This article was originally published in The Pennsylvania Observer/Pennsylvania Beverage Media in June 2022. A pdf version can be found here.
Licensees possessing a hotel liquor license issued by the PLCB are strictly required to maintain a specific number of bedrooms for guests to qualify to continue to hold the PLCB hotel license.
The number of hotel rooms that each hotel licensee must have is determined by the Pennsylvania Liquor Code at 47PS § 4-461 and is based on the population of the municipality where the hotel premises are located. Municipalities having a population of less than 3000 must have at least 12 permanent bedrooms. Philadelphia County, since it has a population over 100,000, requires 50 bedrooms to qualify for a new hotel liquor license and to maintain the liquor license. The bedrooms must not be less than 80 square feet and be equipped with a bed, a closet, and a bathroom/commode pursuant to the Liquor Code. (An exception is an old hotel having six bedrooms and a common bathroom, which was grandfathered in prior to a change in the Liquor Code).
Hotel licensees must constantly maintain the sufficient number of rooms and have those bedrooms equipped and available to the public seven days a week. When a licensee illegally converts a hotel room into an office thus reducing the minimum number of bedrooms available, the hotel licensee then is considered not to be operating as a bona fide hotel pursuant to the Liquor Code and would be subject to receiving a citation from the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement for not being a bona fide hotel. Remember, the PA State Police BLCE routinely does inspections of all licensed premises to determine whether or not a licensee is in compliance with the provisions of the PA Liquor Code and the PLCB’s regulations. Examples of hotel inspection violations would be insufficient food, a lack of a current health permit, not maintaining records, not having a dining room, and insufficient hotel rooms. The citation would most likely result in a fine if the number of rooms was restored prior to a hearing, or a suspension of the hotel license would be imposed until the required number of rooms was restored by the licensee, or both a fine and a suspension. The citation would remain on the licensee’s record.
A further enforcement complication is that the PLCB itself would object to the renewal of the hotel license because the number of hotel rooms would be insufficient to qualify the licensee to hold a hotel license. The PLCB’s objection to the renewal of the hotel license also would involve an administrative hearing as to whether or not the hotel license would be renewed by the PLCB.
An exception to having to maintain bedrooms is where hotel licensees were given an opportunity during 2006 to remove the hotel bedrooms entirely and convert the bedrooms into a licensed storage area. These hotel licensees obviously are no longer required to have any bedrooms.
Licensees should consult with their attorney as to the compliance requirements of the PA Liquor Code and the PLCB regulations regarding the required number of bedrooms, and the equipping of those bedrooms that must be maintained. Hotel licensees just have to maintain the correct number of bedrooms.
