I have multiple hotel locations — do I need multiple policies?
Usually not. Most owners of more than one hotel or motel carry one program that lists every property on its liability, property and workers' comp policies. The thing to check is the liability limit: on a standard policy every property shares one yearly ceiling, so a bad year at one hotel can use up what is left for the others.
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- One program with every property listed is the norm. A separate policy makes sense when ownership, the law or a contract calls for one.
- If your hotels share one yearly liability limit, two large claims at one property can leave the others without it. Ask for a separate limit per property.
- Tell your agent before a new property opens or changes hands, especially in a new state: workers' comp has to name that state.
Do I need a separate policy for each hotel?
Usually not. One program that lists every property on its liability, property and workers' comp policies is the norm, with renewals and paperwork in one place.
Insurance follows the business, not the building. If one company owns three hotels, that company is the policyholder and each hotel is a location on its policies. How one policy covers several locations explains the mechanics, and why the whole business is insured together explains why a property left off the list is a gap.
A separate policy is the right answer in a few cases:
- Different owners. A hotel owned by a separate company or with a different partner.
- A franchise unit. Each franchise agreement has its own insurance exhibit, and it may set requirements for that one hotel. Read yours before you place the policy.
- A management company. If another company runs a hotel and employs its staff, ask for the insurance section of the management contract and which policy responds to what.
- The law. Washington does not allow private workers' comp: employers there buy it from the state's Department of Labor and Industries or self-insure, so a Washington property always has its own workers' comp. (Source: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries)
How should each hotel be insured?
Property by property. Each hotel should be listed with its own building value, its own contents and its own lost-income figure, so a fire at one is paid on what that hotel actually holds and earns.
Hotels differ widely in what insurance costs them. A hotel-industry research firm found insurance expense per available room in 2022 averaged $528 at limited-service hotels, $939 across its sample and $2,464 at resorts. (Source: CBRE Hotel Research, February 2024) That is a per-room expense for each type, not a price for any one building, but it is a reminder that one combined figure will not fit a motel and a larger hotel.
Report what each building would cost to rebuild today, and update it after a renovation. A newer, pricier property can be left short by an average value, and a short value can trigger the payout cut described in 5 coverage gaps in a typical hotel policy. The same goes for income lost while a property is out of service: your busiest hotel loses the most. Make sure each one is listed on your property policy.
How does workers' comp work across hotels?
One workers' comp policy can cover every property, with payroll reported by job type across all of them. What changes is the year-end check: the insurer compares your actual payroll at every hotel with the estimate you started from.
Accommodation recorded 2.3 injury and illness cases involving days away, job restriction or transfer per 100 full-time workers in 2024. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
After the policy year the insurer runs a premium audit: it checks your actual payroll and bills or credits the difference. Open or buy a hotel mid-year without reporting it and the audit finds that payroll, billed all at once. Insurers can also charge up to twice the estimated premium if you don't cooperate with the audit. (Source: Missouri Employers Mutual) More in what a premium audit is, workers' comp for hotels and workers' comp coverage.
Does a hotel in a new state need its own policy?
Sometimes. Liability and property usually stretch to the new property if your insurer is licensed in that state, and if it isn't, that hotel may need a different insurer. Workers' comp has to name the new state either way.
Liability and property. An insurer licensed and regulated in a state is an admitted carrierAdmitted Carrier An insurance company licensed by your state, with its rates filed there and a state safety-net fund behind it if it fails. Insurers call it an admitted carrier. more →. If yours is licensed in the new state, it can usually add the property with a change to your policy.
Workers' comp. The new state has to be listed on your policy as a state where it applies in full. New York, for example, generally requires out-of-state employers with employees working in New York to carry a full New York policy, meaning New York is listed on the policy's information page; narrow exceptions exist. (Source: New York Workers' Compensation Board)
Contracts and local rules. The franchise agreement or loan for the new hotel sets its own insurance requirements, and rules for pools and for guests' belongings change with the state. See opening a location in a new state and hotel insurance requirements by state.
Send your agent the address, the opening or closing date, the number of rooms, whether there is a pool, and the franchise agreement's insurance section well before the new property opens; what to prepare for a hotel insurance quote has the full list.
Common questions about insuring several hotels
Often, though not always. One program avoids paying minimum premiums and fees on several separate policies, but every hotel is still priced on its own rooms, payroll, pool and claims. A property with a poor claims record can raise the price of the whole program.
Usually, if you tell your agent before it opens or changes hands. Some policies cover a new location for a short time at a capped amount, so check your wording rather than assuming.
Ask your agent to take it off the policy as of the sale date and to tell you how the change affects your premium and any lender or franchise paperwork.
Set up one program for all your hotels
Tell us how many properties you own, where they are and who owns each one, and we will show you how they fit on one program.