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to another, there being fault or negligence, is obliged to pay for the damage done.
Hotel business is imbued with public interest. Hotelkeepers are bound to provide not
only lodging for their guests but also security to their persons and belongings to their
guest. The twin duty constitutes the essence of the business as enunciated specifically
in Article 2000 and Article 2001 of the New Civil Code. Therefore, a hotel or the like has
a greater degree of care and responsibility for its guests, otherwise the hotelkeepers
would just stand idly by while strangers have unrestricted access to all hotel rooms on
the pretense of being visitors of the guests which is absurd.
A good example of this is the MAKATI SHANGRI-LA vs. HARPER case, G.R.
No. 189998. August 29, 2012. In this case, Christian Harper, a Norweigian who came to
Manila on a business trip stayed at Makati Shangri-la Hotel, but was murdered in his
hotel room. It was found that the muderer, a caucasian male, was able to trespass into
the hotel room of the victim and was then able to murder and rob the victim. The heirs of
the victim blame the hotel's gross negligence in providing the most basic security
system of its guests.
The Supreme Court held that Shangri-la is liable due to its own negligence. The
testimony revealed that the management practice of the hotel prior to the death of the
victim was to deploy only one security or roving guard for every three or four floors of
the hotel, which is inadequate because the hotel is L-shaped that rendered hallways not
visible end to end. That there was a recommendation to increase security to one guard
per floor but this was not followed. This omission is critical.
The test of negligence is objective. The court measure the act or omission of the
tortfeasor with a perspective as that of an ordinary reasonable person who is similarly
situated. The test, as applied to the extant case, is whether or not Shangri-la Hotel,
under the attendant circumstances, used that reasonable care and caution which an
ordinary person would have used in the same situation.
The Makati Shangrila case is a caveat for hotel (and the like) business owners;
negligence has no place in our industry and businesses let this be a wake up callfor
those hotel business owners that remises their responsibilities, obligations and duties.
Would you want to make your dream business into a nightmare? Count me out!