INNKEEPERS
275. Innkeeper Defined. An innkeeper is a person who keeps a public house for the entertainment, for compensation, of all fit persons who desire to become guests and who are willing to pay the regular price. An innkeeper furnishes both food and lodging to guests. Persons who furnish one or the other, only, are not innkeepers. Innkeepers are classed as exceptional bailees. They are liable as insurers of their guests' baggage entrusted to their care. A boarding-house keeper is not an innkeeper. A restaurant keeper is not an innkeeper.
276. Duties and Liabilities of Innkeeper. Innkeepers are obliged to receive all fit persons who present themselves as guests and who offer the regular price for entertainment. An innkeeper is obliged by reason of his public profession, to keep food and lodging facilities sufficient to meet all reasonably expected demands. Like a carrier of passengers, an innkeeper is not obliged to receive obnoxious persons. After a traveler has been received by an innkeeper for the purpose of obtaining food and lodging, he is a guest. The innkeeper is then obliged to use reasonable care for the protection of the guest. A person who boards at an inn is not a guest, neither is one who rooms at an inn, but does not board there.
An innkeeper is liable as an insurer, for the loss of, or damage to, the goods entrusted to his care by his guest. If the goods are lost or injured without any negligence on the part of the guest himself, and not by an Act of God (see Act of God, chapter on Carriers), or by a public enemy, the innkeeper is liable to the guest. If the goods are retained by the guest, and remain in his possession and control, the innkeeper is not liable as an insurer for their protection, but is obliged to exercise only ordinary care.
277. Lien of Innkeeper. An innkeeper has a right to retain possession of the goods of his guests until he receives his compensation. This is called an innkeepers' lien. At common law, a boarding-house keeper has no lien on the goods of the boarder. Some states provide by statute for a boarding-house keeper's lien upon the goods of a boarder. Even though the goods brought to an inn are the goods of a third person, the innkeeper has a lien thereon for the charges of the guest, unless the innkeeper knows at the time of receiving the guest, that the goods belonged to another. Unless otherwise provided by statute, an innkeeper cannot sell the goods of a guest upon which he has a lien, but must file a bill in equity, a petition in a court of equity requiring the goods to be sold under order of court for the payment of his charges.