Book excerpt: Here is the new, completely updated and expanded edition of the indispensable handbook used throughout the hospitality industry since The Laws of Innkeepers first appeared in 1972. Containing all the legal information essential to the successful operation of modern hotels, motels, inns, bed-and-breakfasts, clubs, restaurants, and resorts, the book has been extensively revised by John E. H. Sherry to accomodate the far-reaching changes that have occured since the publication of the revised edition in 1981. Sherry, a practicing lawyer and professor of hotel administration, carries over from the highly praised earlier editions detailed information on the rights and responsibilities of host and guest alike. He cites actual cases--ranging from the amusing and the bizarre to the tragic--as examples, and spells out in precise and readily understandable terms exactly what state and federal law says. Broadening the scope of the book to keep up with recent legal developments, the author includes many new case decisions and sumamries from various jurisdictions. Three chapters devoted to employment law, environmental law and land use, and catastrophic risk liability are among the highlights of the new material. These new sections present recent rulings and case law on such timely topics as age, disability, and AIDS discrimination, as well as sexual harassment; government regulation of toxic and hazardous substances and hotel and resort development; and acts of God and the Public Enemy and terrorism.