Hotel, Restaurant, and Travel Law by Karen Morris and Norman Cournoyer - Essay Example

Number] Hospitality Law Hotel, Restaurant, and Travel Law by Karen Morris and Norman Cournoyer wasthe textbook for his semester. It was a book that gave us the best explanation and practical application of the legal issues in hospitality, travel, and tourism. The book is a detailed and structured book which contains all aspects of the legal framework that could be applied to the hospitality industry in travel and tourism. In this semester, we learned about different aspects of laws, how they are applied, and how lawsuits can be avoided. Our teacher explained us through the case studies and examples given in our textbook. At first, we understood the major importance of hospitality laws. The knowledge of hospitality laws isn’t just a piece of information, but it is an important part that professionals and students must know to avoid heavy fines, negative publicity, and lawsuits. All the managers, employees, and staff members must be aware of all these laws. We were taught in this semester that hospitality laws have a wide range of implications that must be known and followed in order to avoid breaking state and federal laws. book serves as a handbook for professionals and everyone in this business as the subject is well distributed in chapters and units, updated examples are given, and cases are explained that cover a wide range of possibilities. hospitality industry, the main importance is given to the safety of the customer. Food safety laws are essential and it is important to have the knowledge of how to store and clean food to keep the customers satisfied and safe. This would avoid fines and lawsuits. Safety laws can also include the fire safety laws where the hotels must meet the guidelines on fire safety. Such laws and the following of them enhance the public image of the business and increase the customer base. Customers also feel safe as they rest easy and have the trust that the hotel would protect them in cases of fire and provide hygienic clean food (Morris & Cournoyer 23). Hospitality laws also enable the businesses to protect their reputation. Some of the contemporary hospitality laws introduced in the textbook and in class are discriminatory laws, employment laws, and access to disabled patrons. There must be no discrimination against customers or employees on the basis of their race, religion, sex, disability, or age. This leads to a negative impression and negative public image. Managers and employers must also respect the workers despite their background and avoid discrimination at workplace of any kind. They are legally obliged to respect the personal attributes of every worker (Morris & Cournoyer 42). We further learned that hospitality laws also include fair marketing and honouring agreements. Workers in the industry may have agreements with employers if they are members of some unions. The business must honour such agreements and respect the labour unions as they are public and can build a positive or negative reputation for the business. There are contracts signed with customers and contractors that must be honoured and completed. Any problems with such contracts may result in the legal issues in contract law (Morris & Cournoyer 84). Fair marketing practices must also be observed in order to avoid deception since its illegal. Advertising and marketing techniques must be in accordance to the laws without any unfair acts such as advertising a certain price and refusing it later. Deceptive marketing can also initiate a lawsuit. We further learned in the first chapter that proper record-keeping is also highly essential. Hospitality businesses have a variety of records that have to be maintained which includes employment contracts, payrolls, taxes, and tip sheets showing the tips received by employers. Managers and employees who understand the laws well can keep accurate records and would know how to handle important documentation. Record-keeping must be proper and updated otherwise the business can get in trouble at the hands of governmental agencies and lose important documentation about wages and tax deductions that would be helpful to prove facts in any concerned lawsuits. Throughout the first chapter of the book, we learned about the types of hospitality laws and the legal procedures in the hospitality industry. One important case is discussed in the first chapter which highlights the journey of the case throughout the courts. This procedure helps in understanding the laws and legal issues that can arise in the hospitality industry. Moreover, the civil laws and contract laws are explained. These include a variety of elements including negligence, unfair terms, or breach of contracts and agreements. The chapter explains the importance and types of legal issues which are commonly raised in the hospitality industry and how they must be avoided. The chapter 3 of the book about the civil rights and hospitality business focuses on the Civil Rights Act which governs the practices of the hospitality business. The Civil Rights Act was explained in class and how it was important to the hospitality industry was discussed. In this chapter, it wasn’t important to know who is included in this law and who is exempted. The main focus was on the Disabilities Act (Morris & Cournoyer 39). The business must grant special services and facilities to respect the disabled and prevent any sort of discrimination against them. The prevention of discrimination comes under this chapter in Civil Rights importance. chapter 4, we learned how important the contract law is in the hospitality industry today. Contract law has a wide application as it includes many elements that are used in the hospitality industry including several agreements and contracts with customers, employees, and suppliers. Contract law can include written or oral agreements and contracts which makes its implication even wider. The hospitality business managers and employers must be aware of all aspects of contract law to avoid lawsuits that are likely to occur. Breach of contracts may result in heavy fines and remedies for the hospitality business. The managers must ensure that the legality, consideration, capacity, and all other elements of a contract are present when a contract is created. They must also have legal advisors who would draft contracts with the appropriate terms and conditions which must be agreed by the other party. Unfair terms must be excluded as they can be fought in the court and result in compensation or remedies (Morris & Cournoyer 94). Breach of contract is a civil wrong which is bad for the reputation of the hospitality business. Thus, it is highly important to avoid contract breaches which we learned in this semester. We also learned in class what the consequences of breach of contract can be and how it must be avoided. Further, in chapter 5, we learned about the principles of negligence. Negligence is the most common and important tort. The tort of negligence consists of a wide range of scenarios which include the failure to reveal the true facts about the hospitality services which then lead to some damage, not drying the floor of the washroom after cleaning it, forgetting the baggage of a customer in the car, leaving nuts loose after a service, and so on. Such scenarios are created when there is a duty of care that is owed by one party to another, the duty of care is breached, and that breach of duty has caused some damage to the other party. The principles of negligence are explained in detail and we learned them thoroughly in this semester as they can be many cases in the hospitality industry. However, the managers and employees must understand these principles of negligence to ensure that they avoid cases of negligent. The duty of care is the duty owed by one person to another who is directly or indirectly in contact and who can hurt one another with their actions (Morris & Cournoyer 140). Negligence is when the defendant has been negligent with their actions which caused the breach of the duty and thus damage to the plaintiff which is compensated. In chapter 6, we learned further about the negligent practices that are likely to occur in the hospitality industry and how they can be avoided. In the hospitality industry, there are a number of people who owe duties of care to others. The bellboy is responsible for the baggage and must ensure that the customers’ baggage reaches their respected rooms. If it is lost and any damage occurs, it would be the negligence of the bellboy. It is the responsibility of the sweeper to keep the busy floors dry or keep warnings if they are wet. Failure to do may result in injuries caused to customers by falling which would then be compensated. In the classes, we are given examples and case studies through which the principles of negligence are understood keeping in mind the hospitality industry. Moreover, we also learned the ways in which managers can avoid negligence lawsuits. This can be done through training the employees and staff members to educate them about their duties and the consequences if that duty of care is breached. Thus, the staff members must ensure that they don’t act negligently that would cause damage to the customers or any other party (Morris & Cournoyer 236). Monitoring techniques and indictors must be used to track the actions of the employees and bonuses must be rewarded to employees who don’t act negligently. Chapter 8 is another important chapter which teaches us the relationship of the hospitality business with its guests and patrons. It is generally agreed that the business is responsible for the security of the guests and patrons. The premises must be safe for the guests and warnings should be given for any foreseeable danger. The business is also liable for failing to honour reservations due to other reasons. Damage or loss caused due to these unfulfilled reservations to the guests must be compensated by the business (Morris & Cournoyer 292). The business has a formal relationship with the guests and patrons. There are no personal relationships which mean guests and patrons can sue the business for any negligence or damage caused due to unfulfilling a promise. We learned in this semester that the hospitality business holds a wide range of liability on various aspects. They are liable for all incidents in which damage is caused to the guests due to their fault or inside the premises. However liability is limited when the business is not at fault and damage has occurred due to a personal assault between the guests and patrons, or where the damage is done by a third part which was reasonably unforeseeable (Morris & Cournoyer 300). The hospitality business also limits liability on any damage caused outside the premises. Chapter 9 of our textbook taught us a very important part of hospitality industry. Protecting the patron’s property is the duty of the hotel unless the patrons and guests are at fault. Most of the times, businesses limit their liability by putting up notices everywhere that release their liability from lost or damaged luggage. However, the businesses ensure that they are giving the guests and patrons services that would allow them to keep their luggage and valuables safe. This is through providing secured rooms, digital keys, and a security system which prevents such activities from taking place (Morris & Cournoyer 328). We also learned in this semester that how important it is for businesses to display notices and reasonably notify the guests and patrons about their limited liability on lost luggage. Failure to communicate the message to the patrons and not mentioning it in the contract as exemplary clause would result in a legal dispute (Morris & Cournoyer 331). The property of the patrons and guests is under the responsibility and care of the staff until it is in their hands and anywhere in the jurisdiction. There are also legal policies for guests or patrons who have left their personal property behind and haven’t returned or called for 60 days. Thus, until the property is in the responsibility of the staff or the fault is clearly noticed, there will be no limited liability and lawsuits can be filed against any damage to property. As the hospitality industry deals with the relationships with guests and services provided to them in lodging or hotels, the protection of guests’ rights is necessary to avoid legal issues. Many legal issues may arise if the guests’ rights are not fulfilled. These rights include the duty of care owed by the business to the guest to protect their property, ensure their safety, warn about dangers, and others. When a guest is living in the hotel or lodge, they have certain rights that must be protected under the Human Rights Act and Civil Rights Act (Morris & Cournoyer 392). The businesses must ensure the guests privacy, their right to information, their liberty, their freedom of expression, and their freedom of association. The business must not restrict any guest of their basic rights. Moreover, we learnt that the Civil Rights Act is very important as it ensures that there is no discrimination in any part from reservations to the granting of security measures. The Disability Act and non-discrimination laws are applied to avoid legal issues. The workforce must be diverse and there must be no discrimination practiced in hiring and firing. Another important thing that we learned in this semester about the hospitality law is the regulations and licensing which must be updated and followed. The business must consider the federal and state level regulations according to which the activities and services are planned (Morris & Cournoyer 592). These regulations must govern the practise as any violations may result in lawsuits and severe legal issues. The textbook outlines a number of regulations in chapter 15 that teach us the regulations and their implication in the business. Chapter 15 further explains the licensing which is involved with the hospitality business. An example of the licensing is the liquor licence which must be taken before serving liquor. Every business must have the license to sell liquor and alcohol to the guests and a separate license for selling it to minors. If there is no license, and alcohol is consumed by a customer, the business can be legally responsible for drunken driving cases and damages caused (Morris & Cournoyer 611). In this semester of hospitality law, the textbook has been highly helpful and useful to understand the concepts and practical applications of the laws. We have learned that in hospitality businesses, there is strict liability on many of the issues and regulations must guide the activities of managers and employees. Moreover, at some places, the liability is limited such as the property protection. Other than that, the rights of guests, their security, their well-being, their safety, and the non-discriminatory actions must be followed in order to avoid lawsuits. Lawsuits can be avoided only when they are well-known and understood. This semester has taught us what legal issues can occur and how they can be avoided in the hospitality business. Work Cited Morris, Karen & Cournoyer Norman. Hotel, Restaurant, and Travel Law. USA: Cengage Learning, 2007. Print. Read More