Hotel Room Injuries in Georgia

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A hotel guest’s injury claim in Georgia draws on the premises statute, the innkeeper article that sets a hotel’s duties toward its guests and their property, and, for an injury caused by another person’s crime, the negligent security article that applies to causes of action arising on or after April 21, 2025.

The Premises Statute

An owner or occupier of land who invites others onto the premises for a lawful purpose is liable for injuries caused by a failure to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe (OCGA 51-3-1).

How that duty applies inside a room is shown by Bright v. Sandstone Hospitality, LLC (Ga. Ct. App.). A guest at a franchised hotel used a bathroom grab bar to pull up while bathing, the bar came loose, and the guest fell. The trial court granted summary judgment to the hotel’s owner and to the franchisor. The Court of Appeals reversed as to the owner: evidence that the grab bar had been repaired before, together with testimony that it was installed defectively and did not meet the applicable building codes, left a jury question on whether the owner used ordinary care in keeping the premises safe. It affirmed as to the franchisor, holding that the display of the brand’s signs or trademark did not show an apparent agency and that the franchise agreement showed no intent to benefit hotel guests as third parties.

The Innkeeper Article

Georgia’s innkeeper article defines, “[a]s used in this article,” a “guest” as “a person who pays a fee to the keeper of an inn for the purpose of entertainment at that inn” and an “inn” as “all taverns, hotels, and houses of public general entertainment for guests” (OCGA 43-21-1). “An innkeeper is a depository for hire; however, given the nature of his business, his liability is governed by more stringent rules, as are set out in this article” (OCGA 43-21-4). “An innkeeper shall exercise extraordinary diligence in preserving the property entrusted to his care by his guests, provided that, if the loss of such entrusted property occurs through theft and if the guest has complied with all reasonable rules of the inn, the innkeeper shall be liable as an insurer of the stolen property” (OCGA 43-21-8).

Crimes by Third Persons

For a cause of action arising on or after April 21, 2025, Georgia’s negligent security article governs an injury caused by another person’s wrongful conduct. Under the Act that created it, Section 6 reaches only causes of action that arose on or after the Act’s effective date, and a claim that arose before then is decided under the law in force before the Act (SB 68 (2025), as passed, Section 9(b)); the Code’s history note gives that date as April 21, 2025 (OCGA 51-3-57).

The article’s “owner or occupier” covers anyone who owns, leases, runs, or manages the property, along with that person’s directors, officers, employees, and agents (OCGA 51-3-50(2)). One route to showing that the crime was foreseeable is the owner or occupier’s actual knowledge of earlier, substantially similar wrongful acts on the premises, on adjoining property, or within 500 yards, which should have told it that such conduct on the premises was reasonably likely (OCGA 51-3-51(1)(B)). The plaintiff must also show that the crime followed foreseeably from the third person’s exploiting a specific physical condition of the premises, known to the owner or occupier, that made wrongful conduct there substantially more likely than in the surrounding area generally (OCGA 51-3-51(3)). If the owner or occupier is found liable, the trier of fact apportions fault under OCGA 51-12-33 and must count among those at fault the third person whose wrongful conduct helped cause the injury (OCGA 51-3-56(1)).

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a small bed-and-breakfast held to the innkeeper’s standard?
Not necessarily. “Persons entertaining only a few individuals, or simply for the accommodation of travelers, are not innkeepers but are depositories for hire and are bound to ordinary diligence” (OCGA 43-21-2).

Does reporting a threat to 9-1-1 affect a hotel’s liability for a crime?
It can. A particularized warning of imminent wrongful conduct by a third person does not make an owner or occupier liable for negligent security if it made any reasonable effort to alert law enforcement, and the statute treats calling 9-1-1, or reporting the warning to law enforcement some other way, as that effort (OCGA 51-3-54).

Must a hotel give a receipt for checked baggage?
Yes, on request. An innkeeper “shall give receipts or checks for all baggage delivered to such inn or house of entertainment when requested to do so by the guest owning the baggage,” without an additional charge while the owner remains a guest (OCGA 43-21-7(a)).

  • OCGA 51-3-1; Bright v. Sandstone Hospitality, LLC (Ga. Ct. App.)
  • OCGA 43-21-1; OCGA 43-21-2; OCGA 43-21-4; OCGA 43-21-7(a); OCGA 43-21-8
  • OCGA 51-3-50(2); OCGA 51-3-51(1)(B), (3); OCGA 51-3-54; OCGA 51-3-56(1); OCGA 51-3-57 (history note)
  • SB 68 (2025), as passed, Section 9(b)

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about the Georgia statutes that bear on injuries at hotels. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Liability depends on the facts of each incident and on the date the cause of action arose. Anyone injured at a hotel should consult a licensed Georgia attorney promptly about the particular situation.

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