a. Within 24 hours of becoming aware of a service disruption, a hotel shall provide notification of such service disruption to each third-party vendor and each guest who has entered into a reservation, booking, or agreement with the hotel or a third-party vendor for the use or occupancy of a room where such service disruption could reasonably affect such room or such guest's stay or use of a hotel service. Such notification shall also be provided immediately before accepting or entering into any new reservation, booking, or agreement for the use or occupancy of a room or hotel service that could reasonably be affected by such service disruption. Such notification shall also be provided to any current guest who is substantially affected by such service disruption. Where the circumstances of such service disruption make timely notification impracticable, such notification shall be made as soon as practicable.
b. Such notification shall describe: (i) the nature of the service disruption; and (ii) the extent of the service disruption's effect on reservations, bookings, or agreements to use or occupy such room or hotel services, including the right to cancel or terminate the reservation, booking, or agreement for the use or occupancy of such room or hotel services without the imposition of any fee, penalty or other charge, as provided in subdivisions c and d of this section. If such notification is included in a communication containing other information, the notification shall be in a significantly larger font and different color than the remainder of the communication.
c. A hotel shall not impose any fee, penalty or other charge, nor retain any deposit, in the event a guest, prior to checking in, cancels a reservation, booking, or agreement with such hotel for the use or occupancy of a room, where such guest's stay or room could be substantially affected by a service disruption during such guest's stay or use of a hotel service, unless the hotel provided prominent and clear notice of such service disruption, pursuant to subdivision b of this section, prior to accepting such reservation, booking, or agreement.
d. Where a service disruption arises only after any guest of such room has checked in, the hotel shall prominently and clearly notify such guest of such service disruption within 24 hours of becoming aware of such disruption, as provided in subdivision a of this section. Such notification shall specify the rights set forth in this subdivision, pursuant to subdivision b of this section. The guests of such room or hotel service may terminate any reservation, booking, or agreement for the rental of such room or use of a hotel service, and the hotel shall not impose any fee, penalty or other charge for such termination, nor retain any deposit related to any unused portion of the period of the reservation, booking, or agreement following the onset of such service disruption.
(L.L. 2020/099, 9/28/2020, eff. 1/26/2021)
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 2020/099.