HOTEL PROPRIETORS ORDINANCE

HOTEL PROPRIETORS ORDINANCE

LAWS OF HONG KONG

HOTEL PROPRIETORS ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 158





CHAPTER 158.

HOTEL PROPRIETORS.

To amend the law relating to inns and innkeepers.

[1st February, 1962.1

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Hotel Proprietors Ordinance.

2. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires'hotel'
means an establishment held out by the proprietor as

offering food, drink and, if so required, sleeping accommodation,
without special contract, to any traveller presenting himself who
appears able and willing to pay a reasonable sum for the services
and facilities provided and who is in a fit state to be received.

3. (1) An hotel within the meaning of this Ordinance shall, and any
other establishment shall not, be deemed to be an inn., and the duties,
liabilities and rights which immediately before the commencement of this
Ordinance by law attached to an innkeeper as such shall, subject to the
provisions of this Ordinance, attach to the proprietor of such an hotel
and shall not attach to any other person.

(2) The proprietor of an hotel shall, as an innkeeper, be under the
like liability, if any, to make good to any guest of his any damage to
property brought to the hotel as he would be under to make good the
loss thereof.

4. (1) Without prejudice to any other liability incurred by him with
respect to any property brought to the hotel, the proprietor of an hotel
shall not be liable as an innkeeper to make good to any traveller any loss
of or damage to such property except where

(a)at the time of the loss or damage sleeping accommodation at
the hotel had been engaged for the traveller; and

(b)the loss or damage occurred during the period commencing
with the midnight immediately preceding, and ending with the
midnight immediately following, a period for which the
traveller was a guest at the hotel and entitled to use the
accommodation so engaged.

(2) Without prejudice to any other liability of his or to the
provisions of section 5 or other right of his with respect thereto, the
proprietor of an hotel shall not as an innkeeper be liable to make good to
any guest of his any loss of or damage to, or have any lien on, any
vehicle or any property left therein.

(3) Where the proprietor of an hotel is liable as an innkeeper to
make good the loss of or any damage to property brought to the hotel,
his liability to any one guest shall not exceed the sum





of one thousand dollars in respect of any one article, or the sum of two
thousand dollars in the aggregate, except where

(a)the property was stolen, lost or damaged through the default,
neglect or wilful act of the proprietor or some servant of his; or

(b)the property was deposited by or on behalf of the guest
expressly for safe custody with the proprietor or some servant
of his authorized, or appearing to be authorized, for the
purpose, and, if so required by the proprietor or that servant,
in a container fastened or sealed by the depositor and when
property is deposited in accordance with the provisions of
this paragraph, the liability of the proprietor as an innkeeper to
any one guest in respect of the loss of or damage to property
so deposited shall not exceed the value thereof as declared by
or on behalf of the guest at the time of deposit; or

(c)at a time after the guest had arrived at the hotel, either the
property in question was offered for deposit as aforesaid and
the proprietor or his servant refused to receive it, or the guest
or some other guest acting on his behalf endeavoured to offer
the property in question but, through the default of the
proprietor or a servant of his, was unable to do so: Provided
that the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply where the
value of the property as declared by or on behalf of the guest
when offered for deposit exceeds the sum of ten thousand
dollars:

Provided that the proprietor shall not be entitled to the protection
of this subsection unless, at the time when the property in question was
brought to the hotel, a copy of the notice set out in the Schedule printed
in plain type was conspicuously displayed in a place where it could
conveniently be read by his guests at or near the reception office or
desk or, where there is no reception office or desk, at or near the main
entrance to the hotel.

5. A proprietor of an hotel shall as an innkeeper, in addition to his
ordinary lien. have the right absolutely to sell by public auction any
property which may have been deposited with him or left in his hotel or
in premises appurtenant or belonging thereto, where the guest
depositing or leaving such property shall be or become indebted to him
for any board or lodging:

Provided however

(a)that, except in the case of perishable property, no such sale
shall be made until after the property shall have been for the
space of six weeks in such charge or custody or in or upon
such premises without such debt having been

having

satisfied;

(b)that such proprietor, after having, out of the proceeds of such
sale, paid himself the amount of any such debt together with
the costs and expenses of such sale, shall





on demand pay to the guest depositing or leaving such
property the surplus, if any, remaining after such sale;

(c)that the debt for the payment of which a sale is made shall not
be any other or greater debt than the debt for which the
property could have been retained by the proprietor as an
innkeeper under his lien;

(d)that, in the case of perishable property, as soon as
conveniently may be either before or after such sale. and in
the case of other property at least one month before any such
sale, the proprietor shall cause to be inserted in a newspaper
circulating in the Colony an advertisement containing a notice
of such sale or intended sale and giving shortly a description
of the property sold or intended to be sold together with the
name of the guest where known who deposited or left it.

SCHEDULE. [s. 4.]

NOTICE.

Loss of or Damage to Guests' Property.

The liability under the Hotel Proprietors Ordinance, Cap. 158, of an hotel
proprietor to make good loss or damage to a guest's property

(a)extends only to the property of guests who have engaged sleeping
accommodation at the hotel;

(b)is limited to DOLLARS ONE THOUSAND (S1,000.00) for any one
article and a total of DOLLARS TWO THOUSAND ($2,000.00) in the
case of any one guest, except

(i)in the case of property which has been deposited for safe custody in
which case such liability is limited to the declared value of the
property; or

(ii) in the case of property, the declared value of which does not exceed
DOLLARS TEN THOUSAND (310,000.00), which has been offered
for deposit;

(c)does not cover motor-cars or other vehicles of any kind or any property
left in them.

This notice does not constitute an admission either that the Ordinance applies
to this hotel or that liability thereunder attaches to the proprietor of this hotel in
any particular case.
Originally 49 of 1961. Short title. Interpretation. 4 & 5 Eliz. 2 c. 62, s. 1(3). Inns and innkeepers. 4 & 5 Eliz. 2 c. 62, s. 1(1) & (2). Modifications of liabilities and rights of innkeepers as such. 4 & 5 Eliz. 2 c. 62, s. 2. Schedule. Power of sale. [cf. 41 & 42 Vict. c. 38, s. 1.]

Originally 49 of 1961. Short title. Interpretation. 4 & 5 Eliz. 2 c. 62, s. 1(3). Inns and innkeepers. 4 & 5 Eliz. 2 c. 62, s. 1(1) & (2). Modifications of liabilities and rights of innkeepers as such. 4 & 5 Eliz. 2 c. 62, s. 2. Schedule. Power of sale. [cf. 41 & 42 Vict. c. 38, s. 1.]

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