Officials from Hyatt Place — formerly the AmeriSuites hotel on Route 1 — have asked West Windsor Council to be considered a smaller hotel when it submits a bid on a liquor license.
The request came less than a month after the council adopted an ordinance reflecting a new state law allowing towns to establish a minimum bid of $25,000 on smaller hotels seeking liquor licenses.
The hotel is expected to submit a bid of $31,150 and believes it falls within the small hotel threshold in the ordinance.
Coincidentally before adoption of the ordinance in October, Councilman Charles Morgan had questioned whether the township could require hotels to pay the township more if they expand their dining facilities in the future — to prevent any lost revenue to the township.
The new state statute, stemming from a state court decision involving Cape May, allowed municipalities to have a bidding process and set a minimum price, instead of just issuing the license. The new law states that the minimum bid can not be more than $25,000, with an additional $50 for each room — essentially giving smaller hotels a more equitable chance in obtaining licenses at lower prices.
“It’s pretty arguable that the Hyatt Place in West Windsor falls squarely within this definition,” said Paul Strauchler, the lawyer representing Hyatt Place.
Richard Morgan, a senior vice president and managing director for Hyatt Place, described the hotel’s limited restaurant facilities and emphasized that charging the full amount for a typical liquor license — at a cost of at least $600,000 — would be a burden on the hotel.
This Hyatt Place would be the last of the chain’s locations without a liquor license. The 123-room hotel serves 10 alcoholic drinks per day, on the average. Over 365 days a year, the hotel receives about $23,823 total revenue from sales of its alcoholic beverages, which average about $6.03, said Richard Morgan.
Describing its food facilities, Richard Morgan said that while the hotel has a 24-hour food availability, it does not have room service. Its food options are limited: For breakfast, guests can eat at a free continental breakfast or choose a hot breakfast item that are available for an additional charge. The rest of the food is available at an area called the Gallery, which offers a coffee and wine bar, and a guest kitchen with snacks and entrees that include soups, salads, sandwiches, and pizza.
The food preparation area is only about the size of a guest room and does not include elaborate facilities for full restaurant service, said Richard Morgan. The bar is limited to five chairs.
In terms of revenue, the hotel made a little more than $4 million in 2008, and the availability of liquor for sale is only “to support our guest rooms.”
Township Attorney Michael Herbert asked Hyatt officials how West Windsor could ensure that the Hyatt Place would not become a bar, and how it would ensure local underage college students would not think of Hyatt Place as an easy venue to purchase alcohol.
Richard Morgan said hotel employees would check IDs. With respect to ensuring it does not become a bar, he said, “literally, there isn’t any room for a bar.”
Herbert pressed further, questioning how the township could prevent the hotel from competing unfairly with neighboring facilities, like Macaroni Grill, which paid a significantly higher prices for its liquor licenses.
Councilman Morgan and Councilwoman Diane Ciccone questioned whether the hotel limits alcohol sales to guests. Richard Morgan said that the hotel does not stop anyone from purchasing alcohol at the hotel, even if they walk in off the street, so long as the person is of legal age. However, he said that the hotel would be amenable to putting controls in place that limited alcohol sales to overnight guests.
Council members liked the idea, although they wanted to ensure there was an exception for guests who might bring business clients back to the hotel for drinks in the lobby, and said they would like to allow people to consume alcohol if they have a “guest relationship with that person.”
Herbert told Hyatt professionals to submit the bid along with a plan of the controls they intend to put into place.
