Lost Not Found: Is the Hotel Liable for your Missing Valuables?

So we’re sitting here in the hotel lobby, waiting for our turn to check in. I finally managed to find time to take a short break after the busy tax filing season, and feel the heat of summer (yay!). One thing I love about travelling is meeting different kinds of people and exploring new places while learning new things. Needless to say…. I have this bad habit (sort-of) of meticulously looking at details and observing what new tidbit of info I might be able to gather. Anyway, as I was looking around, I saw a list of house rules posted behind the reception counter, stating the usual “no smoking” and “please keep surroundings clean”. As I was about to shift my attention for other more “interesting” things to see, one particular rule caught my eye; the rule said: “Take care of your personal belongings. The Hotel shall not be liable for any such loss/theft of any valuables/cash or any document(s)”. The first thing that came to my mind was “really?!”, then looking around at the loads of luggage being lugged around by the travelers waiting to check in, the lawyer in me felt the need to write this article and share some info as to hotel guests’ rights and obligations, tidbits which might come in handy during travel season.

Necessary Deposit

Article 1998 of the New Civil Code provides that the deposit of effects made by the travelers in hotels or inns are considered “necessary deposits” (as opposed to voluntary deposit), or those which are necessarily part of the nature of the agreement or the circumstances. You can’t exactly expect to check-in to a hotel and deposit your things elsewhere for safekeeping, right?

Thus, the same article also states that the keepers of hotels or inns shall be responsible for them as depositaries, and are therefore also liable as such. However, and this is what we travelers should bear in mind, there are two conditions that we must comply with before the establishment can be held liable for any loss or damage:

1. The establishment or its employees must have been previously informed about the effects brought by the guests 2. The guest complied with the precautions and guidelines given by the establishment with regard to the said items

So let’s say you brought along several pieces of expensive jewelry to show a potential buyer. You inform the hotel manager about it and he says that the hotel has a vault for the purpose of safekeeping such items. If, for example, you decide to keep the said items in the suitcase left in your room and the same gets lost, you cannot then hold the establishment liable for failing to follow their procedure in safekeeping your valuables.

Now, what about if you are a local tourist and you drove your car to one of the resorts in Mactan for a staycation with your family (and the pet Chihuahua tags along). Well, Article 1999 provides that the hotel’s liability for the safekeeping of your belongings as a guest also extends to your car and your pets when they are in the hotel’s premises or annexes (e.g parking lot).

Extent of Liability

Lets continue the above example on the pieces of jewelry. Let’s say you followed the hotel’s instruction to leave these in their vault. The next day you discovered that the entire package is missing. What now?! The next thing is to determine the cause of the loss. Was there an earthquake where the ground swallowed up the entire vault? (hey, it could happen!) In this case, this is what you call “force majeure” or an event which is clearly beyond the reasonable foresight by the establishment to address/prevent. Thus, it would be only fair not to hold them responsible for the loss under these unusual circumstances (Art. 2000). Was there an attack on the hotel by a group of armed bandits? This is also considered force majeure (Art. 2001) as we cannot reasonably expect the establishment’s employees to risk their lives for our belongings, can we?

So when can we hold the establishment liable? Articles 2000 and 2001 provide that they can be held liable under all circumstances that do not fall under the definition of “force majeure”, and of course, when the loss is not caused by the guests and or their companions themselves or by the nature of the items themselves (Art. 2002). Thus, if someone simply broke-in (unarmed) and stole the items, the establishment can now be held liable, as management could have reasonably increased its security and surveillance measures to protect the items.

What about that very conspicuously-placed sign?

Well, Article 2003 just as conspicuously provides that, “The hotel-keeper cannot free himself from responsibility by posting notices to the effect that he is not liable for the articles brought by the guest. Any stipulation between the hotel-keeper and the guest whereby the responsibility of the former as set forth in articles 1998 to 2001 is suppressed or diminished shall be void.” In other words, I guess we can just consider that “sign” part of the hotel’s well-placed..uhm..”decorations” ;-)