What is the typical procedure for a hotel to follow when a guest is found dead in their room?

Death resulting from natural causes or illness that occur on hotel premises are typically much easier to handle than those that occur as a result of a suicide. The place where the body is found is generally not considered a crime scene and usually does not warrant intensive investigation by civil authorities. However, it is imperative to remember that it is not the hotel’s responsibility to determine a cause or the nature of a guest’s death; leave that to the police and coroner. The hotel’s responsibility in this situation is pretty straightforward.

Whether it is a housekeeper, security officer, or hotel manager who discovers a potentially deceased victim, the first responsibility must always be to check the body to determine that the guest is actually dead and not merely asleep, suffering a stroke or heart attack, or has lapsed into a state of unconsciousness.

Shake the guest and check for a pulse and listen for breathing. Absent these vital signs, notify the hotel switchboard or front desk using a land-line telephone or cell phone. 

Do not use a two-way radio or walkie-talkie as news of the death will be broadcast over the entire hotel communications network. T

The front desk or switchboard will notify the police and the hotel’s security department. Remember, the guest is dead, speed is not necessarily of the essence here, but discretion is. It is imperative to share word of a guest’s death only to those individuals who need to respond or notify the authorities.

The next step is to exit and secure the guestroom or immediate area. This means leaving the guestroom, locking the door, and awaiting the arrival of hotel management and the police. To preserve the area for investigation and to secure the decedent’s valuables, it is critical that no single employee be left alone in the area where the death occurred

Once Management arrives, the employee who discovered the body should explain how and when they found the body, what steps they undertook to ascertain the guest was no longer alive, anything else they noticed, and what items in the guestroom or general area they touched

Have a manager escort the employee to a secure location and wait with them to gather their composure and await questioning by police. Have a front desk agent or security officer stationed in the lobby to meet responding police and escort them to the location of the guest’s body. 

No employee or manager should re-enter the guestroom or area of the body until police arrive, unless there is sufficient reason to believe that an unattended baby or child is still located in the room. At this point it is the hotel’s primary responsibility to secure the location. 

Note that in some states it is unlawful for any person to search for or remove the personal effects, money, papers, or property of a deceased person prior to the arrival of and until securing the permission of the coroner.

Once the police arrive, give them access to the scene and provide them the guest’s registration card and payment information from the front desk. Hopefully, this will enable the authorities to contact the decedent’s next of kin.

With the assistance of the police, hotel security should inventory all personal items of the decedent found in the guestroom. If the authorities remove the decedent’s property, request that the hotel be issued a receipt for all items removed. This will protect the hotel from potential theft claims levied by the decedent’s next of kin.

If the police or coroner does not remove the guest’s personal property, it is the hotel’s responsibility to do so and safeguard it. Do not remove the decedent’s property until the police or coroner approve. 

Before delivering the decedent’s property to any person, the hotel should request a certificate from the Surrogate’s Court certifying that an executor or administrator of the decedent’s estate has been appointed. To avoid incurring any liability, the hotel must only deliver the decedent’s property to this authorized person. The hotel should retain a copy of the certificate and obtain a detailed receipt when delivering the property. Finally, to avoid the hotel from incurring state estate tax, prior to delivering a decedent’s property the hotel should obtain a tax waiver from the state taxation authorities, even if the deceased guest was a nonresident of the state the hotel is located.

Director General informed that is not told the police immediately

In this situation, at once this must be reported to the higher authority of the hotel and then the authority will inform the police and if any reference of the dead must contact them.