can delay resolution but ultimately don’t affect your right to recover from any responsible party.
Under joint and several liability in many states, you can collect your entire judgment from any defendant regardless of their percentage of fault. They can later seek contribution from other responsible parties.
Holding All Responsible Parties Accountable
Hotel injuries involve corporate structures designed to limit liability and create confusion about who’s responsible for guest safety. Understanding franchise relationships, management agreements, and brand corporation control helps identify all potentially liable parties and maximize available insurance coverage. We investigate hotel corporate structures, obtain franchise agreements and management contracts, and pursue claims against property owners, management companies, and franchise corporations when their control over operations contributed to your injuries. If you’ve been injured at a hotel and need help determining who can be held responsible, contact our team to discuss how we can identify all liable parties and pursue full compensation for your injuries.