Bill Text: HI HB594 | 2025 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Hotels.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-10 - Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Thursday, 02-13-25 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE. [HB594 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2025-HB594-Amended.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
594 |
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THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO HOTELS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
The legislature further finds that travelers staying at hotels are vulnerable to disruptions to hotel services. They are often unfamiliar with local conditions and lack alternative accommodations during their stay. The legislature also finds that hotel guests will frequently be unaware of pest infestations; construction work; noisy demonstrations; work stoppages, strikes, or lockouts; or the unavailability of advertised amenities at the hotel when they make reservations and may experience difficulty canceling their reservations upon arriving and discovering such disruptions.
The legislature additionally finds that ensuring that hotel guests are notified of any service disruption, or the possibility of a service disruption, and are permitted to terminate reservations without financial consequences is essential to protect travelers from the effects of service disruptions and to ensure the continued vitality of Hawaii's tourism and hotel sector.
Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to:
(1) Require hotelkeepers to provide adequate notice of service disruptions to guests and third-party vendors under certain conditions; and
(2) Allow for recovery of damages by injured consumers.
SECTION 2. Chapter 486K, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§486K- Disruption of service; notice to
third-party vendors and guests required; damages recoverable. (a) At the onset of a service
disruption or of notice that a service disruption may occur, a hotelkeeper
shall provide, in all modifiable mediums where the hotel advertises or solicits
customers, or through which customers can book or reserve rooms or hotel
services, notification of the service disruption to each third-party vendor and
guest who is seeking or has entered into a reservation, booking, or agreement
with the keeper or a third-party vendor for the use or occupancy of a room or
hotel service. The keeper shall provide
notice before accepting or entering into any new reservation, booking,
or agreement for the use of a room or hotel service; provided that if the circumstances of the service disruption
make timely notification impracticable, the keeper shall provide notice as soon
as practicable.
(b) The notification shall
describe:
(1) The nature of the service
disruption;
(2) The extent of the service
disruption's effect on reservations, bookings, or agreements to use the room or
hotel services; and
(3) The right of a guest to cancel or
terminate the reservation, booking, or agreement for the use of the room or
hotel services with a refund, if applicable, and without the imposition of any
fee, penalty, or other charge pursuant to subsections (c) and (d).
If the notification is included in a communication containing other
information, the notification shall be in a significantly larger font and
different color than the remainder of the communication.
(c) A keeper shall not impose any
fee, penalty, or other charge or retain any deposit of a guest who cancels a
reservation, booking, or agreement with the keeper for the future use of a room
or hotel service if a service disruption is likely to exist during the period
of the reservation, booking, or agreement for the use of a room or hotel service.
(d) At the onset of a service disruption or of notice that a service disruption may
occur, the keeper shall immediately and clearly notify all guests and
hotel service users of the service disruption pursuant to subsections (a) and
(b). Regardless of whether the keeper
provides the notice, a guest may terminate any remaining period of a
reservation, booking, or agreement for the use of a room or hotel service and
the keeper shall not impose any fee, penalty, or other charge for the
termination or retain any deposit related to any unused portion of the period
of the reservation, booking, or agreement following the onset of the service
disruption or of notice that a service disruption may occur.
(e) Any keeper that violates or causes another
person to violate this section shall forfeit to the injured party three times
the amount of:
(1) The sum charged for each day that a
notice was required under subsection (a) or (d) but was not provided; and
(2) Any fee, penalty, or other charge imposed
or deposit retained in violation of subsection (c).
(f) Any person who is injured by any violation of
this section may:
(1) Sue for damages sustained by the
person and, if the judgment is for the plaintiff, the plaintiff shall be
awarded a sum of no less than $1,000 or threefold damages sustained by the
plaintiff, whichever is greater, and reasonable attorney's fees together with
the costs of the suit; and
(2) Bring proceedings to enjoin the violation
and, if the decision is for the plaintiff, the plaintiff shall be awarded
reasonable attorney's fees together with the costs of the suit.
The
remedies under this subsection are cumulative and may be brought in a single
action.
(g) As used in this section:
"Hotel
service" means work performed in connection with the operation of a hotel,
including but not limited to the letting of guest rooms or meeting rooms, or
the provision of food or beverage services, banquet services, or spa services.
"Service
disruption" means any of the following conditions:
(1) Construction work in or directly
related to the hotel that creates excessive noise that is likely to
substantially disturb a guest, except construction that is intended to correct
an emergency condition or other condition requiring immediate attention;
(2) Conditions that the hotelkeeper is
aware of that indicate the presence in the hotel of any infestation by bed
bugs, lice or other insects, rodents or other vermin capable of spreading
disease or being carried, including on one's person; provided that the
infestation has not been fully treated by a licensed exterminator within
twenty-four hours of the identification of the infestation;
(3) The unavailability, for a period of
twenty-four hours or more, of any advertised hotel amenity, including but not
limited to a pool, spa, shuttle service, internet access, or food or beverage
service;
(4) The unavailability, for a period of
twenty-four hours or more, of any advertised room appliances or technology,
including but not limited to in-room refrigerators or internet services;
(5) The unavailability of any advertised
or legally required accessibility feature, including but not limited to an
elevator, wheelchair lift, ramp, or accessible bathroom in the room or in any
common area of the hotel;
(6) The unavailability, for a period of
twenty-four hours or more, of any utility, including but not limited to gas,
water, or electricity when the unavailability affects only the location of the
hotel;
(7) Any strike, lockout, or other work
stoppage; or
(8) Any lawful picketing or
demonstration at or adjacent to the hotel:
(A) That creates noise that disturbs a
guest of the hotel; or
(B) That the hotel has notice of and
that is likely to create noise that may disturb a guest of the hotel.
"Third-party
vendor" means a vendor with which a hotelkeeper has an arrangement for
third-party room reservations or any other entity that has reserved or entered
into an agreement or booking for the use or occupancy of one or more rooms in a
hotel in furtherance of the business of reselling the rooms to guests."
SECTION 3. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.
SECTION 4. This Act shall not be applied so as to impair any contract existing as of the effective date of this Act in a manner violative of either the Hawaii State Constitution or article I, section 10, of the United States Constitution.
SECTION 5. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 3000.
Report Title:
Hotels; Hotel Services; Service Disruption; Third-Party Vendor; Guests; Notice; Damages
Description:
Requires hotelkeepers to provide adequate notice of service disruptions to guests and third-party vendors under certain conditions. Allows for recovery of damages by injured consumers. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
