UPDATE: Hotels CANNOT Sell Bottles of Booze in Tennessee
UPDATE: Apparently we had a miscommunication with the ABC. Hotels CANNOT sell spirits by the bottle. Hotels can sell wine by the bottle in connection with food service, including room service. There is no change in the policy.
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Old dogs can learn new tricks. Today, we found out that the Tennessee ABC has been quietly advising that hotels can sell spirits by the bottle at gift shops, with some conditions.
Tennessee law generally prohibits the sale of bottles of spirits at any business holding an on-premise liquor license, like a restaurant or bar. You cannot order a bottle of Jack Daniels to your table at a honky tonk. Only wine can be sold by the bottle.
Hotels are a little different. You have a room. What you do in your room is your own business. The ABC apparently recognized this difference.
Here are the rules for bottle sales, as we understand them:
The bottle must be opened by a hotel employee. Guests cannot purchase a sealed bottle.
The bottles must be priced at or above cost. Ensure that the bottle is scheduled on your price schedule filed with Revenue.
The hotel must pay the liquor-by-the-drink tax.
The bottle must be consumed on property. We strongly encourage hotels to post signage instructing that alcohol must be consumed in the hotel and cannot be taken off property.
The hotel must ID check to ensure the purchaser is 21 or over.
It logically follows that a hotel can also sell a bottle of spirits through room service. We are cautiously advising hotels that it is legal to sell a bottle of Jack to a room, using the same guidelines.
Instead of signage, we recommend that the room service include a card that says that alcohol must be consumed in the hotel and cannot be taken off property. We think most hotels will prefer to include a card that says that alcohol must be consumed in your room. Who wants guests wandering around the property with drinks from their room?
Brings to mind a Van Halen classic, Take Your Whiskey Home:
Well, my baby, she don’t want me around
She said she’s tired of watchin’ me fall down
She wants the good life (ow) only the best
But I like that bottle better than the rest
