After issuing a notice to Online Travel Aggregators (OTAs) – MakeMyTrip and GoIbibo, the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), has warned of action against Oyo alleging large scale breach of contracts, jeopardising the safety of consumers and violation of laws.

In a letter dated December 10, 2018, FHRAI has pointed out to the company that it is endorsing illegal and unlicensed bed and breakfast apartments, flats in residential and commercial buildings, rooms in chawls and such other independent structures as hotels.

“Such positioning of hotels is tantamount to misleading the guests. When a guest books in a hotel they expect to stay in a hotel and not in an apartment or a residential premise. This not only harms the reputation of hotels in India, but also constitutes potential safety hazard for the guest,” said Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, VP, FHRAI and Hotel and president Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI).

Subject: Hotel liable for injury suffered by the guest due to defect designing of rooms.

Backdrop: Here is a unique landmark judgement, where a five star hotel has been held liable to compensate its guest for the injury suffered due to faulty designing of its room.

Case Study: For accommodating the invitees to his wedding in Goa, Siddhartha Bhimrajka had booked several rooms in Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa, a five-star hotel belonging to Blue Coast Hotels and Resorts.

Negligence means a breach of duty to exercise due care expected of a reasonable prudent person. It is common knowledge that the slightest wetness on a polished marble floor or on a slanting polished floor is extremely dangerous. The hotel ought to have foreseen that the faulty designing of the bathroom could lead to an accident, but had been negligent in this regard, thereby entitling Vijay to claim compensation.

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