Title 45, Hotels, Motels, Restaurants, and Boardinghouses

(A) A person who: (1) obtains food, lodging or other service, or accommodation at any hotel, motel, inn, boarding or rooming house, campground, cafe, or restaurant and intentionally absconds without paying for it; or (2) while a guest at any hotel, motel, inn, boarding or rooming…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulations promulgated thereunder any motel, hotel or other similar establishment which provides living accommodations to the public may install, use and make available to the public open bin ice dispensers or a similar facility by w…

(A) Wherever fees are charged in this State for any rooms, lodgings, or accommodations furnished to transients by any hotel or motel, the rooms, lodgings, or accommodations so furnished must be equipped with: (1) a lock system such as, but not limited to, a deadbolt, security cha…

Sections 45-2-10 through 45-2-80 may be cited as the Lodging Establishment Act.

For purposes of Sections 45-2-10 through 45-2-80: (1) "Innkeeper" means the owner, operator, manager, or keeper of a lodging establishment; (2) "Lodging establishment" means a hotel, motel, villa, condominium, inn, tourist court, tourist camp, campground, bed and breakfast, resid…

(A) An innkeeper may refuse or deny any accommodations, facilities, or privileges of a lodging establishment to: (1) A person who is unwilling or unable to pay for accommodations and services of the lodging establishment. The innkeeper may require the prospective guest to demonst…

(A) Canines certified to work with law enforcement officers or fire service personnel for the purpose of fire investigations, training, or other related purposes must be permitted to stay overnight with the officers or personnel when they are staying in a place of public accommod…

(A) A person who on the premises or property of a lodging establishment: (1) uses or possesses a controlled substance in violation of Chapter 53, Title 44; (2) consumes or possesses beer, wine, or alcoholic liquors in violation of Section 63-19-2440 or 63-19-2450; is guilty of a …

The innkeeper of a lodging establishment shall keep for at least five years a guest register showing the name, residence, date of arrival, and departure of hotel guests. Every guest shall register, and the registering guest may be required by the innkeeper to produce a valid driv…

An innkeeper may eject a person from the lodging establishment premises for any of the following reasons: (1) nonpayment of the lodging establishment's charges for accommodations or services; (2) the person is visibly intoxicated, or the person is disorderly so as to create a pub…

The innkeeper shall post a copy of this chapter, including the requirements of Section 45-5-80, together with all rules of the lodging establishment, in a conspicuous place at or near the guest registration desk.

Nothing in this chapter prohibits an innkeeper from denying accommodations to a guest or ejecting a guest for any valid nondiscriminatory reason not otherwise provided in this chapter.

All towns and cities in this State may provide by ordinance such rules and regulations regarding the conduct and operation of hotels, restaurants, cafes and lunch counters therein as to provide for the public health, comfort and convenience. When such rules and regulations have b…

All such towns and cities may, by ordinance, provide for the inspection of all such places by some competent person appointed by the mayor or intendant and all persons conducting or operating such places shall at all times permit and allow inspections to be made of their premises…

Such towns and cities may deny or revoke any license granted to conduct any such business when, in the judgment of the mayor or intendant, such ordinances are not complied with.

All persons shall carry out and obey all ordinances passed or enacted by any town or city under the provisions of this chapter and upon neglect or refusal to comply therewith shall be subject to the penalties herein provided.

This chapter shall be cited as the "South Carolina Bed and Breakfast Act".

As used in this chapter: (A) "Bed and breakfast" means a residential-type lodging facility having no more than ten guestrooms where transient guests are fed and lodged for pay. This chapter does not apply to other types of transient accommodations, such as hotels, motels, motor i…

(A) A bed and breakfast with a residential kitchen may provide the following food service without having to obtain a permit authorizing the service: (1) a continental or full breakfast to registered guests only; (2) a tea-type service to registered guests only. (B) Regulations pr…

(A) The standards provided in this section shall apply to a bed and breakfast providing the food service identified in Section 45-4-30(A)(1). (B)(1) Food shall be in sound condition and safe for human consumption. The use of food in hermetically-sealed containers that was not pre…

(A) Sufficient potable water for the needs of the bed and breakfast shall be provided from an approved water supply. A private well water supply may be used if it meets residential water quality standards. (B) An approved means of sewage disposal must be provided. A public sewage…

(A)(1) A bed and breakfast must provide a safe and secure environment for guests, visitors, and staff. (2) The use of a portable, supplemental heater may not be substituted for a permanent heating source. (B)(1) A new bed and breakfast must comply with provisions of fire safety a…

If a bed and breakfast has a swimming pool which is available to guests, it must be constructed and operated in accordance with Department of Health and Environmental Control standards for residential swimming pools.

A bed and breakfast shall maintain appropriate commercial insurance, including property and liability coverage, as a lodging facility.

The exemption from the tax provided in Section 12-36-920 shall apply to any bed and breakfast that has no more than five rentable guestrooms on the same premises and that is also the innkeeper's place of abode.

A "hotel" as used in this chapter is an inn or public lodginghouse of more than ten bedrooms where transient guests are fed or lodged for pay in this State. The term "restaurant" as used in this chapter shall include lunch counters and cafes. The term "transient guests" as used i…

Nothing in this chapter shall apply to private residences at which lodgers are not received for hire.

Every hotel shall provide each floor with one or more fire extinguishers of a type approved by the National Board of Fire Underwriters, which shall be kept in good working order at all times, with plain instructions thereon.

All hotels constructed in this State after March 6, 1920 over two stories in height and over one hundred feet in length shall be constructed so that there shall be at least two stairs for the use of guests leading from the ground floor to the uppermost story and for larger buildi…

Every hotel in this State over two stories in height shall be provided with permanent iron balconies with iron stairs leading from one balcony to the other, above the ground floor, and with a stairway or ladder extending to the ground, in case such hotel is over one hundred and f…

In every hotel having fire escapes directions for reaching the fire escapes shall be kept posted at the entrance of each stairway and elevator shaft and in each bedroom above the ground floor. From eight o'clock in the evening until six o'clock in the morning the location and dir…

The proprietor, manager or other person in charge of every hotel constructed with an inside court or light well enclosed on all sides and with sleeping rooms or lodging apartments the only windows of which open upon or into such court or light well shall provide escape from such …

(A) All hotels in this State that are not required by law to have a fire sprinkler system in the building shall post a notice in a conspicuous place at or near the guest registration desk no later than July 1, 2006. The posting must be on an eight and one-half inches by eleven in…

No person shall maintain, operate or own any tourist camp or roadhouse where beds or lodging are had for hire without first obtaining from the governing body of the county in which such tourist camp or roadhouse is located a license so to do. Such license shall be issued upon the…

Application for a license to operate, maintain or own any such tourist camp or roadhouse shall be made in writing to the governing body of the county in which the license is to be issued and the application shall give the name of the owner of the property, the name of the manager…

Upon the filing of such application such governing body shall pass upon the application and make its recommendation in writing to the clerk of the court of general sessions and common pleas for the county in which the license is to be issued. If the majority of the governing body…

The license fee to be charged and collected in connection with the licensing of roadhouses and tourist camps shall be ten dollars per annum per tourist camp or roadhouse.

The governing body of any county wherein such a license has been issued may, upon such showing as to it may seem proper, revoke any license issued under the terms of this chapter.

In the issuing or revoking of licenses herein provided for, the governing body of the county may call upon the law-enforcing officers within the county for information pertinent to the issuing or revoking of such license and upon such call the officer or officers upon whom such c…

Any person violating the provisions of Section 45-7-10 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, be fined the sum of not less than twenty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days in the discretion of the court. Any person …

(A) All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in Article 1 of this chapter, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of r…

Subject to the limitations in Section 45-9-110, a party aggrieved as a result of a person or group of persons violating the provisions of Article 1 may institute an action in his own name in the circuit court to recover damages for violations of Article 1. A single act of discrim…

An aggrieved party must file a charge alleging unlawful discrimination or segregation under Article 1 with the State Human Affairs Commission and seek conciliation of any civil action under Section 45-9-100 prior to bringing such action in the circuit court. The commission has si…

The limitations on the right to pursue a civil action in Section 45-9-110 shall not be construed to limit the right to pursue the license or permit revocation procedure provided in Article 3 or the criminal penalties provided in Section 45-9-90. The penalties and remedies provide…

The provisions of this chapter do not apply to a private club or other establishment not in fact open to the general public. An institution, a club, an organization, or a place of accommodation, as defined in Section 45-9-10, which offers memberships for less than thirty days is …

No person shall withhold, deny, or attempt to withhold or deny, or deprive, or attempt to deprive any person of any right or privilege secured by the provisions of Section 45-9-10; or intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person with t…