Lodging is a property class with a severity problem bolted onto the liability side. The property half is decided by a percentage named-storm deductible applied to insured value rather than to the loss, and by whether your business income coverage reaches an evacuation that produced no damage at all. The liability half is decided by whether assault, negligent security and human-trafficking allegations are sublimited, excluded, or covered — because that is where the large claims in this class now come from. Everything else is housekeeping, the pool and the shuttle van, and those matter too.
Coastal and I-16 corridor Georgia is full of lodging: the Savannah historic district and its airport cluster, Pooler, Richmond Hill, Hinesville and the Fort Stewart rotations, Statesboro's university calendar, Augusta's one enormous week, the beach traffic to Tybee and the Golden Isles, and the exit-ramp flags along every interstate. Most of these are owner-operated or small-portfolio properties, frequently franchised, frequently family-run.
And most of them are insured on a program assembled around the building, which is the half that is comparatively easy. The half that ruins a year is a full house emptied by an evacuation order, or a single security claim that outruns a sublimit nobody read. This page is about those, and about the operational lines that sit between them.
| Line | What drives it on a lodging account |
|---|---|
| Property & time element | Usually the majority of the program near the coast. Wind deductible, roof age, TIV, business income worksheet — see sections two and three. |
| General liability | Guest slip-and-fall is the frequency. Assault and negligent security is the severity — see section four. |
| Liquor liability | Any bar, lounge, poolside service or manager's reception. See liquor liability. |
| Workers comp | Housekeeping drives it. Moderate rate, large payroll, high frequency — see section seven. |
| Commercial auto | The shuttle van. Passenger liability, driver qualification, seating capacity. Covered auto symbols. |
| Equipment breakdown | Boilers, chillers, elevators, laundry, walk-ins — plus the rooms you cannot sell without them. Equipment breakdown. |
| Crime | Cash handling, employee theft of guest property, and social engineering fraud on deposits. |
| Cyber | Card data and a property management system holding guest identity records. Cyber liability. |
| Flood | Excluded from the property form. Separate placement — commercial flood. |
On coastal and near-coastal lodging, named-storm wind and hail carries its own deductible, stated as a percentage rather than as the flat dollar figure that applies to fire and other perils. The percentage is normally applied to the total insured value of the affected property — not to the size of the claim. That distinction is the whole game.
A hotel insured at $8,000,000 of building and contents with a 5% named-storm deductible carries a $400,000 retention. A serious but not catastrophic hurricane claim on that property — roof covering, soffit, water intrusion into a block of rooms, signage, the pool enclosure — frequently lands near or below that number. Large loss, no recovery.
Four mechanics decide the outcome, and all four are in the deductible schedule rather than the headline limit:
Then check the sublimits that quietly cap recovery on an older property: ordinance or law where a rebuild must meet current code, debris removal, and any roof-surfacing limitation or cosmetic damage exclusion. Background on the mechanism: named-storm deductibles and coastal property in Georgia and South Carolina.
This is the most important coverage question in coastal lodging and the one most often answered wrong.
Business income coverage responds to a necessary suspension of operations caused by direct physical loss or damage to the insured property from a covered peril. A mandatory evacuation ahead of a storm that then turns east, or an order that empties a sold-out hotel during peak season, produces a catastrophic revenue loss and no trigger.
The extensions that might respond are narrow, and each has to be read on its own terms:
One more, and it is underrated: extended period of indemnity. Occupancy does not return to normal the day the doors reopen. Group business books months ahead and reroutes; leisure traffic waits for the news cycle to clear. A thirty-day extension is usually far too short on a group- or leisure-driven property. See business income mechanics.
Guest slip-and-fall is the frequency claim in lodging. The severity claim is a security allegation, and hospitality liability forms now restrict it in one of three ways:
The reason this reaches further than owners expect: these suits are not pleaded as intentional acts. They are pleaded as negligent security, negligent hiring, negligent training and failure to warn. A broadly worded assault-related exclusion can therefore capture a parking lot incident, an uncontrolled side entrance or a key-card failure — allegations an owner would never have filed under “assault.”
Three things to do: read the sublimit and whether defense erodes it; ask directly, in writing, whether a trafficking exclusion is attached and what language it uses; and treat camera coverage and retention, exterior and parking lighting, entrance and corridor access control, key-card and re-keying discipline, night staffing, incident logging and documented staff training as underwriting evidence. On this class of account those items increasingly decide whether the coverage is offered at all, not merely what it costs. An umbrella does not repair a sublimited or excluded primary.
At common law an innkeeper was nearly an insurer of a guest's property. Every state has modified that by statute — but the statutes limit the operator's liability on conditions. Those conditions typically include providing a safe or safe-deposit facility for valuables and conspicuously posting notice of the safe and of the statutory limitation, in the place and manner the statute specifies. Where the notice is missing, illegible or posted somewhere other than where the statute requires, the cap can be lost.
The insurance side has three separate parts, and they are easy to confuse:
Check valet and baggage separately: a guest vehicle handed to an employee raises garage keepers-style questions a standard hotel package may not address. Innkeeper statutes vary by state and are amended — confirm the current posting requirement with counsel.
The hotel classification other than restaurant employees covers room attendants, laundry, houseman, maintenance, front desk and management. The rate is moderate by construction standards; the payroll is large and the housekeeping frequency is high. Strains and disc injuries from making beds, lifting mattresses and pushing loaded carts; slips in bathrooms and lobbies; falls from step stools; chemical and respiratory exposure in laundry; sharps in room trash; burns in laundry and kitchen; and maintenance staff on pool chemistry, rooftop units and electrical. Front desk and night audit add a low-frequency, high-severity workplace violence exposure.
Five levers: keep restaurant, banquet and clerical payroll out of the hotel class at audit; manage the mod, which here is frequency-driven; watch the rooms-per-shift quota, because the injury rate tracks it; run return-to-work, which is unusually easy to staff in a hotel; and handle contract or staffing-firm housekeeping with certificates and correct classification rather than an assumption.
We are an independent agency in Statesboro that places every line a lodging property carries through one person. In this class the failure is rarely the rate — it is a deductible nobody did the arithmetic on and a sublimit nobody read. The first review is short: what your named-storm deductible works out to in dollars, whether anything in your program responds to an evacuation with no damage, whether assault and trafficking are sublimited or excluded and whether defense erodes the sublimit, whether your business income figure and extended period of indemnity match how your occupancy actually recovers, and whether your franchise agreement's insurance requirements are being met. More on how we work: Statesboro and Savannah. Related classes: habitational property, short-term rentals, RV parks and campgrounds.
Send your property declarations with the deductible and sublimit schedules, your business income worksheet, your general liability form with any assault or trafficking endorsements, and your franchise insurance requirements. We'll tell you what the named-storm deductible works out to, whether an evacuation with no damage is covered anywhere in the program, whether defense costs erode your assault sublimit, and whether your extended period of indemnity matches how your occupancy really comes back.
Get a free coverage reviewLodging is property-driven, and near the coast the property and time-element portion routinely makes up the majority of the program, with general liability, liquor, auto, workers comp, equipment breakdown, crime and cyber making up the rest. The biggest variables are distance to coast and flood zone, construction type, roof age and attachment, total insured value including business income, the named-storm deductible expressed as a percentage of value, sprinkler and alarm protection, and the amenity list — pool, spa, waterslide, fitness center, bar, banquet space, shuttle van. Operationally, ADR and occupancy set the business income figure, the franchise flag imposes its own insurance requirements, and the security posture matters because assault, negligent security and trafficking allegations are now the dominant severity driver. Interior versus exterior corridor is a real underwriting question, and extended-stay, budget and full-service properties underwrite differently. Loss history matters in a specific way: frequent guest slip-and-fall and one large assault claim are different problems and should be marketed differently.
Named-storm wind and hail carries a separate deductible stated as a percentage rather than a flat dollar amount, and the percentage normally applies to the total insured value of the affected property rather than to the loss. On a hotel insured at $8 million, a 5% named-storm deductible is a $400,000 retention — and a serious but non-catastrophic hurricane claim frequently lands near or below that, producing a large loss and no recovery. Four mechanics decide the outcome: whether the percentage applies per building, per occurrence or per location; whether the trigger is any wind event or only a formally named storm; whether the basis is replacement cost or actual cash value; and whether the business income deductible is a waiting period in days rather than a percentage. Then check ordinance or law, debris removal, and any roof-surfacing limitation or cosmetic damage exclusion, which quietly cap recovery on older buildings. Flood is excluded from the property form and needs separate placement.
Often not under the main insuring agreement, which requires a suspension caused by direct physical loss or damage from a covered peril. An evacuation ahead of a storm that turns, emptying a sold-out hotel with no damage at all, produces a severe revenue loss and no trigger. The extensions that might respond are narrow. Civil authority generally requires access prohibited by order resulting from physical damage to property other than yours, usually within a stated distance, with a waiting period and a short maximum duration. Ingress and egress, where offered, may be broader because it may not require a formal order. Dependent property may respond where a demand driver — airport, convention center, military installation — is itself damaged. Service interruption addresses power, water and communications and frequently excludes overhead transmission lines, the most common reason a hurricane-season utility claim is denied. And extended period of indemnity matters more here than almost anywhere, because occupancy does not return the day you reopen; thirty days is usually too short.
Increasingly only in a limited way. Hospitality forms restrict these three ways: an assault and battery sublimit reducing the available limit, sometimes with defense costs eroding the sublimit rather than sitting outside it; an assault and battery exclusion, which removes the duty to defend as well and leaves you paying counsel from operating cash; and a separate human trafficking exclusion or sublimit, now common, aimed at claims alleging the property knew or should have known and failed to act. These reach further than owners expect because the suits are pleaded as negligent security, negligent hiring, negligent training and failure to warn rather than as intentional acts — so a broad assault-related exclusion can capture a parking lot incident, an uncontrolled side entrance or a key-card failure. Read the sublimit and whether defense erodes it, ask in writing whether a trafficking exclusion is attached, and treat cameras and retention, lighting, access control, key-card discipline, night staffing, incident logging and documented training as underwriting evidence, since they increasingly decide whether coverage is offered at all.
Possibly, and it usually turns on statute rather than on the policy. At common law an innkeeper was nearly an insurer of guest property; every state has modified that by statute, limiting liability to a stated amount — but on conditions, which commonly include providing a safe or safe-deposit facility and conspicuously posting notice of the safe and the statutory limitation in the manner and location the statute specifies. If the notice is missing, illegible or in the wrong place, or the safe is unavailable, the cap can be lost. The insurance side has three parts: guests' property liability (innkeeper's legal liability) for your liability for guest property, usually sublimited; your own contents, linen and FF&E on the property policy; and employee theft of guest or hotel property, which is a crime policy question where the extension covering property of others matters. Check valet and baggage separately, since a guest vehicle handed to an employee raises garage keepers-style questions. Innkeeper statutes vary by state and are amended.
Housekeeping. The hotel classification other than restaurant employees covers room attendants, laundry, houseman, maintenance, front desk and management; the rate is moderate but the payroll base is large and housekeeping frequency is high. The pattern is strains and disc injuries from making beds, lifting mattresses and pushing loaded carts, slips in bathrooms and lobbies, falls from step stools, chemical and respiratory exposure in laundry, sharps in room trash, burns in laundry and kitchen, and maintenance staff on pool chemistry, rooftop equipment and electrical. Front desk and night audit add a low-frequency, high-severity workplace violence exposure. Five levers: keep restaurant, banquet and clerical payroll out of the hotel class at audit; manage the experience mod, which here is frequency-driven rather than severity-driven; watch the rooms-per-shift quota, since the injury rate tracks it; run a return-to-work program, unusually easy to staff in a hotel; and handle contract or staffing-firm housekeeping with certificates and correct classification rather than an assumption.
The physical property and the operation described with equal care. Property side: a statement of values by building with construction class, year built, square footage and stories; roof age, covering and attachment with any wind mitigation documentation; the year of the last roof, plumbing, electrical and HVAC update; sprinkler and alarm status with central station monitoring; distance to coast and flood zone with any elevation certificate; and values split among building, contents and business income supported by a completed worksheet rather than an estimate. Operational side: room count and corridor type, franchise flag with the brand's insurance requirements attached, trailing-twelve ADR, occupancy and revenue with the seasonal pattern, the amenity list including pool, spa, slide, fitness center, water access and shuttle van with capacity and driver qualification, bar, banquet and event operations, and whether food is prepared on site. The security package in detail — camera coverage and retention, exterior and lot lighting, entrance and corridor access control, key-card and re-keying practice, night staffing, incident logging, written response procedure and documented trafficking-awareness training. Any renovation or property improvement plan, since that changes the property form. And three to five years of losses with wind and water, guest slip-and-fall, assault and security, liquor, employee injuries and any cyber or payment card incident reported separately.
For general information only. Not legal advice and not a quote or contract of insurance. The dollar figures used above are arithmetic illustrations of how a percentage deductible is calculated, not quotes, rate indications or predictions. Policy forms, endorsements, sublimits and exclusions vary by carrier and form edition — named-storm, windstorm and hail percentage deductibles and their per-building, per-occurrence and per-location application, valuation and ordinance or law provisions, roof surfacing limitations and cosmetic damage exclusions, debris removal sublimits, business income, extended period of indemnity, civil authority, ingress and egress, dependent property and service interruption extensions together with their waiting periods, distance requirements, duration limits and overhead transmission line exclusions, assault and battery sublimits and exclusions and whether defense costs erode them, human trafficking exclusions, guests' property and innkeeper's legal liability sublimits, liquor liability forms, garage keepers and valet provisions, equipment breakdown and spoilage terms, crime employee theft insuring agreements and property-of-others extensions, covered auto symbols, builders risk and vacancy or occupancy conditions and cyber and payment card terms must all be read as actually issued. Innkeeper liability limitations, safe provision and notice posting requirements, lodging licensing, pool and food service requirements and any staff training or posting obligations are set by state and federal authority and vary by state; workers' compensation classification, payroll allocation and premium audit rules are set by the applicable rating bureau and state authority; flood zone designation and building code requirements are set by governmental authority. All are amended over time — confirm your obligations with the relevant agency and qualified counsel. Coverage subject to policy terms, conditions, exclusions and carrier appetite.