Wis JI-Civil 8050

A hotel innkeeper, who holds an establishment open to the public, has a duty to

provide reasonable security for the person and property of guests as well as the normal and

usual comforts customarily afforded. In providing reasonable security, it is the duty of a hotel

innkeeper to exercise ordinary care to provide adequate protection for guests and their

property from assaultive and other types of criminal activity.

A hotel innkeeper is not a guarantor of safety for guests and their property but is

required to provide security commensurate with the facts and circumstances that are or

should be apparent to the ordinarily prudent person, depending on the particular

circumstances of the location of the hotel (motel). On the other hand, there is no duty on the

part of a hotel innkeeper to guard against abnormal or unusual events or things which with

reasonable care, skill, and foresight could not have been anticipated, discovered, or

prevented; his or her duty is to protect only against those risks which the innkeeper could

have discovered in the exercise of ordinary care.

In some situations, greater than normal or usual security may be required, such as a

security force, closed circuit television surveillance, deadbolt and chain locks on individual

rooms or security doors on hotel entrance ways located away from the lobby. In other

situations, less security may be adequate. In determining whether ordinary care was exercised

in providing security, you may take into consideration industry standards, the community

crime rate, the extent of assaultive or criminal activity in the area or in similar business

enterprises, the presence of suspicious persons, the particular security problems posed by the

hotel's design, and any other facts and circumstances shown by the evidence bearing on the

subject.