Hotel insurance for Ontario hotels and motels

• General liability. Covers guests and visitors injured on your property: a slip in the lobby, a fall on icy steps in January, a balcony railing that gives way. It also covers food illness from your restaurant or room service. See liability cover for guest injuries.
• Property. Buildings (if you own them), furniture, fixtures, linens, kitchen and laundry equipment, and signage.
• Business interruption. Pays lost room revenue and continuing costs while rooms are out of service after a covered loss. Our page on income protection after a fire or flood explains how it is calculated.
• Innkeepers’ liability. Covers guest property lost or damaged while in your care.
• Liquor liability. For hotel bars, minibars, room service and banquets.
• Equipment breakdown. Boilers, chillers, elevators, laundry machines and kitchen equipment.
• Crime and cyber. For employee theft, front desk cash and booking data.

A hotel restaurant brings every risk a stand-alone restaurant has: kitchen fires, food illness, allergen claims and slips in a busy dining room. Our page on coverage for sit-down restaurants goes deeper on kitchen risks.

A lobby bar, rooftop lounge or banquet service adds commercial host liability. Guests may be drinking and then going upstairs, or driving home after a wedding reception. Your liquor sales licence comes from the AGCO, and staff who serve alcohol must hold Smart Serve or other approved training. Read about alcohol liability for hotel bars and banquets for more.

If an outside operator runs your restaurant or bar, the lease should require them to carry their own liability and liquor coverage and to name the hotel as an additional insured. Our brokers can review those terms with you.

Pools are one of the main reasons insurers ask detailed questions about hotels. Expect to be asked about:

• Fencing, self-closing gates and access after hours.
• Depth markings, no-diving signs and rescue equipment.
• Whether you have lifeguards or post clear notices that none is on duty.
• Water testing logs and chemical storage.
• Hot tub temperature controls and maximum occupancy.

Fitness rooms raise similar questions about equipment maintenance and supervision.

Example: A guest’s child slips on the wet deck by a hotel pool in Ottawa late in the evening and needs stitches. The family claims the deck was not properly maintained and the after-hours signage was unclear. General liability responds to the claim, and the hotel’s daily maintenance log and posted pool rules become key to the defence. The hotel’s broker helps report the claim and keeps the property’s certificates current with its lender while it is resolved.

Guests bring luggage, laptops, jewellery and sometimes far more valuable items. When something goes missing from a room or the front desk, the guest looks to the hotel. Innkeepers’ liability covers property in your care, custody or control. Ontario’s innkeepers’ legislation may limit your responsibility in some cases, often depending on whether required notices are posted, so we will walk through how that applies to your property.

Reservation systems, property management software, guest Wi-Fi and payment terminals all hold or pass along guest data. A breach can mean notification costs, forensic investigation, legal advice, payment card penalties and lost bookings while systems are down. Cyber coverage is written separately from the property and liability package, and it is worth discussing for properties of every size.

Motels usually have exterior doors, parking right outside the room and little or no food service. That shifts the focus to lighting, locks, security and premises liability in parking areas. Property and business interruption still matter, especially for seasonal properties in cottage country or along Ontario’s highways that earn most of their year in summer.

Property	Main exposures
Full-service hotel	Restaurant and bar, banquets, pool, guest property, cyber
Limited-service hotel	Breakfast area, pool, guest property, cyber
Motel or roadside inn	Parking lot security, premises liability, property
Boutique inn	Older building, food service, seasonal income

Smaller properties with a handful of rooms may have more in common with a guest house. Our page on coverage for B&Bs and guest houses covers that end of the market.

Use the short form on this page or call us at (416) 346-6886. One of our hospitality brokers asks about your room count, food and alcohol service and amenities. We take your application to insurers that suit your property, walk you through the differences in coverage, and set up the policy you choose. We stay with you for certificates for lenders and event clients, changes, renewals and claims. For a sense of budget first, see our guide to what drives hospitality premiums.