Hampton Inn is a mid-range hospitality brand owned by the Hilton company, and marketed as part of their “elevated essentials” collection. Individual locations are owned and operated by franchisees under contract with Hilton.
Unfortunately, not all Hampton guests have been able to enjoy a relaxing night’s sleep and a hot waffle breakfast in comfort and safety.
Below, we’ll discuss common reasons you might need to sue a Hampton Inn. If at any point you would prefer to speak directly with an Atlanta hotel lawyer, feel free to reach out by phone or chat.
Hotel owners have a responsibility to anticipate likely threats to guest safety and address them accordingly. Living up to this responsibility takes many forms, but the most basic of them is making sure the physical structure of the hotel is safe for human habitation.
A woman is currently suing the Hilton company, after a sliding door allegedly fell on her at the Hampton Inn in Santa Monica, California. According to her complaint, the tire of her wheelchair became entangled in the door as she was exiting a bathroom, and when she struggled to free herself, the entire door, weighing an estimated 300 pounds, fell and struck her head and shoulder, pinning her in place for several minutes before staff members arrived to free her.
It’s worth noting that the plaintiff in that case is Abby Lee Miller, former star of Dance Moms, and arguably not the most credible individual. Amid other serious allegations against her, Miller has been convicted of and served time for customs fraud and bankruptcy fraud.
That said, the Hampton Inn owed Miller the same standards of safety and accessibility that every hotel owes to every guest. If there is any truth to her claim, the Hampton Inn does have something to answer for.
Miller would also not be alone in experiencing a structural collapse at a Hampton Inn.
In July of 2022, a section of roof in the pool area of a Hampton Inn in York, Nebraska collapsed on top of a 10-year-old boy. He died at the scene, crushed under a piece of wreckage too heavy for his family to move.
First responders witnessed the aftermath of that incident, and no one denies the basic facts of what happened.
Pools are often the most dangerous part of a hotel, and the Hampton Inn brand is no exception. Structure collapses like the one in Nebraska are more common around pools, due to issues of corrosion, humidity, and water damage.
Hotels also rarely employ lifeguards, so drowning is a very real danger, especially for younger guests.
At least two children have drowned in Hampton Inn pools in the past six years: a 10-year-old in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, and a 4-year-old in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Both girls were pulled unconscious from the water and rushed to local hospitals. Only the 4-year-old survived, in large part due to her own family’s prompt attempts at CPR.
Pools can also create ideal conditions for slip-and-fall accidents, and the wrong chemical balance in the water can lead to burns, microbial infections, and other health problems.
In February of 2024, several children reportedly developed skin rashes after swimming in a Hampton Inn pool in Toledo, Ohio. Apparently, the local health department had previously recommended that the hotel close the pool during some ongoing repairs, specifically a pump replacement. After receiving multiple complaints from parents, the department performed an inspection and a mandatory shutdown.
Last but not least, heated pools can contribute to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning at hotels — and for the Hampton Inn brand, they have.
In January of 2022, emergency crews arrived at the Hampton Inn in Marysville, Ohio, in response to a call about an unconscious child in the pool area. Instead of one drowning child, however, they discovered 16 people suffering from various stages of carbon monoxide poisoning. Most of them were transported to a nearby hospital, two of them in critical condition.
An investigation determined that a plastic bag had blocked the pool heater’s fresh air intake, and that the hotel’s CO detector failed to activate in spite of the extremely high CO levels.
CO is colorless, odorless, and extremely toxic. In buildings with fuel-burning appliances, occupants need to be able to rely on CO detectors to warn them of the gas’s presence before symptoms begin. The detectors are usually quite accurate, as long as they’re maintained and replaced on schedule.
Keeping a maintenance schedule may have been an issue for that Hampton Inn. Investigators also found that the hotel’s building permit was expired.
Just five months later, another CO poisoning happened at the Hampton Inn in Catoosa, Oklahoma. That one was smaller in scale, but in some ways even more egregious.
A guest at the hotel missed a business meeting, prompting one of his coworkers to come looking for him. When the staff opened his room, they found him on the floor, semiconscious and unable to move. The victim says he had reported feeling unwell in the middle of the night, and the front desk staff told him that everything was fine.
This would have been a particularly irresponsible thing to say, considering the fact that the fire department had investigated the guest’s room and found elevated CO twice in the past two weeks. A more thorough investigation, after the victim was hospitalized, revealed that the hotel’s exhaust vents had been installed incorrectly by an unlicensed plumber.
As if that weren’t enough, another eight months after that, five more people ended up in the hospital with symptoms of CO poisoning after using the gym at the Hampton Inn in San Antonio, Texas.
Carbon monoxide detectors are cheap to install and replace. They save lives and help identify underlying problems with heaters, boilers, and dryers. There’s really no excuse for modern hotels not to use them, and use them correctly.
A hotel’s obligations to guest safety don’t end with accident prevention. If there’s a history of violence in or around a hotel, similar violence in the future can be just as predictable as a CO leak from a neglected boiler.
In these situations, hotels have a duty to protect guests by investing in proven security measures, such as checking guest IDs, improving lighting and security camera coverage, and hiring professional guards if necessary.
There are plenty of Hampton Inn locations that should be taking these steps now, if they haven’t already.
For example, within the last five years alone:
This list is not exhaustive, so if you’ve been injured or lost a loved one due to crime at a Hampton Inn, don’t discount the possibility that the inn’s management may have contributed to what happened by ignoring crucial warning signs. Even if you don’t see your specific Hampton Inn mentioned, a lawyer can help you determine whether the inn had reason to expect the crime, and missed opportunities to protect you better.
Hotels are one of the most common settings for sex trafficking. It’s an industry-wide issue, and all hotel owners should be aware and ready to take all reasonable measures to protect their guests.
There have been several incidents connected with Hampton Inn locations specifically.
Police have arrested suspects for trafficking victims out of Hampton Inns in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and multiple Pennsylvania locations. In most cases, police found out about the sex trafficking through online ads or tips from neighbors, not from the hotels themselves.
Sex trafficking arrests only represent a small fraction of estimated cases. Many instances don’t come to light until years later, if at all.
It used to be extremely rare for hotels to face any repercussions for hosting sex traffickers, but in the past five years, it’s become common for survivors to sue hotels for their complicity.
One young woman is currently pursuing such a case against the Hampton Inn in Las Vegas, Nevada. She says the staff seemed to notice what was happening to her, that the receptionist would stare at her to the point of making her nervous, but that no one ever tried to talk to her. She was 16 at the time of her alleged trafficking.
Direct trafficking victims are the most common plaintiffs in cases like these, but they’re not the only ones.
A group of 13 employees and former employees are currently suing the Hampton Inn in Elmsford, New York for allegedly forcing them to facilitate sex trafficking on a daily basis, and exposing them to threats, violence, and sexual harassment from the traffickers. The workers have described hearing women who could not speak English being beaten in their rooms, seeing a woman being chased down a hallway by a man with a knife, and being told by management that “what happens at the hotel stays at the hotel.”
To be clear, the practice of catering to sex traffickers for profit is illegal. In fact, any entity that knowingly enables or profits from sex trafficking is guilty of sex trafficking, and civilly liable for the harm done to victims.
If you’ve been the victim of an accident or crime at a Hampton Inn, or if you’ve lost a loved one to such an incident, you will almost certainly need a lawyer to help you get the answers and compensation you deserve.
After ensuring your own safety, getting medical care, and making sure any evidence you have is in a safe place, reaching out for qualified legal counsel should be one of your first steps.
The Stoddard Firm, based in Atlanta, Georgia, has extensive experience in every area of law likely to come up in the course of suing a Hampton Inn, including personal injury, wrongful death, premises liability, negligent security, sex trafficking law, franchise law, and hospitality industry laws.
We’re passionate about getting every client the best possible outcome, and about holding powerful companies like Hilton accountable when they put profits ahead of health and safety.
To get started with a free consultation on your options, reach out any time at 678-RESULTS, or through our online chat function.
Matt Stoddard is a professional, hardworking, ethical advocate. He routinely faces some of the nation’s largest companies and some of the world’s largest insurers – opponents who have virtually unlimited resources. In these circumstances, Mr. Stoddard is comfortable. Mr. Stoddard provides his strongest efforts to his clients, and he devotes the firm’s significant financial resources to presenting the strongest case possible on their behalf. Matt understands that his clients must put their trust in him. That trust creates an obligation for Matt to work tirelessly on their behalf, and Matt Stoddard does not take that obligation lightly. [ Attorney Bio ]
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