Civil Code > TITLE XVI CONTRACTS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES 6

<< < TITLE XVI CONTRACTS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES 6 > >>

Chapter 6. Contracts of innkeepers

Art. 2653 – Definition.

(1) An innkeepers’ contract is a contract whereby a person who exercises the occupation of innkeeper undertakes to lodge a client during one or several nights.

(2) Where the lodging is provided for a month or more, there shall be a contract of letting and not an innkeepers’ contract.

Art. 2654 – Duration of contract.

(1) Unless otherwise provided, hotel rooms shall be engaged from mid-day to mid-day.

(2) The innkeeper may demand that the room, if not re-engaged by the client, be vacated by him at mid-day.

Art. 2655 – Renewal of contract.

A room occupied by a client shall be deemed to have been engaged for an additional day where the client or the innkeeper has not expressed before mid-day his intention not to extend the contract.

Art. 2656 – Equipment.

The innkeeper shall provide the client, in addition to given rooms, with furniture and equipment necessary for lodging, such as light and heating, in accordance with the class of the hotel and usages.

Art. 2657 – Care of luggage.

The innkeeper shall receive the client and look after his luggage without having any right to additional payment, from the morning when the room is engaged until the evening of the day when it is to be vacated.

Art. 2658 – Innkeepers’ warranty.

(1) The innkeeper shall warrant to the client that the rooms engaged by him and those parts of the hotel used in common are habitable, healthy and safe.

(2) Where he provides the client with food or drink, he shall also warrant that they are sound and harmless.

(3) He shall be relieved of his liability under this Articles where damage is due to force majeure or the client’s fault.

Art. 2659 – Caterers and café proprietors.

Caterers and café proprietors shall similarly warrant to their clients that the food and drink provided by them are sound and harmless.

Art. 2660 – Reservation of rooms.

(1) A client who has engaged a room for a specified day and who has received from the innkeeper notice that the room has been reserved for him shall pay the price of this room for a day, even where, on account of force majeure, he has not occupied it.

(2) He shall not be relieved of this obligation unless he has notified the innkeeper in due time that he has renounced to contract and the innkeeper, after receiving notice, was able to let to a third person the room that had been reserved.

(3) Unless otherwise provided, compensation shall be due for one day only, notwithstanding that the room had been reserved for several days and payment agreed by the week or month.

Art. 2661 – Cancellation of contract.

(1) Where the room has been engaged for several days, the contract shall be cancelled where the client does not occupy it on the day fixed by him.

(2) The innkeeper shall not be liable where, in this case, he lets the room to another person, unless he has received notice from the client, or anyone acting on his behalf, that the client wants the room to be kept.

(3) Where the innkeeper has received an advance, he shall put the room at the disposal of his client in so far as he is covered by this advance.

Art. 2662 – Right of retention.

(1) The innkeeper may retain the property brought into the hotel by the client until the total payment due to him on account of the client’s stay at the hotel has been made.

(2) He shall have in relation to such property the rights and benefits of a pledge.

Art. 2663 – Principle of liability.

(1) The innkeeper shall have the same liability as a paid bailee for the things that his clients have brought into the hotel.

(2) Evidence that the things had been brought into the hotel by a client may be adduced by any means.

Art. 2664 – Limitation of liability.

The innkeeper’s liability shall be limited to a total sum of five hundred Ethiopian dollars.

Art. 2665 – Unlimited liability. – 1. Fault or actual deposit.

The liability of the innkeeper shall however be unlimited where:

(a) the loss is due to the fault of the innkeeper or a member of his family, or a member of his staff: or

(b) the loss occurs to the things which the client has especially deposited with the innkeeper.

Art. 2666 – 2. Refusal of actual deposit.

(1) The liability of the innkeeper shall also be unlimited where the loss occurs to the things that the innkeeper has refuse, without good cause, to have deposited with him.

(2) There shall be good cause where the goods possess an excessive value or are unwieldy having regard to the standing of the hotel and the available accommodation.

Art. 2667 – Non-liability.

(1) The liability of the innkeeper shall cease where he can prove that the removal, loss or deterioration was due to the fault of the client himself, or persons who have visited or accompany him or are employed by him.

(2) He shall also be released from liability where the loss or deterioration is due to the nature of or a defect in the thing or to force majeure.

Art. 2668 – Obligation to give notice.

The innkeeper shall be released from liability where the client does not notify him of the damage as soon as he knows of it.

Art. 2669 – Provision of non-liability.

Any provision excluding or limiting the liability of an innkeeper shall be of no effect.

Art. 2670 – Scope of the law.

(1) The provisions of this Chapter shall apply from the time when the things enter the hotel, unless the client, having sent them in advance, does not arrive.

(2) They shall also apply to things, such as carriages, motorcars, live animals, accommodated in premises adjacent to the hotel or put at the disposal of the clients by the hotel.

Art. 2671 – Establishments similar to hotels.

The provisions of the Chapter shall apply to the management of medical institutions, convalescent homes, public places of entertainment, bathing establishments, boarding houses, restaurants, sleeping-cars, public stables and other establishments of a similar nature.

LawCodes