Florida is a vacation paradise for a lot of folks. In fact, it’s estimated that more than 137 million visitors made their way here in 2022 alone, and those numbers just keep rising year after year.
The vast majority of visitors will, naturally, seek accommodations in a hotel – and they’re only partially focused on location. Hotel guests want safety in their “home away from home,” and hotels are legally obligated to provide a reasonably safe environment for their guests.
Unfortunately, a lot of hotels fall short when it comes to making sure their security measures are adequate. Guests get robbed, physically assaulted and more when hotels are negligent.
What does negligent security look like?
It’s important to remember that even top-rated hotels can have security lapses, including things like:
- Missing or broken surveillance cameras: Inadequate surveillance camera coverage, especially in hallways, exercise rooms and common areas, can leave blind spots in the hotel’s monitoring system – and that’s an open invitation for criminal activity.
- Failures to warn employees and guests: If there’s been a string of guest room break-ins in the hotel, the managers should make certain that employees are on alert for suspicious activity and guests should be warned to be cautious.
- Inadequate security personnel: Understaffed or poorly trained security can be tantamount to having no security at all. If the security personnel cannot effectively monitor the premises and respond to security threats, that’s unsafe for guests.
- Failures to control access: It can be frighteningly easy for someone to convince a distracted desk clerk to hand over the keys to a room that isn’t theirs – and that poses a huge safety risk for guests. Faulty locks on doors and windows are another issue, as are unmanned access points that can allow criminals to sneak into the hotel and bypass the lobby.
Most people who come to this state for vacation have a wonderful time. If you’re injured in an incident in your hotel that could have been prevented with better security, however, it is wise to seek legal guidance before you return home.
