[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Ephrata as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 5-8-2017 by Ord.
No. 1529]
The purpose of this article is to secure the safety of persons
and property in the Borough by requiring operators of hotels to obtain
and keep identifying information about hotel guests to deter criminal
conduct by guests in hotel rooms and elsewhere in the Borough and
to facilitate investigation and prosecution of crime by Borough police.
As used herein, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
The Borough of Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The Borough Council of the Borough of Ephrata, Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania.
A building or group of buildings licensed under applicable
laws which contains six or more rental units for overnight lodging
of travelers or for the temporary occupancy by transients. "Hotel"
does not include institutional or educational uses, buildings where
human beings are housed under legal constraint, bed-and-breakfasts
or campgrounds. The term "hotel" shall be synonymous with the term
"motel."
The individual or entity which is responsible for the management
of a hotel as defined herein, or the person who appears to the general
public to have supervisory responsibility for the management of such
hotel.
The Ephrata Borough Police Department.
A.Â
Every owner and/or operator of a hotel in the Borough shall maintain
a register of all persons provided with accommodation at the hotel.
B.Â
Upon the arrival of a guest, the hotel owner and/or operator or his
or her agent shall require the guest to enter into the register, or
shall enter for the guest, the following:
(1)Â
The name and address of the guest and of all other persons in the
guest's party;
(2)Â
The make, model, license plate number, and state, province or country
in which the plate was issued of any guest's vehicle parked on
hotel property;
(3)Â
The guest's date and time of arrival and scheduled departure
date;
(4)Â
The room number assigned to the guest;
(5)Â
The rate charged and amount collected for the room; and
(6)Â
The method of payment.
C.Â
In addition to the requirements of Subsection B above, the hotel owner and/or operator or his or her agent shall view photo identification of a guest and record the number and date of such identification in the following circumstances:
D.Â
The guest register may be maintained in either electronic or paper
form.
E.Â
The guest register shall be kept on the hotel premises in the guest
reception or guest check-in area or in an office adjacent thereto
for a period of not less than 90 days.
F.Â
The hotel owner and/or operator or his or her agent shall not provide
accommodation to any person who fails to provide the information required
by this section.
Any person who violates or fails to comply with the provisions
of this article is guilty of a summary offense and upon conviction
thereof before a Magisterial District Judge shall be sentenced to
pay a fine of up to $1,000, together with costs of prosecution, and
in default of payment thereof shall be imprisoned for not more than
90 days.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent or in conflict
with this article are hereby repealed as to said inconsistencies and
conflict.
If any sentence, clause, section, or part of this article is
for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such
unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not affect or
impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, sections
or parts of this article. It is hereby declared as the intent of the
Council of the Borough of Ephrata that this article would have been
adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid sentence, clause,
section or part thereof not been included herein.
This article shall take effect and be in force after its enactment
by the Council of the Borough of Ephrata at the earliest date permitted
by law.
