What Is Legal to Sell (or not) with a Hotel Liquor License in Tennessee?

<< Go back to Last Call

Hotel liquor licenses provide a dizzying array of ways to serve alcohol. Here they are:

1. Selling alcoholic beverages by the glass or cup on the hotel premises. Guests should not leave the licensed premises with an open container, unless the hotel is on Beale Street.
   
   
2. Selling beer and wine from a marketplace in the hotel. Wine, beer and high gravity beer (beer over 10.1% ABV) can be sold by the can or bottle following these guidelines:
   
   
   1. The bottle or can must be opened by the hotel at the time of purchase.
   2. The hotel must provide glassware or cups (whether in room or at the time of purchase). For a full-sized bottle of wine purchased at a market or bar, we recommend pouring at least a taste into a glass or cup, before recorking the bottle and handing it to the guest.
   3. The hotel posts signs advising that alcohol may not be removed from the hotel premises.
   4. The employee selling the wine or high gravity beer must have a TABC server permit.

3. If the hotel has a beer permit that allows for off-premise sales, the hotel can sell sealed containers of beer for guests to take back to their rooms. Some cities issue on and off sale beer permits. Check the wall to see what the beer permit says. If a sealed container is sold to a guest, the guest must take the beer up to their room – they cannot open the beer and drink it in the lobby. We recommend placing sealed bottles in bags, to differentiate between on and off premise consumption.

4. Spirit-based canned or bottled cocktails can be sold from the market, if the rules above are followed. The ABC could prohibit spirit-based cocktails. If instructed not to sell spirit-based RTD's, please follow the ABC instructions. Bottles of spirits cannot be sold at a market in the hotel. It is illegal for a hotel to sell bottles of vodka, gin, whiskey and bourbon.

5. Provide wine at a manager’s reception, as long as the cost of the wine is included in the price of the room and sales and liquor-by-the-drink (LBD) taxes are paid. Do not advertise with the words free, complimentary or other synonyms.  

6. Mini-bars in hotel rooms are legal, with limits:
   
   
   • Spirits cannot be larger than fifty milliliters (50 ml.). 375 milliliter aka half bottles of whiskey, bourbon, vodka and gin are illegal. Bottles of wine are fine.
   • Minibars must be locked. We rarely see locks on mini bars. ABC agents rarely inspect hotel rooms. 

7. Provide up to four 750 ml bottles of alcoholic beverages as part of a package, like a Valentine’s package that includes a room with two bottles of bubbly. The cost of the alcohol is included in the price of the room. Room packages with alcohol cannot be sold after the guest checks in. Room packages should not be used as a work around to sell spirits by the bottle. Room packages with alcohol must be sold in advance, when the guest books the room. A hotel may be able to up sell the guest before check-in, but once the guest is checked in, it no longer is a room package. Sales and LBD taxes must be paid on the portion allocated to alcohol. Bottles included with room purchase must be scheduled on the price schedule filed in TNTAP. There is flexibility concerning how much of the room price is allocated to the purchase of alcoholic beverages by the bottle; however, the scheduled price must equal or exceed the wholesale purchase price of the bottle.

8. Room service of beer and alcoholic beverages under these guidelines.
   
   
   1. Bottles of wine must be opened by the hotel at the time of delivery. If the hotel has an off-premise beer permit, beer can be left unopened, on ice.
   2. The hotel must provide glassware or cups (whether in room or at the time of delivery).
   3. The hotel posts signs advising that alcohol may not be removed from the hotel premises. In the case of room service, this requirement may be fulfilled by providing a card with this information when the bottle is delivered to the room.
   4. The employee selling the wine or high gravity beer must have a TABC server permit.
   5. No bottles of spirits can be delivered as part of room service. 

9. A free sample of wine up to one ounce. Restaurants, hotels and other liquor by the drink licensees can offer a sample of wine, up to one ounce. Free samples of spirits or spirit-based cocktails are illegal. 

As the Eagles sang, 

Welcome to the Hotel California. 

Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

Don’t forget the rules about serving alcohol. There are expensive fines involved if the ABC comes a-knocking.

<< Go back to Last Call