A hotel never stops. Guests checking in at midnight. Kitchens running service until late. Laundry rooms operating through the early hours. Housekeeping moving between floors before dawn. That constant activity, combined with sleeping guests and high footfall, makes hotels one of the most challenging environments to manage from a fire safety perspective.
The risks are real, but they’re also identifiable. A thorough fire risk assessment looks at your building, your operations, and your people, then flags the hazards before they have a chance to cause harm. For hotel managers and facilities leads, understanding what those risks look like is the first step toward staying ahead of them.
Why Are Hotels at Higher Fire Risk Than Most Buildings?
Hotels combine almost every fire risk factor into a single property.
You have guests who don’t know the layout of the building. Many will be asleep when the building is at its quietest but the risks remain constant. Unlike office workers, hotel guests haven’t been through a fire drill. They may not know where the exits are or what to do if the alarm sounds.
Then there’s the operational side. Commercial kitchens generate heat, grease, and open flames. Laundry facilities run industrial dryers for hours at a time. Electrical systems in guest rooms are under constant use, with guests plugging in devices that staff have no control over.
Add to that the sheer number of fire doors, escape routes, and alarm zones across multiple floors, and you start to see why a standard tick-box approach to fire safety falls short.
What Hidden Fire Risks Does a Hotel Fire Risk Assessment Look For?
A proper fire risk assessment for hotels goes beyond the obvious. Yes, it covers your fire alarms and extinguishers. But it also identifies the risks that are easy to overlook.
Commercial kitchen extraction systems: Grease builds up in extraction ductwork over time. If it’s not cleaned regularly, that grease becomes fuel. A fire risk assessment checks whether your extraction system is maintained correctly and whether grease filters are in good condition.
Laundry rooms and plant areas: Industrial dryers and boilers generate significant heat. Poor ventilation, lint build-up, or faulty thermostats can create conditions for a fire to start. These areas are often tucked away, which is exactly why they need attention.
Fire door compliance in corridors and stairwells: Fire doors only work if they close properly and latch correctly. In a busy hotel, doors get wedged, closers get damaged, and seals wear out. A fire risk assessment checks every door on every floor.
Emergency lighting and signage: If the power fails, guests need to find their way out. Emergency lighting must be tested regularly to confirm the batteries will hold charge. The assessment also checks that exit signage is visible and correctly positioned.
Fire alarm coverage and servicing: Hotels are complex buildings with multiple zones. Your fire alarm system needs to reflect that. The assessment confirms detection covers all areas, call points are accessible, and servicing is in line with BS 5839.
How Often Should a Hotel Fire Risk Assessment Be Reviewed?
At a minimum, your fire risk assessment should be reviewed every 12 months. But that’s the baseline, not the limit.
If you’ve made changes to the building, altered the layout, changed how spaces are used, or increased occupancy, a review is needed sooner. The same applies after any fire-related incident, even a false alarm that highlighted a gap in your procedures.
At Hawkesworth, we send reminders when your assessment is due so you’re never caught out by an expired report.
What Are Your Legal Obligations as a Hotel Owner or Manager?
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, hotels must have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment in place. The “responsible person,” usually the owner, manager, or designated duty holder, is legally accountable for fire safety on the premises.
That means identifying hazards, assessing who’s at risk, putting control measures in place, and keeping the assessment up to date. Non-compliance can result in unlimited fines or imprisonment. But beyond the legal side, the goal is simple: protect your guests, your staff, and your property by identifying risks before they escalate.
Book Your Hotel Fire Risk Assessment with Hawkesworth
We work with hospitality businesses across the UK and Ireland, from independent hotels to national chains. Our accredited assessors understand the specific risks hotels face, and we deliver clear, actionable assessments.
We offer out-of-hours and weekend availability so assessments fit around your operations. For hotel groups, we provide multi-site pricing and a single point of contact for all your fire safety needs.
Request a quote and get your fire risk assessment booked in.
