Concealed Carry Laws and Tactics for Hotels
This article explores the various considerations and topics relating to staying in and visiting Hotels with personal firearms and especially concealed firearms.
Jump Directly To A Section:
- What Laws Allow or Prohibit Guns in Hotels
- Policies of the Major US Hotel Chains
- Securing The Firearm in the Room
- Beware Bars in Lobbies
- Stairs, Elevators, Doorways, and Hallways
- Instances Where Guns Were Left/Found in Hotels
What Laws Allow Or Prohibit Guns in Hotels?
Very few states have specific laws about firearms in Hotels. I looked hard and these are the only restrictions I can find:
- Idaho (39-1805), Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Rhode Island, and South Carolina have laws that allow that “an innkeeper may refuse to provide lodging or services to or may remove from a lodging establishment an individual who: the innkeeper reasonably believes possesses property that may be dangerous to other individuals, such as firearms or explosives.” The wording may vary by state but you get the idea. This allows only that the hotel can remove you from the property.
- Montana law prohibits an innkeeper or hotelkeeper from evicting a guest because of firearm possession.
- Wisconsin law prohibits handguns from hotels but the prohibition doesn't apply to individuals licensed to carry a concealed weapon if the licensee is not consuming alcohol.
If you know of one I'm missing please mention it in the comments below.
Now, hotels are private property and state laws generally to some degree allow or empower private property owners to determine and enforce any restrictions they choose. Meaning, that individual hotels have the legal authority to restrict or prohibit firearms on their property. Depending on the state where the hotel is located; to violate one of these restrictions may be a criminal act.
Policies of the Major US Hotel Chains

Picture was taken at a MGM Hotel in Las Vegas
In searching the internet for firearm policies from hotels I mostly came up short. I found a few old forums where someone had posted an email they received from Marriott that indicated Marriott doesn't allow firearms in any of their hotels but not only was that all I could find it also turned out to be contrary to what Marriott told me. So I personally contacted each of the below brands and am including the response I received from their corporate team.
In many cases, individual hotels may have their own policies outside of or beyond the below corporate policies.
IHG Hotels Gun Policy (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Avid, Staybridge, Candlewood, Hotel Indigio, EVEN Hotels, Kimptom, Hualuxe, Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts,
IHG does not have a system-wide policy regarding the ability to carry firearms on property at IHG branded hotels. Rather, we believe this decision is a local one that rests with our franchisees, the overwhelming majority of which do not have policies prohibiting firearms at their hotels. In those specific instances, a guest would be advised of this policy during the reservation process. (Email received Aug 8th 2018)
Choice Hotels Gun Policy (Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Hotels, MainStay Suites, Suburban, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn)
Our hotels are individually owned and operated and required to comply with state, local and federal laws. Each hotel develops their own policies and procedures. (Email received Aug 3rd 2018)
Marriott Gun Policy (Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Delta Hotels, Autograph Collection, Courtyard, Springhill Suites, Fairfield, Towneplace Suites, Protea Hotels, Starwood, Stregis, The Luxury Collection, Westin, Sheraton, Meriden, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels, aloft, Four Points, Moxy, Galord Hotels)
Marriott's policy is to comply with national, state and local laws or regulations governing firearms in the communities where we operate. Where it is legal to carry firearms, our hotels generally allow guests to bring guns into the hotel, unless special circumstances merit an exception. Where carrying firearms is unlawful, it is of course unlawful to carry guns into our hotels. Where it is unlawful to carry a gun because alcohol is being served, we will post such restrictions if we are required to do so by law. (Email received Aug 3rd 2018)
Hilton Gun Policy (Waldorf Astoria, Conrad Hotels, Canopy, Hilton, Curio, DoubleTree, Tapestry Collection, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton, Tru, Homewood Suites, Home2)
I tried various ways to reach Hilton to inquire about their policy. If they ever do end up getting back to me I will insert it here. Until then I will assume that the email being shared on various gun forums is accurate and true. It states that Hilton Hotels do not allow anyone to possess firearms in any of their hotels.
Disney Hotels & Resorts Gun Policy
From the official company website: Guests are not permitted to have firearms, ammunition, knives or weapons of any kind at or in Disney Resort Hotels and Disney Vacation Club Resorts, including in hotel rooms, units, vacation home villas and general public areas within the hotels and resorts.
I found documented no-firearm policies for MGM, Wynn Resorts, and Caesars Entertainment which all have properties in Las Vegas.
Also, Woodspring Hotels are clearly anti-gun and will “eject guests for having any firearm regardless of license.”
There are plenty of other hotels and properties that aren't part of one of the above brands. I really can't contact them all but you can always call and ask if they have a policy before you book.
Other Considerations In Picking A Hotel
Please consider the following when making hotel reservations:
- Select a hotel with electronic locks. These locks are generally changed with every stay so it's unlikely there is a duplicate key to the room.
- Make sure the hotel rooms have a deadbolt and peephole on the door.
- Check guest rooms and the lobby for smoke detectors and fire sprinklers.
- Select a hotel with limited outside entrances.
- Ensure hotel personnel are trained in guest security.
- Be sure the hotel is not located in an area with a high crime rate. Check city statistics before making a reservation.
- Ensure the parking lot is well lit. 13% of crime at hotels are car break-ins.
Please consider the following when choosing a hotel room:
- Select a room between the 4th and 6th floor of the hotel. These rooms are high enough to protect you from intruders, but low enough to be reached by an emergency fire ladder.
- Try to avoid staying on the ground floor. If you must, try to reserve a room with the window facing the courtyard, rather than the parking lot.
- Though rooms located next to the elevators tend to be noisier, they are the safest. Consider that rooms located near vending machines are also noisy.
Securing the Firearm In The Room
When you check into your hotel ask the front desk not to give out your name or room number to anyone. This will limit the risk of someone who may discover you are a gun owner trying to break into your room.
There may be a number of situations in which you may need to leave a firearm in your hotel room during a day. Perhaps you are in Orlando and plan to spend the day at Disneyworld where no guns are allowed. So you leave it in the hotel room. You have some options.
You could use the Hotel Safe – Hotel Safes are relatively secure. They can ALL be opened by hotel staff so you need to consider how much you trust the hotel staff. The safe may protect your firearm from the thief who breaks into the room but less likely from the housekeeping staff. A quick search on YouTube will show you how easy it is for unauthorized users to break into the safe even without the hotel's override access system. You can purchase a BloXsafe Lock or Milockie Lock on Amazon which are products that go onto a hotel safe to add additional individual security.
Alternatively, you can use your own safe. When I stay in a hotel room I either got there by plane or by car. If by car, then I can use the same safe I keep in my car (read more about vehicle firearm storage here). If by plane, then I can use the same safe I used to securely transport the firearm in my checked baggage. Either way, I'm never at a hotel without a safe that I brought with me.
If you do use your own safe be sure to secure it to something. Use a security cable to connect it to a heavy piece of furniture or something similar so a thief can't remove the safe and open it later with bigger stronger tools. Both the safes I recommend via the above link are compatible with most security cables.
Additionally, even if not leaving the firearm in the room during the day, it is safe to assume you will have it with you during the night while sleeping. Depending on who else is in your room and your other feelings about nighttime storage of a firearm you may consider using a bedside safe then, also.
Beware Bars in Lobbies
Many hotels have a bar in the lobby where guests can order and consume alcoholic beverages. By simply walking through, or sitting down in that bar area you could be in violation of the law in many states. Check this webpage where we keep an updated list of each state's laws relating to establishments that serve alcohol: What States Prohibit Guns In Bars?
If you want to visit the bar leave the firearm in the room. If you are hungry or want to be in the restaurant or lobby sit in an area away from the bar or order room service.
I have been to a few hotels where the check-in desk was effectively part of or an extension of the bar. In those circumstances, I'm inclined to just do my very best to stick to the check-in procedure and hurry away from the bar.
Stairs, Elevators, Doorways, and Hallways
Hotels are full of transitional spaces where you can easily be caught off guard. Here are some tips and considerations for some of these transitional spaces:
Elevators: After entering an elevator stand near the control panel with your back up against the side of the elevator. Offer to push the floor button for anyone else who enters behind you by asking “what floor?” Quickly familiarize yourself with the control panel. Keeping the controls close to you makes it easier to push the Alarm or Call buttons if needed. Keeping your back to the wall makes it harder to be surprised by an attack.
Stairs: Stairwells get considerably less traffic but also leave you less boxed in and without escape. When using stairs keep your head up and look around corners so you won't be caught by surprise.
Doorways: Don't open the door unless you are absolutely certain the person requesting entry is authorized. Call the front desk when in doubt.
Hallways: Hallways are fatal funnels and can leave you with no means of escape or cover in a gunfight. Be familiar with rooms like laundry, vending, ice, and other rooms in the hallway that might provide a means of escape or cover.
Instances Where Guns Were Left/Found in Hotels
Don't forget your gun. It happens … more than you might think and below I'm including a list of news stories to prove the point. If you stash the firearm somewhere you generally wouldn't think to check when leaving the room you will be more likely to leave it. Under the mattress, in a drawer, on the shelf of the closet. These are places where you might be tempted to put the firearm but are less likely to remember to retrieve it.
- Colorado man leaves a gun in Park City UT hotel room's nightstand (July 2008)
- Gun Stolen From Hotel Room in Myrtle Beach (May 2018)
- Chaperone finds Gun In Nebraska Hotel Room Nighstand Left by Missouri Man (April 2018)
- Washington State Man Arrested in Plymouth When Housekeepers Find Guns (April 2018)
- Hotel Guest in Brooklyn NY Leaves Gun Under Mattress (May 2017)
- Texas Man Asks Hotel To Mail Him The Gun He Forget in His Ithaca Hotel Room (Jan 2016)
- Officer leaves a firearm in Detroit Hotel and is Suspended (Dec 2014)
- Army Captain Arrested and Then Pardoned After Leaving Gun in NJ Hotel (Dec 2014)
- Officer Leaves Duty Guns in Mobile AL Hilton Hotel (Jan 2011)
What other questions or comments do you have about Concealed Carry in a Hotel?
Great article! FYI, I was just in Vegas and stayed at the Rio, a Ceasar’s property. I did not see any no gun signs, nor any mention of a no gun policy anywhere. I carried the entire 10 days I was there with no problems (I have both a resident OK permit, recognized by NV, and a non-resident NV permit). I’m sure the security folks knew I was carrying; if nothing else the extra, untucked, concealment shirt, in August, would give it away to any competent professional. They all greeted me cheerfully and never said a word. After that experience I was very surprised to read the statement from Ceasars you have a link to. I double checked on their web site and under hotel policies there’s nothing about guns there either. I suspect if I open carried, legal in Nevada, they would have reacted, but I had no problems carrying concealed anywhere I went. I did not enter the Mandalay Bay or the MGM however. I figured they might be just a little sensitive towards guns on those properties.
If you have to leave your firearm in a hotel or vehicle, consider disassembling it and placing the barrel separate. So even if stolen they do not get a functional firearm.
How in God name can you forget your weapon in a hotel room, dam! You should then forget your wife and kids. LOL! Oh and police officers, they should be fired.☹️
Best bet. Keep it with you. On you 24/7. It’s of no use if put away. Locked up.
But yes that is very hard to do…
If you are on the road.. In a Hotel. ect..
Excellent, well researched article.
Thank you!
Maryland has a law on the books regarding firearms in hotels. BR 15-203(a)6 states that “An innkeeper may refuse to provide lodging or services to or may remove from a lodging establishment an individual who: the innkeeper reasonably believes possesses property that may be dangerous to other individuals, such as firearms or explosives;”. However, there is no actual criminal penalties that can result, only that the innkeeper may remove you from the property.
Adam, thank you for sharing! I’ve added this to the above article.
Well my girlfriend recently found a gun in a room and she brought it home we then were questioned bye police about the weapon and returned it and now being charged with possession of stolen fire arm why should the hotel fail to follow policy and now she is fired if they maintained policy she wouldn’t of got fired cause the gun would have never been there can we sue them for this negligence
Just to be sure I’m clear are you asking if you can sue the hotel because they didn’t discover the gun that your girlfriend stole from the hotel room?
Jake, I am not sure you would have any cause to sue. The police acted appropriately by referring charges for theft, based on the fact that your girlfriend took property that didn’t belong to her. Unless there was some procedural error in the way the investigation was conducted I don’t see any possible way to sue the police department or the city would be entertained. It is reasonable to assume that your girlfriend knew the firearm did not belong to her, and so she wasn’t simply in possession of an item that she didn’t know to be stolen, she committed the theft. Objectively she would have to know the gun did not belong to her, and this is bolstered by her own statement admitting to taking the gun from the room. This is different from a case where she purchased the gun from someone, and only later found out that the gun was stolen. In that case, a charge of possession of the stolen property would not be warranted.
As far as the hotel firing your girlfriend, I don’t see any grounds to sue. I imagine there are hotel policies concerning employee conduct that forbids employees from ‘finding property in a room and taking it home’ (which would be the definition of theft). I am thinking the hotel would have a good argument in court that their actions of firing an employee who stole property from a room, even if there were no such policy, was reasonable.
I think her cooperation with law enforcement and taking responsibility for her actions are admirable (no one is without fault). Perhaps prosecutors will look favorably on this and considering past criminal history (if any exists) will defer the punishment to community service or some other type of diversion program. I think if the intention is to blame other people for your girlfriend’s actions is going to do more damage than good, and show a lack of remorse for the obvious theft of something that clearly belonged to someone else.
Apparently, MM never passed a bar exam. That answer is SOOOOO far off the mark of reality. There are specific elements required to charge or prove theft. I won’t go into it here, but hopefully, the party hired a competent criminal defense lawyer. No matter how many real crime dramas and Law & Order episodes people watch, they learn nothing about law in the real world. That’s scripted drama. Make believe. And just because your response sounds logical and feels good to you (and maybe even to others), doesn’t mean that it is anywhere close to legislated or case law. Take it from a highly experienced criminal defense lawyer: Leave the legal opinions to the legal professionals. That “I believe this is what the law says” thing will get you 20 to life.
Thanks Joyce.
You conflated arresting, with charging, and then charging with proving the elements of the crime. Typically the elements for theft include (taking possession of property without the permission of the owner, remove it from the owners possession and moved it’s location). You know police only need probable cause to arrest, a far cry from proving the elements in a court. I believe the police had PC for a theft charge.
I think you went outside the scope of the question which had to do with her suing for a bad arrest. She committed the theft of the firearm by her own admission, whether or not the DA pursues charges, or she is convicted is entirely different question. I’m sure you know this as a competent attorney.
You also made an argument of authority to bolster your statement. You know that not all “legal experts” agree with what you said so it’s disingenuous to make it seem that if someone disagrees with you, or “hasn’t passed a bar exam” they must only have a Law & Order understanding of criminal justice system. There are also plenty of people who passed the bar and are horribly misguided on the law.
I’m sure you vigorously defend your clients and that’s a good thing. However in this case, you didn’t explain why you think the police made a bad arrest, and why the woman has a civil case to sue (which is the spirit of the original question).
If it was a Gameboy – she would also have been fired.
She was committing theft.
I have been to Hampton Inn for a CCW renewal class, so assume they have no issues, or perhaps they are able to make local decisions.
Does this also include active LEOs on vacation
I’m a housekeeper at a best western in northern arizona and the other day after going in to clean one of my rooms, I noticed a gun case for what appeared to be a rifle or shotgun next to the bedside. The guest was still on the premises and so I grabbed his attention to make him aware that he forgot it in the room and returned it to him. I then got in trouble with my boss who says that the gun should have been collected by management so they could have called the police. Why all this drama is beyond me. Doesn’t sound right to me but then again I have no idea what the procedures are for firearms at hotels. But I know that Arizona hardly has any restrictions of any kind when it comes to firearms.
SC also has this law that was passed in 1996, 2 years AFTER the law you cite in the article. The question would be is if it preempts the other law because you paid the “accommodation tax” and have rented the room.
SECTION 23-31-230. Carrying concealed weapons between automobile and accommodation.
Notwithstanding any provision of law, any person may carry a concealable weapon from an automobile or other motorized conveyance to a room or other accommodation he has rented and upon which an accommodations tax has been paid.
HISTORY: 1996 Act No. 464, Section 14.
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t23c031.php
Ted, I’m not an attorney but the way I read that, it only protects the person’s right to have the firearm in their possession during the transportation from the car to the hotel. It doesn’t guarantee in any way the right to have or keep a firearm in a hotel. So I think it is unique and separate and does not crossover with the other referenced law.
So if a hotel has a no gun policy and you are harmed while staying there are they now liable and can we sue them for failing to protect us after they refused to let us protect ourselves?
Tim, that would come down to if a judge or jury felt that the actions of the hotel, in this case their prohibition of guns, was outwardly reckless or negligent.
How about state laws in New Mexico for firearms in a hotel.
NM considers a hotel as an extension of domicile, same as car, and you’re allowed protection there. I would bet some other states have the same type laws. See this site for succinct summaries.
Was at a Motel 6 in Georgia that had a bunch of those “no weapons” signs. I asked the clerks and they said it’s the owners’ policy, but then hinted that they (the clerks) personally don’t care much for enforcing it, unless someone causes trouble.