A fire at the Imperial Swan Hotel & Suites in Lakeland on Jan. 17 revealed that guests were staying in a building with a lengthy list of fire code violations.
A week later, the hotel remains shut down on a vacancy order issued by the Division of State Fire Marshal. The fire has elevated the building- and fire-code compliance concerns.
“The property owner must bring the site into compliance before resuming operations,” read a statement from Lakeland Fire Department.
The Ledger has unsuccessfully attempted to contact the hotel’s operator, Lakeview Management of Lakeland LLC., for a timeline on repairs based on operating licenses issued by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations.
Lakeview Management of Lakeland is registered to Helen Emily Kwok under a Clermont address, according to state records on Sunbiz.org.
According to documents on the Polk County Property Appraiser’s website, Winderting Investments LLC has owned the property since 2012. Its registered agent is Michael Wilson Kwok, according to Sunbiz.org.
The hotel’s operating license with the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulations was listed as expiring on Feb. 1.
State inspection records, court documents, and other media reports show that the Imperial Swan Hotel’s property owners and operators have a long-standing history of building and fire code violations.
Imperial Swan’s outdated fire inspections, repeat violations
Four days before the fire, Lakeland’s fire inspectors found 22 violations of the fire-safety code at the hotel.
According to the city’s report, the violations included several rooms with inoperable fire alarms, fire alarms and sprinkler systems that didn’t have current inspections, inoperable emergency exit signs, and tables obstructing exit doors.
Stephanie Lewis, LFD spokeswoman, said it’s standard policy for the fire department not to shut down a hotel or business with fire-code violations unless they were deemed immediately life-threatening.
It’s not the first time the hotel has had fire alarm issues. In the Jan. 13 inspection, the city said that inoperable fire alarms in guest rooms “has been noted in previous reports, the owner has been given 24 hours to address and resolve it.”
Fire inspection reports at Imperial Swan Hotel show the hotel’s fire alarm system didn’t have a current inspection in March 2022.
By April 2022, Fire Marshal David Sutherland noted the hotel’s new fire alarm control panel had been replaced but was malfunctioning, having what he noted as “communication issues.”
For nearly four months, the hotel’s fire alarm control continued to malfunction as Sutherland noted a contractor was hired to diagnose wiring problems in May 2022.
The issues weren’t noted as “corrected” until July 22, 2022.
No fire inspection reports were provided for 2023 to 2024 by the Lakeland Fire Department.
In the January 2025 report, Imperial Swan Hotel was instructed to fix several issues by Jan. 14 ― three days before the fire.
This list includes:
- Make sure operating fire alarms were installed in each guest room.
- Move a table obstructing a fifth-floor exit door,
- Unlock a marked exit door on the first floor and leave it unlocked.
- Move laundry stacked in front of an electrical breaker box.
- Provide access to the seventh floor, fire pump room and electrical/mechanical rooms throughout the building.
There is no city record indicating that Imperial Swan Hotel’s owners fixed these issues prior to the fire.