Accommodation Knowhow
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Luggage and Belongings

Key facts

  • If you run serviced accommodation, you are required by law to undertake responsibility for the safekeeping of all reasonable items of luggage brought in by guests.
  • Hotel owners have the legal right to detain a guest's property until the guest settles his/her bill.
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Rights and responsibilities

Depending on whether your property is classified as a 'hotel' or as a 'private hotel' will have a bearing on:
  • your responsibility for guests’ luggage and belongings
  • your right to keep guests’ luggage.

Note! For these purposes, all serviced accommodation establishments are either hotels or private hotels.

What is a hotel and a private hotel?

  • A hotel is an establishment that offers food, drink and sleeping accommodation to anybody who appears able and willing to pay, and who is in a fit state to be received. Note: 'drink' does not have to be alcoholic.
  • private hotel is any accommodation establishment that is not a hotel. For example, you will be a private hotel if any of the following apply to you:
    • you do not provide food and/or drink
    • you pick and choose your guests, even if you have a free room
    • you have an advertised policy of, for example, 'no children' or 'no coaches'
    • you can only book in advance.

What is the responsibility of a hotel for luggage and belongings?

If you run a hotel and you accept a guest into your accommodation for at least one night, you are required by law to undertake responsibility for the safekeeping of all reasonable items of luggage brought in by the guest. If the guest’s property is then lost or damaged, the extent of your liability is as follows.
  • You may not be liable , where the loss or damage to the guest's property is caused by an act of negligence on the part of the guest or by an 'Act of God' (such as a flood).
  • You may be fully liable, where:
    • the loss or damage to the guest's property is caused solely by your negligence or wilful act (or that of your staff), or
    • the goods have been entrusted to you for your safekeeping, or
    • the goods have been offered to you for safekeeping but refused by you.
  • You may limit your liability to £50/£100 , where the loss or damage to the guest's property does not fit into either of the above categories and you have displayed the statutory notice set out below in a prominent area of your establishment (near the main entrance or reception area). You may then be liable for a minimum amount of £50 per article and £100 maximum per person. Note! Under the London Local Authorities Act 2004 , the limits in Greater London are £750 and £1500 respectively.

The statutory notice is as follows (the second version of the notice if for Greater London only).

NOTICE: Loss of or damage to guests’ property

Under the Hotel Proprietors' Act 1956 , a hotel proprietor may in certain circumstances be liable to make good any loss of or damage to a guest's property even though it was not due to any fault of the proprietor or staff of the hotel. This liability however:

  • extends only to the property of guests who have engaged sleeping accommodation at the hotel
  • is limited to £50 for any one article and a total of £100 in the case of any one guest, except in the case of property which has been deposited, or offered for deposit, for safe custody
  • does not cover motor cars or other vehicles of any kind or property lost in them, or horses or other live animals.

This notice does not constitute an admission either that the Act applies to this hotel or that liability thereunder attaches to the proprietor of this hotel in any particular case.

NOTICE: Loss of or damage to guests’ property

Under the Hotel Proprietors' Act 1956 and the London Local Authorities Act 2004 , a hotel proprietor may in certain circumstances be liable to make good any loss of or damage to a guest's property even though it was not due to any fault of the proprietor or staff of the hotel. This liability however:

  • extends only to the property of guests who have engaged sleeping accommodation at the hotel
  • is limited to £750 for any one article and a total of £1500 in the case of any one guest, except in the case of property which has been deposited, or offered for deposit, for safe custody
  • does not cover motor cars or other vehicles of any kind or property lost in them, or horses or other live animals.

This notice does not constitute an admission either that the Act applies to this hotel or that liability thereunder attaches to the proprietor of this hotel in any particular case.

What if the guest did not stay overnight?

If you are a hotel and the guest did not stay overnight and was, for example, just visiting the restaurant or bar, the position is the same as in the paragraph below for private hotels.

What is your liability as a private hotel?

If your establishment is a private hotel, then you will usually be liable for the loss or damage to your guests' property only if you or your staff have been negligent or if the guest handed the property over to you for safekeeping.

It is difficult to be more specific regarding your liability to the loss to guests' property as each case depends on the facts in the circumstances of the loss or damage.

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Your right to retain a guest’s luggage

Owners of hotels

The owner of a hotel (see Definitions above) has the legal right to detain a guest's property until the guest settles his/her bill. This right does not extend to the guest's car or property left in it, or to the clothes that the guest is wearing.

When the bill is paid, the property must be returned to the guest. No storage charge may be made and you must reimburse the guest accordingly if the property has been damaged while in your possession.

Selling guests' property

If the bill has not been paid in full after six weeks, you may then sell the guest's property. The sale must be by public auction and it must be advertised at least four weeks in advance in both a London and a local newspaper. The adverts must set out your intention to sell the property, give a full description of the goods, name the guest to whom they belonged and give full details of the forthcoming sale.

The proceeds of sale, less the amount owed to you and the costs of the advertisements and organising the auction, must then be returned to the guest on demand.

This right is in addition to any other right that you have, such as that of pursuing a claim for non-payment through the small claims court . Also, the guest may not be detained except to await the arrival of the police.

Owners of private hotels and self-catering accommodation

The private hotelier who retains the right to pick and choose his/her guests has no legal right to detain and sell a guest's property, nor does a proprietor of self-catering accommodation.

If a guest does not pay a bill and further contact or correspondence does not result in payment, then you have the option of pursuing a claim for non-payment through the small claims court .

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Further guidance

For more detailed advice, or if a serious claim is made against you, you are advised to obtain professional legal advice.

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