Can a Hotel Be Liable for Sexual Assault on its Property?

Property owners have a duty to keep the premises reasonably safe for visitors at all times.

Hotel owners are property owners that can be held liable for failure to keep the property safe, and that can include failing to act to protect individuals from sexual assault or rape. Read on to learn more.

Georgia’s Laws Regarding Sexual Assault on Hotel Property

Under Georgia law, business owners are responsible for the safety of their property. That means the owners of hotels have a duty of care to protect people from known dangers, including criminal activity.

For example, hotels can be held liable for allowing the use of their property for sex trafficking or for turning a blind eye to the illicit uses of their space. There are several ongoing lawsuits involving sex trafficking rings and hotels. People can be raped or assaulted on hotel properties where security was inadequate.

Although hotels and other business owners are not always responsible for your safety or for other people’s criminal acts, they are expected to act in a reasonable way to protect guests from known criminal activity.

Some steps that hotel and other business owners can take to keep their guests safe include:

Installing cameras;
Conducting background and criminal checks on all employees;
Making sure key cards are properly coded and can be traced;
Checking identification;
Having policies and procedures for disabling key cards that are lost;
Installing chain locks;
Requiring elevator key cards to get onto floors with rooms;
Providing adequate lighting and security in parking lots and parking decks; and,
Having security guards on the property.

Georgia’s Laws Regarding Sexual Assault on Hotel Property

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