Beyond Basics: Understanding Coverage Extensions for Hotels and Motels
As a hotel or motel owner, you need comprehensive business insurance to keep your operation safe from unexpected problems. Standard insurance plans give you basic coverage, but they often miss risks that hotels and motels face.
You can add extra coverage to make your policy meet your business’s needs. These coverage extensions protect your business in case of closure, damage to expensive furniture, or lawsuits if someone gets injured on your property.
The Fundamentals of Hotel and Motel Insurance
A basic insurance plan for a hotel or motel typically includes a few key types of coverage:
- Property insurance pays for damage to your buildings and property if there’s a fire, storm, water leak, or other problem.
- General liability insurance covers legal costs if a guest sustains injuries on your property.
- Workers’ comp provides money and medical care to employees who get hurt at work.
- Business interruption insurance replaces some lost income if you have to shut down temporarily after a covered issue.
While important, these basic coverages don’t protect against all the threats hotels and motels can face. You might want extra coverage in case of utility outages, terrorism, illnesses from food or bedbugs, or even cyberattacks that could shut down your systems.
Exploring Essential Coverage Extensions
Coverage extensions provide protections for policyholders beyond the limits of traditional policies.
Fungus, Mold, or Mildew
This coverage provides protection if a covered loss, such as a burst pipe or rainfall infiltration, leads to fungus, mold, or mildew forming within the building. The policy pays for testing, remediation, and repairing damaged surfaces related to these organisms.
Underground Property and Foundations
While the basic policy covers the physical hotel or motel structure, damage to subsurface foundations, pipes, wiring, and other infrastructure often requires this extension. It provides financial protection when covered losses like earth movements, sinkholes, or broken water mains affect underground property.
Flood Coverage
While flooding represents a principal exposure for any property, standard policies exclude it. Adding flood coverage closes a massive gap by covering building and contents damages stemming from rising waters.
Debris Removal
After a major loss, safely clearing debris from the establishment is essential to resuming operations. Debris removal coverage picks up the tab to haul away damaged property.
Personal Effects of Employees
Protecting your employees’ belongings against covered losses shows investment in your staff. This business insurance extension covers items like clothes, phones, computers, and more if damaged or stolen on the premises.
Off-Premises Utility Failure
If an issue offsite, like a downed power line, cuts your property’s electricity, gas, or water supply, this coverage pays for lost income.
Fine Arts
Fine arts coverage delivers specialized protection for hotels and motels with valuable artwork and ornate decor.
Pollutant Clean-Up and Removal
In case of spills of chemicals stored on-site for pools, laundry, kitchens, and more, this policy extension pays cleanup costs.
Customizing Coverage
Putting together hotel or motel coverage depends on the business’s specific needs. The different business insurance policy extras discussed here show the protections each property might need to consider. Byrnes Agency can help you find the coverage you need for your property.
About Byrnes Agency
At Byrnes Agency, we offer insurance solutions that can be tailored to meet your specific needs. Whether you’re looking for personal policies or commercial coverage, we have the right coverage for you. To learn more about our products, contact us today at one of our two locations.
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