Hospitality includes arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food. Industry laws apply to customers and employees and include employee health and safety laws, labor laws, environmental protection, hygiene, liquor license terms, negligence, confidentiality, and contracts. It is important for entrepreneurs and industry managers to be aware of these laws to promote employee well-being, ensure adequate service to customers, manage exposure to business risks, and maintain full compliance with state and federal laws. As a former manager of the hospitality industry and now a professor, I remember hearing legal terms such as the exercise of “due diligence” and “necessity and appropriateness” about authorizing legislation for things like concession operations in national parks. Currently, we hear about “apparent agency” in franchise and rental scenarios, etc. In particular, this is a limited setting, and no amount of lawyer`s television will provide additional context. Most faculties in the hospitality industry are not lawyers (some are), but our role in this important area must raise awareness of issues, policies and legislation, as well as the potential impacts on operations and liability. Therefore, we focus on continuously monitoring the changing legal landscape of the hospitality industry. Given the unique employment characteristics in the hospitality industry, service providers should be aware of all labour laws. Unique challenges exist due to the nature of the work and the diversity of employees that exist in the industry. There are permanent and seasonal workers who are regulated differently by law. The hotel industry also accepts underage workers who work part-time and enjoy special protection under the law.

Since the hospitality industry tends to work 24 hours a day throughout the year, contractors and managers need to protect themselves from violations of compensation and overtime laws that protect against worker overload and underpayment. It is also important to be aware of occupational health and safety laws that protect employees at work. The hotel industry operates to certain essential standards. These standards ensure that customers are served fairly. These standards act as laws that affect the hospitality industry while remaining honest. These laws include the Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 and the Truth in Menus Act discussed below. A functional knowledge of the laws of the hotel industry is not only a good additional knowledge. Employees, managers, and other employees need to know enough about the various hospitality laws or hospitality laws, as they are sometimes called in state law, so as not to violate them. This applies to hotels and other accommodations, restaurants, but also bars, country clubs, spas, convention halls and any other place that serves food or offers accommodation. Failure to comply with local, state, and federal laws can result in fines, lawsuits, and negative publicity that can be disastrous for a hotel business.

Recent years have been marked by concerns about COVID-19 and efforts to maintain a new normal, recover and return to a new normal. According to this author, things will not return to what they were before COVID-19, and the operational and legal environment will adapt to a changing environment in all aspects of the business. The law of hospitality is essential for a variety of reasons. These reasons include protecting guests and employees from common violations such as health and harassment issues and ensuring that the hospitality industry develops strategies for better service. They can be explained as follows: In addition, traditional business disciplines, namely accounting, finance, marketing, management and management information systems and business law, are proposed and applied to hotel industry scenarios. Hospitality law courses cover topics such as labor law, franchising, risk management and insurance, and more. Books and/or curricula for hospitality law organize legal topics under headings that may include prevention, government, hotel operations, contract law, personnel law, and the legal responsibilities of hotel operators (Adapted by Barth and Barber, 2017). Given the current staffing issues in the hospitality industry, legal issues have been identified regarding mask requirements, the requirement for employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, etc. Currently, several business units and government agencies are dealing with problems arising from the required vaccinations of employees. Perceived health risks, as noted by Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt as early as 1984, can lead to perceived job insecurity (IJP) (Adapted by Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt, 1984). It could be argued that the perceived risk continues to affect recruitment in the hospitality sector in light of COVID-19.

Working in hospitality contact environments can put frontline employees at high risk of COVID-19 infection. It should be noted that PKI has both affective (individuals` emotional responses to possible undesirable changes) and cognitive (undesirable changes perceived by individuals) components (Jiang & Lavaysse, 2018).