DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Innsane - The Independent Innkeeper Forum
HTML https://innsane.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: General Discussion
*****************************************************
#Post#: 1068--------------------------------------------------
Innsurance (Inn Insurance and Safety)
DIR By: Arks
Date: May 28, 2026, 8:29 am
---------------------------------------------------------
It's time for my yearly rant over insurance rates. Over the last
few years, my insurance rates have gone from $3500/year to the
$10,000 I paid for 2025-26. I just got my renewal info for
2026-27: a 30% increase to $13,000! And in my 12 years in
business I've never once filed an insurance claim.
I've looked and looked, and can't beat their offer. It's
horrible. I wrote and told them if they can't do something, I'll
have to keep the liability insurance, which is just $850 of the
$13,000, and risk going without the property insurance.
The agent wrote back and let me know that I can reduce my rate
by 10% by completing the safety course at
breezeway.learnworlds.com
HTML https://breezeway.learnworlds.com
and that by increasing my
deductible a bit I can get my rate down to what I paid this
year.
So I completed the safety course and passed the exam yesterday.
It took me 10 hours! The agent also gave me a code that lowered
the cost of the course from $350 to $50.
I learned a lot. For instance, most claims against inns, by far,
are due to slips and falls, but if you make a reasonable effort
to prevent slips and falls, you're not liable to pay if someone
falls on your property and it's not due to your negligence.
Plus, of course, making your house safe is just the right thing
to do. People arrive assuming your place is safe, and it's up
you to make sure it is.
Get rid of the area rugs. They're both a slip hazard and a trip
hazard. Have proper handrails on stairways and proper rails on
decks and porches. Fix or clearly mark any trip hazards like a
sidewalk that have heaved in cold weather or from tree roots.
Any change of level more than 1/4 inch needs to be corrected or
marked with bright paint. It's easy to light outside steps now
that solar led outdoor lighting works well.
All that helps you avoid loses due to liability. The other big
danger is property damage. A fire not only takes your inn, but
can kill people. The single most important thing you can do is
have good smoke detectors, the kind that detect both flames
(ionizing alarms) and smoke (photoelectric alarms). The alarms
should be interconnected, so if one goes off in one part of the
building, all the other detectors in the building also go off.
You can't expect someone sleeping on the second floor to hear an
alarm going off in the basement, from an appliance fire.
Interconnected alarms solve that.
Fire extinguishers should be wall-mounted in a conspicuous
place, not hidden under a sink or in a cabinet. Guests just got
to your place. They don't know where you keep the fire
extinguishers and shouldn't have to search for one in an
emergency. And just explaining about extinguishers in your
welcome book isn't sufficient.
Most fires can be put out quickly and easily, with little
damage, if an extinguisher is available.
I know that in the past, Kathleen has said she doesn't want
guests using fire extinguishers, that they should just get out
of the house and let it burn. But what if there are other people
staying in the house? If others in the house are hurt or killed
because someone could have easily put out a fire with an
extinguisher, but didn't use it, you'd never forgive yourself
(not to mention the legal nightmare to be faced).
Enough of this for now, but I really did get "religion"
regarding inn safety after this 10-hour course!
#Post#: 1070--------------------------------------------------
Re: Innsurance (Inn Insurance and Safety)
DIR By: gillumhouse
Date: May 28, 2026, 11:40 am
---------------------------------------------------------
True - I just want my people out! When guests check in, as part
of the show to their room, I tell them about the fire exit
instructions - that window is "on-latch" meaning shove it up,
push out the screen and get OUT!. VFD is across the street. ALL
guestrooms are on the second floor so all would hear. Yes, a
fire extinguisher might or might not do the job - mine are on
display in the upstairs hall in 2 locations.
Hotels have the escape plan on the door which (as I tell guests)
no one reads and in an emergency they sure as hell will not
read!
#Post#: 1072--------------------------------------------------
Re: Innsurance (Inn Insurance and Safety)
DIR By: Arks
Date: May 28, 2026, 5:11 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: gillumhouse link ---
>
> Hotels have the escape plan on the door which (as I tell
guests) no one reads and in an emergency they sure as hell will
not read!
>
--- End Quote ---
Agreed, though I'll admit that I DO read them at hotels. Also,
when I get onto an airplane, I always look ahead and behind me
for the nearest exit, and count the number of rows to get there.
I'm just that way, which explains me "getting religion" about
safety at the inn after taking that course yesterday.
A few years ago I stayed at an Atlanta "boutique" hotel
downtown, the Ellis Hotel on Peachtree Street. While I was
there, I did some online research and found that the building
was once the Winecoff Hotel, the site of the deadliest hotel
fire in US history. On December 7, 1946, 119 people died there.
I was relieved that they had gone overboard in fire prevention
and escape routes since then!
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Hotel
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Hotel
#Post#: 1073--------------------------------------------------
Re: Innsurance (Inn Insurance and Safety)
DIR By: gillumhouse
Date: May 29, 2026, 10:18 am
---------------------------------------------------------
WOW!! I also tell my guests that I have given a floor plan of
the house to the Fire department so they KNOW where to go if
need be.
Our inspections - when we still had a WV B & B Association -
included testing rugs - especially in bathrooms - if I stepped
on it and it moved, they were told to either get rid of it, tape
it down, or get rugs with backs that gripped. I do not buy
bathroom rugs without the rubber backing on them. I am
constantly on watch for things that could trip or cause a fall.
I leave the hall lights on at all times when guests are in the
house. I have 2-way light switch on the stairs and an insurance
agent told me that IF a guest had to reach out and turn ON that
switch and did not turn the lights on, then fell, I would be
held responsible. Ever since then, as I take guests up the
stairs, I tell them, "these lights will be on 24 hours while you
are here. I would rather pay the electric company than have you
OWN MW for the rest of my life." No one has been helpful about
turning off the hall hall lights off since.
#Post#: 1074--------------------------------------------------
Re: Innsurance (Inn Insurance and Safety)
DIR By: Arks
Date: May 29, 2026, 12:12 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: gillumhouse link ---
>
> I leave the hall lights on at all times when guests are in the
house....I would rather pay the electric company...
>
--- End Quote ---
And, thanks to LED, it costs almost nothing to leave lights on
these days. I was raised to turn lights off when I leave the
room, and I still do, but it's not as important as it used to
be.
I've stayed at a lot of European hotels that have motion sensor
lights in the halls. They are only on when someone is there, and
go off when the people leave. Their electricity is more
expensive than ours, so it makes sense.
#Post#: 1075--------------------------------------------------
Re: Innsurance (Inn Insurance and Safety)
DIR By: JimBoone
Date: May 30, 2026, 5:43 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Insurance does have a habit of going up, well everything these
days it seems. Our alarm system is monitored, smoking or vaping
in a guest room is very likely to set it off which sets off
alarms, flashing lights, and calls the fire department, just
down the highway. Guest room doors open directly to outside on
ground level. As we live in the building an alarm wakes me and
sends me running to the panel for a location and then to the
location. Fortunately, in the years we have had this system
alarms have all been false alarms, mostly guest misbehavior. I
usually request that the arriving fireman give them a nice
lecture.
We have motion sensor lights in the laundry room and ice machine
room, saves reaching for a switch when our hands might be full,
a few lamps get left on in our own apartment, insurance in a way
that I don't fall going to answer the door during the night.
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1