14B NCAC 15B .0520       GUEST ROOMS CONSIDERED RESIDENCE

(a)  Law Enforcement Jurisdiction.  A hotel room is considered a place of temporary residence and not part of the permittee's retail licensed premises.  Therefore, when a hotel room has been rented to a lodging guest, entrance by a law enforcement officer into the guest room is governed by the same laws as entry into any residence, notwithstanding the fact that the hotel has installed a guest room cabinet in the room.

For the purposes of enforcing the ABC laws related to guest room cabinets, a permittee shall allow Alcohol Law Enforcement agents, local ABC officers and employees of the Commission reasonable access to guest rooms that are not rented to a lodging guest at the time of the inspection.

(b)  Certain Restrictions Not Applicable to Guest Room Cabinet Sales. Because a rented hotel room is considered a temporary residence, the rooms are not considered part of the permittee's retail licensed premises. Therefore, rules regulating such areas as "happy hours," and advertising are not applicable to sales of alcoholic beverages from hotel cabinets.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 18B-100; 18B‑207; 18B‑301(a); 18B‑502; 18B‑1001(13);

Eff. July 1, 1992;

Transferred and Recodified from 04 NCAC 02S .0527 Eff. August 1, 2015;

Pursuant to G.S. 150B-21.3A, rule is necessary without substantive public interest Eff. August 20, 2016.