Hotel owners not only host tons of weary guests nightly, but also plenty of potential risks. Along with welcoming members of the general public into a designated safe space for sleeping, hotel owners must ensure the ongoing success and protection of their business, which is why they need the right Florida business coverage. Fortunately, a Florida independent insurance agent can equip your hotel with all the protection it needs. But first, here’s a closer look at hotel insurance.

What Is Hotel Insurance?

In short, hotel insurance is a set of policies designed to cover all the tricky little components involved in your hotel's operation, from your property (i.e., the building, furniture, etc.) and employees, to services offered, and your guests. Since all hotels offer different amenities and frills (or lack thereof), your business's unique assortment of risks will demand coverage tailored specifically to you.

How to Insure a Hotel in Florida

The thing about hotel coverage is that one policy won’t work for every type of hotel, or each specific business’s owner. With the help of your Florida independent insurance agent, you’ll work together to assemble a package of different coverages to protect yourself and your business against risks unique to you. Hotel insurance is designed to keep your business afloat following a huge disaster, such as property destruction or lawsuits.

Your Florida agent will help identify the right types of coverage for you as they learn more about your specific hotel and its operations and services offered. Since hotel insurance is so customizable, you’ll be able to work together to build a policy that fits not only your business’s needs, but also the needs of your bank account.

What Does Hotel Insurance Cover in Florida?

Hotel insurance is set up to protect business owners against potential threats. This includes hotels in Florida. Your policy will include the basics of business insurance coverage, with several specific coverages tailored to your unique business added on. The more risks involved in your business, the more coverage you’ll need. But here are a handful of commonly selected coverages in hotel insurance packages to start off.

Your hotel insurance package can be assembled from a combination of the following coverages available in Florida:

• General liability: This coverage protects you against property damage or injury claims made by a third party. Up to $1 million in coverage per hotel room is recommended.
• Florida Workers’ Compensation: If your employees become ill, get injured, or die from a work-related incident, this aspect of the insurance will cover the financial ramifications. Coverage is mandatory in Florida. 
• Property Insurance: This covers any damage to your hotel's physical building, as well as the property inside it (e.g., furniture, carpeting, electronics, décor, etc.) in case of fire, etc. The type of cooking equipment used in your hotel's kitchen will contribute to the risk of fire damage and may influence the cost of your policy. Coverage limits are typically $250 million per hotel location. 
• Ordinance and law: Another part of property insurance, it covers the financial ramifications if your building is found to be behind current state codes. Handicapped-compliant features, fire safety equipment, and emergency exits are all factors here. 
• Commercial/business auto: Provides protection for any company vehicles against things like theft, vandalism, and damage from natural disasters.
• Business income: A part of property insurance, this aspect covers any financial losses suffered while a business is closed due to fire damage or other disasters.
• Spoilage coverage: This coverage is crucial for hotel owners, because if your hotel loses power due to a covered peril (e.g., lightning, etc.), your entire stock of food may spoil while refrigeration units are down. Coverage takes care of replacement fees for spoiled food and ingredients in the event of a covered outage.
• Communicable disease: Covers any illnesses transmitted to customers due to improper hygiene of your employees.
• Boiler & machinery coverage: Also known as “equipment breakdown,” this coverage protects against “electrical injury” such as power surges or shorts that affect AC units and surge boxes.
• Utility interruption: An add-on to property insurance, this coverage applies to utility outages (e.g., phones, Internet, gas/electric/water, etc.) that cause damage to your property or result in a consequential loss. 
• Fidelity & crime: Covers losses due to employee theft, computer fraud, credit card fraud, and stolen/damaged property.
• Employment practices: Covers court fees should a disgruntled employee file a claim against you.
• Premises pollution liability: Covers medical bills and cleanup costs if one of your guests becomes ill as a result of exposure to mold or other airborne pollutants.
• Cyber risk & privacy liability: Covers the financial ramifications if your hotel suffers a data breach resulting in the compromise of your guests' personal information. Coverage limits typically run up to $2 million.
• Liquor liability: If your employees serve too much alcohol to a customer who ends up harming other guests or your property, general liability won’t protect you. So if you serve alcohol, liquor liability coverage is a must-have.
• Guest relocation services: Covers fees required in the event that your guests must be relocated due to an on-site incident.
• Event cancellation: Covers the financial ramifications in case a scheduled event must be canceled.
• Florida Umbrella Coverage: This coverage provides a buffer against excess liability charges that reach beyond your existing liability policies' limits. Up to $100 million in this coverage may be added.

Your hotel insurance package will be assembled by selecting the coverages that work for your unique business from a big list of available options. Coverage applies to everything from lost business revenue to potential legal/court fees and beyond.

What Does Hotel Insurance Not Cover in Florida?

Though hotel insurance covers a lot of components for their business owners, it doesn’t cover just anything. The following are examples of commonly excluded perils under hotel insurance policies in Florida:

• Employee dishonesty
• Breakdown of appliances such as steam boilers
• General wear and tear of equipment, etc.
• Routine maintenance fees
• Earthquake damage
• Nuclear reaction and war
• Power failure (unless it causes damage to computer systems)
• Robbery
• Pollution
• Temperature/humidity changes
• Inexplicably lost inventory
• Flood damage*

*In a coastal state like Florida that’s prone to flooding, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, you’ll most likely want to purchase additional flood coverage for your hotel, or you may even be required to have it by your mortgage lender. Your Florida independent insurance agent can give you more information about finding coverage.

What Are the Benefits of Hotel Insurance in Florida?

Hotel insurance provides protection to Florida business owners in a number of ways. Beyond your physical assets and building, many components of your hotel stand to be destroyed or otherwise harmed by common threats.

There are four major benefits to having hotel insurance:

• Protection against legal trouble: A costly and damaging event like a fire could send a business into the red without the proper coverage. If the business was unable to pay off their loans, vendors, or employees, they could face serious legal consequences. Hotel insurance helps prevent these ugly matters from surfacing.
• Protection against a damaged reputation: Huge incidents affecting businesses of all kinds often end up in the media. When it comes to guests’ personal property getting lost, damaged or destroyed, or someone getting injured or ill, word about their upset could spread quickly and even turn from gossip into media coverage. Having the right hotel insurance can help prevent your business’s reputation from going up in flames.
• Protection against spoilage: Just one incident could result in an entire batch of ingredients, snacks, or meals in the hotel’s kitchen or vending machines spoiling. Especially important for hotel owners, spoilage protection can help the business recover from lost goods and inventory.
• Protection against bankruptcy: Imagine a severe storm or other terrible incident like an airplane crash that literally wipes out your hotel entirely. Without the right insurance, the business owner could easily be forced into bankruptcy. Hotel insurance helps businesses stay open, stay afloat, or rebuild following massive destruction.

Your Florida independent insurance agent can help you review your hotel insurance policy to answer any remaining questions about your coverage. They’ll also be able to help you figure out whether you’ve got enough coverage or if you should purchase more.

How Much Does Hotel Insurance Cost in Florida?

Well, that depends on quite a few factors. For example, an older inn located in a small town in central Florida might pay around $5,000/year. But a fancy high-rise hotel near the Gulf or Atlantic Coast might pay as much as $1,000,000/year. To make things even more interesting, if these same two hotels were located just 10 miles further inland, their premiums might drop by half. Hotels in major cities like Orlando or Tampa can also expect much higher premiums.

Of course, it’s hard to offer an average figure, since each hotel is unique. But really, it all depends on a number of factors, like:

• The age of the hotel: The older a property is, the more of a risk it is to an insurance company. Newer hotels will get more slack with their premiums. Also, the type of construction and whether the building is up to current state codes may have been influenced by the time period the hotel was constructed in.
• The hotel's last update/renovation: The status of the building, as well as its furnishings and security systems, will really influence the cost of coverage. The more up to date and up to code everything is, the more lenient the cost.
• The number of safety/security features: The more security/safety features a hotel has, the less risk it presents to an insurance company. Hotels with current security systems, as well as safety features like sprinkler systems and handicapped-compliant features, will be favored by an insurance company.
• The number of employees: The more you've got, the more workers' comp you’ll need. Simple as that.
• The size of the hotel: The square footage of the hotel as well as the number of rooms will influence coverage costs. Obviously, more rooms mean more guests, which increases liability risk and therefore means a higher premium.

Your agent can work with you to find a policy that fits within your hotel’s budget. Have your financial restrictions in mind before you start shopping for coverage to help speed the process along.

Why Work with a Florida Independent Insurance Agent?

In order to get the protection you need and deserve, you’ll want to work with a trusted expert. And who could be better for the job than a local agent who shares your area code? Independent insurance agents act as your own personal insurance shoppers, offering you tons more options than one-policy companies. With just one call, they’ll hook you up with multiple quotes.

Florida independent insurance agents are armed with knowledge on what coverage is needed in your area, and they’ll get you set up with just enough of it — not too little, not too much. They’ll handle all the heavy lifting so you can rest assured you’ll be set up with the right coverage at the right price.

They’re not just there at the beginning either. If disaster strikes, your Florida agent will be there to help walk you through the claims process and make sure you’re getting the benefits you're entitled to. Now that’s thinking ahead.