Hotel Patron Suffers Skull Fracture After Fall in Shower

This case involves a female hotel guest who suffered a serious injury due to a defect in her room’s shower. On the date of the incident in question, the woman had checked into her room at a well-known hotel chain in anticipation of a business conference the following day. That night, the Plaintiff was preparing to take a shower in her room when she fell upon entering the shower. Later, it was discovered that the tub and shower were missing several important safety features, including non-slip grip strips and hand rails. This caused the Plaintiff to lose traction and fall immediately upon entering the shower, which resulted in a skull fracture as well as a large laceration.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Please explain your expertise as it pertains to hotel bathrooms and their safe design/construction.

2. Are you familiar with industry standards or national safety concerns which may apply to the venue in question?

Expert Witness Response E-006266

I am a well-known hotel consultant with 30+ years experience managing hotels and serving as a hotel executive in a major US corporation. I am the most widely-published US hotel consultant with 275 published articles and four hotel books. Hotel guests by common law are entitled to reasonable care by hotels to make their premises safe. On the most basic level, this means that hotels should install secure grab bars, hand holds, handleless soap holders and abrasive flooring. From the description above, it is clear that many of these measures were not in place, otherwise this unfortunate outcome could have been avoided. I have served in many expert witness assignments since 1992, many with hotel safety issues.