254.80 Hotelkeeper's liability. - Wisconsin Statutes

254.80

254.80 Hotelkeeper's liability.

254.80(1)

(1) A hotelkeeper who complies with sub. (2) is not liable to a guest for loss of money, jewelry, precious metals or stones, personal ornaments or valuable papers which are not offered for safekeeping.

254.80(2)

(2) To secure exemption from liability the hotelkeeper shall do all of the following:

254.80(2)(a)

(a) Have doors on sleeping rooms equipped with locks or bolts.

254.80(2)(b)

(b) Offer, by notice printed in large plain English type and kept conspicuously posted in each sleeping room, to receive valuable articles for safekeeping, and explain in the notice that the hotel is not liable for loss unless articles are tendered for safekeeping.

254.80(2)(c)

(c) Keep a safe or vault suitable for keeping the articles and receive them for safekeeping when tendered by a guest, except as provided in sub. (3).

254.80(3)

(3) A hotelkeeper is liable for loss of articles accepted for safekeeping up to $300. The hotelkeeper need not receive for safekeeping property over $300 in value. This subsection may be varied by written agreement between the parties.

254.80 - ANNOT.

History: 1975 c. 413 s. 15; Stats. 1975 s. 50.80; 1991 a. 316; 1993 a. 27 s. 85; Stats. 1993 s. 254.80.

254.80 - ANNOT.

Notwithstanding the hotelkeepers' liability laws, a hotel continues to have a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect its guests from injury at the hands of third persons who are not hotel employees, and to protect a guest who is subjected to a criminal act during the process of checking in. As the provisions for notice and a safe are no longer useful for a guest who has checked out, they cannot help a guest who has not even penetrated the interior of his room and had a chance to use them. H.K. Mallak, Inc. v. Fairfield FMC Corp. 209 F.3d 960 (2000).