As the new year is upon us, now is the perfect time for hospitality businesses to take a closer look at their insurance coverage.
During the pandemic, many insurance companies dropped out of the marketplace, and others who non-renewed policies due to the uncertain future of hospitality industry and the potential financial implications for the insurers.
Now, these insurance companies are returning to the marketplace along with new additional key players entering the hospitality insurance space.
Therefore, it’s vital to show how your hospitality business successfully operated through this difficult time and mitigated complex risks properly to effectively reevaluate your coverage by working with your broker to shop the marketplace competitively.
The following are four steps you can take to reduce complex risks for your hospitality operations:
1. Implement best practices.
Hospitality companies face myriad business challenges each day. These may include maintaining the property, protecting employees and guests, safeguarding personal and financial information, maintaining food and liquor controls, and updating emergency response protocols.
Insurers want to know their policyholders are prepared for the unexpected and experienced in effectively managing exposures.
Being able to provide documentation that explains the organization’s risk management approach can show underwriters the organization is doing everything within its control to prevent claims.
An organization that can demonstrate it is best in class will be able to secure the most competitive coverages and program pricing.
2. Create a long-term plan.
Restaurants and other businesses in the hospitality industry that can show their long-term goals and the strategies for meeting those objectives are more attractive risks.
Be able to show projected growth, how any capital plans can be managed given current supply chain disruptions and inflation, and what steps the organization will take to mitigate future dips in the economy.
3. Prioritize training.
Finding qualified staff is the number one issue facing the hospitality industry, with the U.S. restaurant industry operating with 750,000 fewer workers than before the pandemic.1
This staffing deficiency, resulting in longer wait times and deficient service, has led to increases in assaults on hospitality workers. Train employees on the organization’s safety protocols, how to deescalate situations and what to do if an incident occurs.
Ensure workers know how to report altercations or threats, both from fellow workers and customers, and investigate claims promptly to reduce the risk of employment practices liability insurance claims.
4. Enlist outside expertise.
Hospitality businesses may need to embrace unique solutions to find adequate coverage, particularly if their properties are in high-risk locations.
Partner with experts familiar with catastrophic modeling who can map out the property’s risk and explore non-traditional insurance markets for coverage, such as captives, excess and surplus lines, or other alternative risk financing.
Working with an experienced insurance advisor who is a complex risk expert is vital in navigating the challenging hospitality marketplace.
1 CNBC, Restaurants are short-staffed, and that’s taking a big toll on customers and workers alike, July 17, 2022.
