Skip to Content

Miami Hotel
Injury Lawyer

Written by Prosper Shaked, personal injury attorney, North Miami Beach · Updated October 30, 2026

The evidence that decides a hotel injury case is still at the hotel. You probably are not, and while you are gone the wet floor gets mopped, the broken lock gets replaced, and the security video counts down toward the day it records over itself. You talk to a real attorney, usually me, on that first call or later the same day.

Call (305) 694-2676 Free case review
  • You speak to the attorney, not a screener
  • No fee unless I recover money for you
  • Millions recovered for injured clients
  • Hablamos español

No fee unless I recover money for you. If there is no recovery you owe no fee and no costs. When we recover, case costs are paid from the recovery.

Prosper Shaked
The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 - Prosper Shaked
Florida Justice Association member
Prosper Injury Attorneys - Recognized by Best Lawyers 2027
American Association for Justice member
Prosper Shaked on SuperLawyers - Top rated Personal Injury attorney in North Miami Beach, Florida
BBB Accredited Business A+ - Prosper Injury Attorneys

What to do after a hotel or resort injury

Seven things that protect your claim. Do what you safely can, and if you are reading this from a hospital bed or from home, start with the last one. The sooner you act, the more evidence survives.

01

Photograph the hazard

Photograph the hazard, the surrounding area and anything without a warning sign. Those images, and the room or area number, help identify the responsible companies.

02

Report it and get the incident report

Report the injury to hotel management and ask for a written incident report. That record is one of the first things I later demand.

03

Get the witnesses’ names and numbers

Get the names and numbers of any witnesses and other guests, because they scatter quickly.

04

See a doctor right away

Prompt treatment helps tie your injury to the fall or attack. Get medical attention even if you feel able to walk away, and keep up the medical care your doctor recommends: gaps in treatment are the first thing the hotel’s insurer argues from.

05

Keep what you were wearing

Keep the clothes and shoes you had on, especially your footwear in a slip case; they show what you stepped in.

06

Do not give a recorded statement

Not to the hotel’s insurer, and not before you have talked to a lawyer.

07

Call before the evidence is gone

A short call tells you where you stand and what has to be preserved right now.

Call (305) 694-2676

Do you have a hotel injury case?

If you can answer yes to these two questions, it is worth a call, even if you have already gone home.

1

Did it happen on hotel or resort property: a room, the lobby, the pool, the parking lot, the parking garage or the grounds?

2

Were you hurt?

Not sure? Call anyway. Usually I can tell you on that one call.

Yes, call Prosper now

The consultation is free · Available 24/7

What happens when you call

01

You talk to the attorney

Not an intake screener. You reach an attorney on that first call or later the same day, and the consultation is free.

02

You find out where you stand

We walk through what happened, where the injury occurred and your injuries. Usually I can tell you on that one call whether you have a claim worth pursuing, wherever you live now.

03

We preserve the evidence

If you hire us, the first letters go out fast, to preserve the surveillance video, the incident report and the cleaning and inspection logs before they disappear.

04

What we do in the first days

  • Identify every company in the ownership and operating chain: the owner, the management company, the brand and any security or maintenance contractor.
  • Serve each one with notice of the claim and a written demand to preserve video, incident reports, maintenance and cleaning logs, complaints and personnel records.
  • Ask for what the incident calls for: key-card logs after an assault, water-chemistry logs after a pool injury, service tags after an equipment failure.
  • Take over the calls from the hotel’s risk manager and insurer, so you are not answering their questions alone.
  • If you are back home, work with you by phone and video while you keep treating there.
Call (305) 694-2676

Prosper Shaked,
Miami hotel injury attorney

North Miami Beach
  • The Best Lawyers in America® 2026–2027: Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America, 2022–2025
  • Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2019–2026: Personal Injury – General: Plaintiff
  • Avvo 10.0 “Superb” rating
  • National Trial Lawyers, Top 40 Under 40
  • Former Prosecutor

I am Prosper Shaked, the attorney behind Prosper Injury Attorneys, an injury law firm in North Miami Beach. Most of the hotel and resort cases I handle, as part of my premises liability and personal injury practice, come from guests who were visiting and have since gone home. My law office works in English and Spanish: se habla español. Call (305) 694-2676, or read more about me.

What clients say about working with Prosper Injury Attorneys.

Most of the people who hire me were in the worst week of their lives when they first called. Many of them have written about what it was like to work with my office, and those reviews are on Google, where I would rather you read them than take my word for it.

L
Luis Barcena

’m very grateful I found Prosper to handle my accident case. I have a very busy schedule and didn’t have much time to deal with everything, but Prosper made the whole process incredibly easy. He worked around my schedule, kept me updated every step of the way, and was always quick to respond whenever I had questions. His communication, professionalism, and genuine care really stood out to me. He took a lot of the stress off my shoulders and made what could have been a very overwhelming experience feel simple. I highly recommend Prosper to anyone who needs an accident attorney!

S
Stan Griggs

Prosper was always available to answer questions and to keep me informed as to the status of my case. He took the time to thoroughly explain certain issues and was very patient with multiple redundant inquiries. I would definitely go to him for any future cases.

S
Sherly Brocato

I highly recommend Prosper Shaked Law Firm . He provided excellent service throughout the entire process and was professional, knowledgeable, and very attentive to my needs. He kept me informed, answered all my questions, and truly cared about getting the best possible outcome for me. I'm very grateful for his hard work and dedication. Thank you for all your help Prosper and may God continue blessing you and your Team.

J
Jorge Mario Mendez

(Translated by Google) Excellent service, highly recommended and reliable, thank you very much. (Original) Excelente servicio muy recomendable y confiable muchas gracias.

C
Charline Beausejour

They are professional and kind. Answer every question I have. If I don’t understand He has patience. They keep up to date about everything..

J
Jessie Carry

Prosper Injury Attorneys services were exceptional. They were patient, diligent, and knowledgeable and they explained each process thoroughly. Tiffany is really an asset to the company, as she remained very professional at times even when I became frustrated with the process. I would definitely recommend the office of Prosper Shaked for any injury claim, they’re the best in the business.

Read our reviews on Google

Prospective clients may not obtain the same or similar results.

What is a hotel injury case worth?

Three questions tell us most of what we need on the first call.

1

How serious and lasting the injury is

Surgery, permanent impairment or future care needs raise the value; a full recovery with limited objective findings lowers it.

2

How strong the proof against the hotel is

Clear video, repeated complaints or obvious policy violations help; an unknown cause, or no proof the hotel knew or should have known, hurts.

3

How much insurance is available

A solvent defendant with adequate insurance coverage is a very different case from a coverage dispute or a defendant that cannot pay.

My office has recovered millions of dollars for injured clients, including multiple seven-figure recoveries in catastrophic injury cases. Be skeptical of any hotel injury settlement average you read online, and of anyone who quotes you a number before they know your facts. The honest answer to “what is my case worth” always starts the same way: let me see the evidence first.

  • Medical bills
  • Lost income
  • Future care
  • Pain and suffering
  • Property damage

$1,225,000

Our client was seriously injured when a severely intoxicated wrong-way driver struck her head-on. We pursued the commercial alcohol vendors that kept serving him, under Florida’s dram shop law, including a hotel chain’s lobby bar, and reached a global settlement with the driver and the businesses.

$350,000

An out-of-state couple on vacation was hurt when the resort transport bus they were riding was rear-ended by a second bus run by the same resort operator. We pursued the wife’s injury claim and the husband’s loss of consortium claim, filed suit after a $95,000 pre-suit offer, and resolved the case at mediation.

Want to know what your case is worth?

Call and Prosper will walk through what happened, where it happened and your injuries, usually on that first call.

(305) 694-2676 Free case review

Three numbers that decide hotel injury cases in Florida

2 years

Deadline to file

For most hotel injuries on or after March 24, 2023, you have two years from the date of injury to file a negligence lawsuit. A fatal injury follows its own clock.

Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a)

March 24, 2023

Which deadline applies

Injuries before this date keep the older four-year window. For most hotel injuries on or after it, the two-year clock runs from the date of injury, so the exact date of your accident matters.

Fla. Stat. § 95.11, as amended by HB 837 (2023)

More than 50%

The fault bar

A person found more than 50 percent at fault for their own injury recovers nothing. At 50 percent fault or less, recovery is reduced by their share of the fault.

Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6)

Avoid these

Common mistakes that weaken a hotel injury claim

Hotel risk managers and insurance companies often reach injured guests within days. These are the mistakes that quietly weaken a claim before a lawyer is involved.

  • Giving a recorded statement. You are not required to give the hotel’s insurance adjuster a recorded statement before you have talked to your own lawyer, and doing it can weaken your personal injury claim.
  • Signing a medical authorization or taking a quick payment. Insurers sometimes offer an early payment or ask for an authorization within days. You do not have to do either before talking to your own lawyer, and doing so that early can weaken your claim.
  • Waiting. The two-year deadline to file suit is not the only clock. Video records over, staff move on and spills are mopped, and the evidence problems start long before the two years run.
  • Assuming the brand on the building is the defendant. It often is not. A hotel can be owned by one entity, operated by a management company and secured by an outside contractor.

Who is legally responsible for a hotel injury

Responsibility for a hotel injury falls on whoever controlled the condition that hurt you, which is often more than one company and rarely just the brand on the sign. Any of those companies can be legally responsible for harm its own decisions caused.

The hotel injury

In the simple case, the hotel that hurt you is one company. A big-brand hotel is often owned by a real-estate entity, run day to day by a separate management company, flagged under a franchise brand and staffed in part by outside contractors.

01

The commercial property owner

Has a duty to keep the premises reasonably safe that it cannot fully hand off.

02

The operating or management company

Can be responsible for the upkeep, staffing and safety decisions it controls.

03

The franchise brand

Can be liable when it keeps enough operational control, not just its logo.

04

The security contractor

Can be directly liable for how it did or did not protect guests.

05

The maintenance or pool vendor

Can be liable for the equipment or condition it was hired to maintain.

Florida treats a property owner’s core duty to keep guests reasonably safe as non-delegable, so the owner cannot escape responsibility by pointing to a management company or a contractor it hired. That is why identifying every entity in the ownership and operating chain is the first thing I do on a hotel case.

The Florida rules behind a hotel injury case

A hotel is not responsible simply because you were hurt under its roof. These Florida rules decide what you have to prove, how fault is divided and how long you have, and each one shapes the evidence we go after first.

Rule What it means in your case

Spills and other transitory substances

Fla. Stat. § 768.0755

When you slip on a transitory foreign substance like water or spilled food, you have to prove the hotel had actual or constructive knowledge of it: that it knew, that the hazard sat long enough that a careful operator should have caught it, or that it happened over and over and was therefore foreseeable.

The attacker’s share of fault

Fla. Stat. § 768.0701

In a hotel negligent-security case, the jury must weigh the fault of everyone who contributed to the injury, including the criminal who attacked you. That makes proving the hotel’s own share of responsibility essential.

Security safe harbor

Fla. Stat. § 768.0706

Florida’s 2023 safe harbor for owners of multifamily residential property, such as apartments and condominiums, who install specific security measures does not apply to hotels, which are transient lodging, so a hotel cannot use it to claim a presumption against liability.

Deadline to file

Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a)

For most hotel injuries on or after March 24, 2023, you have two years from the date of injury to file a negligence lawsuit. Injuries before that date keep the older four-year window.

Comparative fault

Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6)

A person found more than 50 percent at fault for their own injury recovers nothing. At 50 percent fault or less, recovery is reduced by their share of the fault.

How fault works under Florida law

Florida follows modified comparative negligence, so your own share of fault can reduce or even eliminate your recovery. A person found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing, and at 50 percent or less, recovery is reduced by their share of the fault: if you are found 20 percent responsible for a fall, a $100,000 verdict becomes $80,000.

At 50 percent fault or less: you recover, reduced by your share

More than 50% at fault: you recover nothing

▲ Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6)

This is why hotels and their insurers work so hard to shift blame onto you, arguing you were distracted, ignored a warning, or wandered somewhere you should not have been.

In a negligent-security case, the jury also weighs the fault of the criminal who attacked you. Building the strongest possible liability record, from the video, the logs and the prior complaints, is the direct answer to both tactics.

Common hotel and resort accidents we handle

Most hotel and resort injuries trace back to a few recurring failures around water, security, and upkeep, and in Miami they concentrate where heavy tourist traffic meets sun, salt air, and pool water.

Slip-and-fall injuries

On wet lobby floors, pool decks and bathroom tile, where proving the hotel knew or should have known about the spill is the hard part.

See slip-and-fall claims

Stairs and walkways

Falls on poorly lit or broken stairs and walkways on hotel property.

See broken stairs claims

Assaults and robberies

Attacks tied to inadequate security or broken door locks, when the attack was foreseeable and the hotel failed to take reasonable steps against it.

See negligent security claims

Drowning and near-drowning

At unsupervised or poorly fenced pools and hot tubs, often the most serious injuries we see on hotel property.

See drowning accident claims

Balcony and railing failures

Often a building-code question: whether the railing met height and strength requirements, and whether the hotel let it deteriorate.

Pool and spa burns

Burns and chemical injuries from mismanaged pool and spa systems.

Elevator and escalator malfunctions

Where the hotel and the vendor hired to maintain the equipment can both be responsible.

See elevator accident claims

Falling objects and broken furniture

Objects that fall and furniture that gives way, in rooms and common areas.

Resort grounds

Injuries in resort-controlled outdoor areas: beach zones, boardwalk ramps and valet staging.

We handle hotel and resort injury claims across Miami Beach, South Beach, Collins Avenue, Coral Gables and Key Biscayne, throughout Miami-Dade County and the rest of South Florida.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, but only if the hotel, its staff, or a company it hired was negligent and that negligence caused your injury. Being injured on the property is not enough by itself; Florida requires proof that the hotel failed to use reasonable care. As a paying guest you are a business invitee, which means the hotel owes you reasonable care, not a guaranteed level of safety.

Four things: the hotel owed you a duty of reasonable care, it breached that duty, the breach caused your injury, and you suffered real damages. If you slipped on a spill or other transitory foreign substance, Florida adds one thing more: proof the hotel knew or should have known about it. That knowledge requirement is usually the hardest part, and proving it is an evidence problem.

Sometimes. Water near a pool does not make the hotel automatically responsible; under § 768.0755 you have to show the hotel had actual or constructive knowledge of the spilled water. If the deck itself was defectively designed, drained, or maintained, that is a separate claim that does not turn on the same knowledge rule.

The absence of a warning sign can help your case, but it does not win it by itself. If you slipped on a spill or other transitory substance, you still have to prove under § 768.0755 that the hotel had actual or constructive knowledge of it. A missing sign is evidence that the hotel failed to take a reasonable precaution once it knew or should have known about the danger.

No. A Florida hotel is not an insurer of guest safety and is liable for a criminal attack only when the attack was reasonably foreseeable and the hotel failed to take reasonable security measures. Prior crimes, broken locks, poor lighting, and ignored complaints are the kinds of facts courts weigh in deciding whether the attack was foreseeable. When a hotel hires a security company, responsibility can extend to that contractor as well.

It is often not the company whose name is on the building. A hotel can be owned by one entity, operated by a management company, flagged by a franchise brand, and secured by an outside contractor. I identify each one and pursue every source that is genuinely responsible and can pay, but I do not add a company to a lawsuit when it only adds cost and delay without helping you.

For accidents on or after March 24, 2023, you generally have two years from the date of injury under § 95.11(5)(a). Accidents before that date keep the older four-year window, so confirm your specific date as early as possible. If a guest was killed, a wrongful death claim generally runs two years from the date of death and has its own beneficiaries.

In most cases, no. A Florida hotel claim is generally handled in Florida under Florida law, so you will usually want a Florida lawyer, but the investigation, negotiation, and most litigation steps happen without you present. Depositions are almost always handled by video. Only a compulsory medical exam or trial may require you to travel to Florida, and only a small share of cases reach those stages; if one is coming, we tell you well in advance.

Your claim is not automatically over. Reporting and photos help, but they are not the only evidence: the hotel’s surveillance video, incident reports, maintenance logs, and prior complaints may still exist, along with your medical records and any witnesses. The sooner a lawyer sends a preservation demand, the better the chance those records survive.

My office handles hotel injury cases on a contingency fee basis: you pay no attorney’s fee unless we recover money for you, and the initial consultation is free. If there is no recovery you owe no fee and no costs; when we recover, case costs are paid from the recovery. That lets an out-of-state guest start a Florida claim without paying an attorney’s fee up front.

Answers written and reviewed by Prosper Shaked, Florida personal injury attorney.

Call a Miami hotel injury lawyer

If you were hurt at a Miami hotel or resort, the sooner the evidence is locked down, the better protected your claim will be. Call and you will reach an attorney, not an intake screener, on that call or later the same day, wherever you live now.

Call (305) 694-2676 Free case review




    I do not charge a fee unless I recover money for you. If there is no recovery you owe no fee and no costs. When we recover, case costs are paid from the recovery.

    Terms for Submitting Inquiry: By providing my phone number to Prosper Injury Attorneys, I agree and acknowledge that Prosper Injury Attorneys may send text messages to my wireless phone number for any purpose. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency will vary, and you can Opt-out by replying “STOP”.

    Privacy Policy: No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

    The consultation is free, and I do not charge a fee unless I recover money for you. Prosper Injury Attorneys · 15520 W Dixie Hwy, North Miami Beach, FL 33162

    call
    text