A hotel incident report might be a couple of paragraphs. It describes the guest, describes a disturbance, names the responding employees, and records the time the management was informed.
This report may raise more questions for attorneys than it could solve. Who was in charge of supervising the employees? Was surveillance footage preserved? The property adhered to its own rules. Are there any earlier interactions that weren’t documented?
These issues illustrate why hospitality litigation often requires an examination of ordinary business records prior to when witness testimony begins.
Start with the documents created During Normal Operations
Businesses in the hospitality industry keep records of guest service, scheduling guest service along with security and management. These documents were not necessarily designed for litigation, but they could be used to establish how the facility operated during an incident.
A Hospitality expert witness may examine staffing schedules, operating procedures, employee training files, security logs, and surveillance recordings to understand the responsibilities assigned to different personnel. As an example, an official policy might say that the manager has to react when an employee informs them of an intoxicated client.
In the course of investigating the incident, it is important to determine whether the manager was involved on the incident, if the complaint was issued, and based on the evidence, what was the response. Instead of inferring that procedures were observed or not, the goal is to find out what actually transpired.
There is the need for a different understanding of the restaurant’s record.
Restaurant investigations can be difficult since employees must split their time between cooking food in the kitchen, serving customers and managing the dining space. A Restaurant expert witness can provide an explanation of how these responsibilities affect the decisions employees take during service.
Imagine a dining room incident that involved an individual who had ordered drinks at the bar before taking a seat at a table. The bar receipt might document the initial purchase, whereas the restaurant transaction records might record subsequent purchases.
But, these records might not be able to prove what the tableserver knew about the prior service. Examining the server assignments, transaction times notes of management and employee records together can aid in understanding the sequence. It is essential to keep an important distinction: the fact that alcohol was purchased does not mean that the staff noticed intoxication.
Casino Investigations may require different records
Casinos have beverage programs that are different from the ones provided by restaurants. Other sources of information include complimentary drinks serving mobile cocktails, mobile cocktail servers as well as gaming floor supervisors.
A professional witness from a casino could look over the staffing assignments for beverages as well as surveillance video including security reports, employee communication procedures. If beverages are offered as a complimentary service traditional sales receipts may be incomplete.
In these situations the investigation may rely more on surveillance, employees’ observation service records, and other documented procedures. The expert should be able identify any shortcomings in the evidence, and not just accept an incomplete document.
Make sure you keep the evidence until it’s no longer available
The preservation of records that are time sensitive is a significant issue for hospitality litigation. Recordings from surveillance systems can be kept for a limited duration. Employee schedules, internal communications, and incident documents may be kept in different departments or in different systems. Attorneys should be able to spot potentially relevant records early and take the appropriate steps in order to preserve them.
It is contingent on the type of claim. The extent of an investigation will depend on the allegations. Targeted reviews help identify which documents are necessary without assuming that all departments are involved.
The Paperwork is a Product of operational experience
Preston Rideout is a hospitality veteran with over 20 years of experience. He has held positions in bartending, management and beverage operations for several companies. Rideout Hospitality Consulting is a business he started in 2010. He has advised restaurant, resort, and hotel operators throughout the United States.
His work as an expert witness includes matters involving restaurants, hotels resorts, casinos and hotels for plaintiff and defense counsel. This knowledge of operations is beneficial in the interpretation of records that may seem straightforward to someone who is not familiar with hospitality management.
Staffing plans, for instance, identify who has been given the task. To determine if those assignments were under sufficient supervision requires an understanding of the service model of the facility and its operating conditions.
Clarity in questions is the first step in a stronger argument
Early expert review assists attorneys differentiate between unresolved and documented issues. It helps identify documents that are worthy of requesting and help define the terms that is used in depositions.
Not every discrepancy demonstrates an operational error or a lack of written policy shows that proper procedures were followed.
A professional analysis of hospitality is valuable when it can explain these distinctions based on relevant evidence and practices that are widely accepted by the industry. If lawyers are preparing a hospitality case, understanding the business prior to questioning its employees can lead to more focused, credible investigation of what actually happened.