by BERNARD BABB

Caribbean small hoteliers have been urged to fully understand the type of policies they have with insurance companies.

Failure to understand the fine-print and the extent of their cover, could lead to surprises and possibly business collapse.

That was the advice from veteran Barbadian insurance professional William Tomlin to participants at the two-day Caribbean Hotel Association retreat for small hotels, which concluded Friday at Hilton Barbados.

Tomlin, who spoke during an interactive session on Insurance A Most Neccesary Evil seemingly stunned several participants when he disclosed that for most policies, hoteliers had a mere 15 days to make claims after such events as hurricanes.

He also said it was not unusual for companies to cancel policies hours before threatening events.

Tomlin said US$5 million to US$10 million liability coverage would generally be adequate for independent properties in the Caribbean but this too depended on the kind of clientele they attracted.

The insurance professional also warned that in a globalised marketplace, regional hoteliers should not think hat they were isolated from litigation in other jurisdictions.

To illustrate the point, he told a story of a recent guest at Sandy Lane Hotel who slipped and injured his leg and later won a suit against the property after lodging his claim in a court in Pennsylvania in the United States.