Libro IV · Título II Capítulo IX. Del contrato de hospedaje

By the lodging contract, one person undertakes to give lodging to another in exchange for the agreed remuneration, whether or not board is included.

The lodging contract shall be governed, in the absence of legal provisions or agreements, by the precepts approved by the competent authority and by those of the internal regulations of the establishment.

For the regulations to be considered applicable, the hotel keeper must keep them placed in a visible place of the establishment, in addition to placing in each room an extract of what is pertinent.

Hotel keepers to whom fault (culpa) or negligence is attributable shall compensate the damages suffered by the guests, in their persons or property which, in accordance with the respective regulations, they have brought into their lodgings.

If the damages are caused without fault or negligence of the hotel keeper, his liability shall be limited to an amount equal to the price of one month of lodging, for the losses or damage suffered by the property of the guests that is in the premises of the business, and up to an amount equal to the price of the lodging during one year, for the damages suffered by the guests themselves while being in it.

Guests shall have the right to deliver to hotel keepers money and objects of value, for their safekeeping as a deposit.

The hotel keeper may refuse to receive them when they are of excessive value in relation to the importance of the establishment or of a volume disproportionate to the capacity of the premises.

The depositary shall issue to the client a detailed receipt of the things he receives.

The liability of the hotel keeper shall be that of the depositary.

The hotel keeper shall not be exempted from the liabilities imposed on him by the preceding articles, even if by means of his regulations, notices or posters he announces that he is not liable for the goods brought into the establishment, unless such exemption results from an agreement to the contrary with the guest.

The luggage and effects of the guest shall be preferentially liable to the hotel keeper for the amount of the lodging and for that purpose they may be retained by the latter as long as he is not paid what the guest owes.

The lodging contract terminates:

1º.By the passage of the agreed term. In the absence of agreement, the guest may give notice of termination of the contract before fifteen hours of the day of his departure.

2º.By violation of the agreements and regulations that govern it.

3º.By the guest committing an offense against morality or making scandals that disturb the other guests.

4º.By the absence of the guest for more than seventy-two hours without leaving notice or warning.

5º.By lack of payment in the agreed form.

6º.By the other causes agreed upon.

Once the lodging contract is terminated, the hotel keeper may remove from the rooms of the guest the luggage and personal effects of the latter, by means of an inventory that he shall draw up with the intervention of at least two witnesses, who are not his dependents. The trunks, suitcases and other objects found closed shall be kept in that state, and seals shall be placed on them, which the witnesses shall sign.

If thirty days later the guest does not settle his account, the hotel keeper may sell the goods, through a Notary. From the price obtained, the expenses of the sale shall be covered, an amount equal to the amount of his account shall be delivered to the hotel keeper, and the balance shall be deposited in a banking institution. Once five years have elapsed without the guest claiming the deposited balance, it shall be placed at the disposal of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala.

If, once the lodging contract is terminated, for any circumstance, the guest refuses to vacate the room, or to leave the establishment, the hotel keeper may request the immediate assistance of the authority, in order to achieve the vacating of the room without any other formality.