The hotel incident reports may only contain a few sentences. It includes the name of the guest, a description of the incident, as well as the names of the staff members who responded.
This report may bring up more questions for attorneys than it can answer. Who was in charge of supervising these employees? Was surveillance footage preserved? The facility followed its own procedures. Did you have any previous interactions which were not recorded?
These questions demonstrate why it is often necessary to review business records prior to when an individual witness is called to testify in a case involving hospitality.
Begin With the Documents Produced During Normal Operations
Companies in the hospitality sector keep records of guest service, scheduling guest service, training, security and management. Although these documents weren’t necessarily intended for litigation, they could help determine how a facility performed during a particular 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. Written policies may demand the manager to respond to an employee who reports an intoxicated client.
The investigation should establish whether the manager was working, if the report was sent, and based on the evidence, what the reaction was. Instead of concluding that the procedures were not followed or not, the goal is to find out what actually took place.
Restaurant Records Must Have Their Own Interpretation
Restaurant investigations can be difficult because restaurant employees are required to split their time between food preparation in the kitchen, serving customers and managing the dining space. A restaurant expert witness is able to clarify the impact of these roles on the choices taken by employees while they serve.
Consider a dining-room incident involving a customer who ordered alcohol at the bar before taking a seat at a table. The bar receipt may be proof of the initial purchase, while the records of dining-room transactions record later purchases.
However, these records may not provide proof of what the tableserver was aware of about the earlier service. Combining server assignments the time of transactions, managerial notes, and employee records could help in determining the sequence. It is important to recognize distinctions: simply because alcohol was consumed does not mean that the employees were intoxicated.
Casino Investigations may require different records
Casinos offer beverage services which differ from traditional restaurant services. The addition of complimentary drinks cocktails, servers serving drinks on the gaming floor and security personnel are all sources of additional information.
A Casino expert witness can examine beverage staffing assignments, security reports, surveillance footage, and procedures governing employee communications. The conventional sales receipt may not be valid when complimentary beverages are being served.
In such circumstances an investigation may be heavily based on the surveillance available, employee observations and service records as well as the procedures that are documented for the property. Experts must be aware of the weaknesses of evidence rather than accepting incomplete records as proof.
Be sure to save the evidence before it’s unavailable
Conserving documents with time-sensitive information is a significant concern in litigation involving hospitality. Surveillance systems could keep recordings for only a short time. Different departments or systems could keep employee schedules, internal communications, and incident documents. Attorneys need to identify and archive the records that may be pertinent as soon as is possible.
The scope of the investigation depends on the type of allegations. The scope of an investigation will depend on the allegations. A targeted review helps establish what records are important without having to assume that all departments played a part.
It is easier to understand the paperwork when you have operational experience
Preston Rideout is a hospitality veteran with more than twenty years of experience. He has held positions in management, bartending and beverages operations in a variety of units. Rideout Hospitality Consulting is a business he started in the year 2010. He has provided advice to restaurants, resorts, and hotel operators throughout the United States.
He has served as an expert witness in cases involving resorts, hotels, casinos as well as restaurants for plaintiffs’ and defense counsel. It’s beneficial to have some experience in hospitality management when interpreting documents that seem straightforward to those who are not familiar with the industry.
A staffing schedule, for instance, identifies the individuals who were given the task. Knowing the model of service as well as operational conditions of a property is necessary to determine whether these assignments will provide the appropriate supervision.
A more convincing case begins with More lucid questions
An early expert review can help attorneys differentiate between unresolved and documented issues. It could help identify which documents are worthy of requesting, or clarifying the terms used to describe depositions.
Not every discrepancy demonstrates an operational issue or a lack of written policy proves that appropriate procedures were adhered to.
The benefit of expert analysis lies in explaining the differences through evidence and established industry practices. In the case of attorneys who are working on a hospitality case, understanding the business prior to questioning its employees could lead to a more focused, credible analysis of what actually transpired.