What Florida Hotel and Resort Guests Need to Know After a Slip and Fall

A vacation in Florida is supposed to be relaxing. A trip to the emergency room is not part of anyone’s itinerary. But slip and fall accidents happen at hotels and resorts across the state with unfortunate frequency, and the injuries they produce, from fractured hips and torn ligaments to spinal damage and head trauma, can follow a guest home long after checkout. If you were hurt at a Florida hotel or resort, the property may bear significant responsibility for what happened.

The Legal Standard Florida Hotels Are Required to Meet

Under Florida law, hotel guests are classified as “invitees,” the category of visitor owed the highest duty of care under premises liability law. Florida Statute § 768.0755 provides that when a person slips and falls on a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment, the business can be held liable if it had actual or constructive knowledge of the hazardous condition and failed to address it.

What does “constructive knowledge” mean in practice? It means the property should have known about the hazard through reasonable inspection, even if no one reported it directly. A water puddle near a resort pool that has been there for an hour, a slick floor near a buffet station, or soap residue on a bathroom tile can all qualify as hazardous conditions a property should have discovered and corrected. The failure to do so can form the basis of a valid claim.

Why These Cases Are More Complicated Than They Look

Hotels and resorts carry liability insurance, and their insurers know exactly what to do when an accident is reported. Expect a quick call from an adjuster, often within days, with questions about what happened and potentially an early settlement offer. Both should be treated with caution.

Recorded statements taken shortly after an accident can be used to suggest you were distracted, moving too fast, or aware of the condition before you fell. Early settlement offers rarely account for the full cost of ongoing treatment, lost income, or long-term recovery. Meanwhile, the property may repair the hazard, reassign its records, or limit what appears in the official incident report before anyone has reviewed it on your behalf.

What to Do if You Fall at a Florida Hotel or Resort

Report the incident to hotel management before you leave the property and ask for a written copy of any incident report filed. Take photographs of the exact spot where you fell, including the floor condition, any signage (or the absence of it), and the surrounding area. Seek medical care right away, since some injuries become more serious in the days following a fall.

Collect contact information from any witnesses who saw what happened or who saw the condition of the floor before you fell. That testimony can be critical to establishing how long the hazard was present, which is directly relevant to the constructive knowledge standard under Florida law.

Contact Our Team Today for Guidance

At The Pendas Law Firm, we represent guests who are hurt at hotels, resorts, and commercial properties throughout Florida. Our Fort Lauderdale slip and fall attorneys are ready to review your situation and help you understand what your claim is actually worth before an insurer puts a number on the table. We also serve clients in Orlando, West Palm Beach, Ocala, Tampa, Bradenton, Miami, Jacksonville, Fort Myers, and Daytona Beach. Contact us today for a free consultation.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0768/Sections/0768.0755.html