Complimentary Wine Concept Feedback Please

[Connor84]

For all those that hosts that provide complimentary wine - looking for directional feedback on a concept that I've been tinkering with. Basically I've seen several “product placement” startups emerge around the short term rental space (e.g. Glimpse, Spree, etc.) but nothing strategically focused on the wine industry.  Obviously there is some legal red tape to contend with but I really do think there is a niche to be filled that sits between a simple complimentary bottle of wine and a full-blown AirBnB wine tasting experience.

At high level, the idea is to pair local wines with AirBnB stays. The service would provide distribution & attribution infrastructure that would expose guests to local wines and serve as a lead gen tool for wineries/wine experiences.  In practice:

 - Guests would opt in to the wine experience

 - Wine would be delivered "just in time" per booking calendar

 - Wine would include marketing materials to expose guests to local wineries (for follow on experiences & purchases)

 - Hosts would receive a commission for any downstream wine purchases by guest

Looking to perform some validation in the WA region BUT first looking for general feedback, thoughts, & opinions on whether this idea would even hunt (i.e. is it something you'd entertain as a host?)

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/comments/feedback!

[Robin4]

@Connor84 

Hi Connor, I can tell you off the top, I am a great wine man and many a great night has been spent in my listing with guests a bottle or two.

But, you do need to be extremely careful where wine is concerned. Some jurisdictions (like Chicago) forbid hosts to offer wine to paying guests on any level. It is classified as an illegal activity!

Some jurisdictions will treat the offering of wine to paying guests as part of the sales contract and will require the host to have a liquor licence and a food and beverage licence. The fact that you are receiving a hosting fee sees the offering of that wine as a part of the sale!

Connor go into it very thoroughly with your local government authority before you invest too much time and effort into it. Your statement....." Hosts would receive a commission for any downstream wine purchases by guest" In my part of the world would definitely have you in breach of the liquor licencing laws!

Cheers.......Rob

[Connor84]

@Robin4 Thanks for the feedback. I've been working with some wineries who have experience in B2C distribution and have worked with AirBnB in the past to navigate the murky waters of licensing laws. While I wished that one size fits all, I do have sizable matrix in the making charting state by state nuances.... luckily there are some areas where I can pilot the concept without running afoul of the law! Will keep you posted.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Connor84 Complimentary wine has to be a great idea. Just hope you can sort out the legalities.

[Connor84]

Thanks @Mike-And-Jane0 . Will keep you posted on progress!

[Sarah977]

@Connor84 Even if leaving a complimentary bottle of wine wouldn't be in any way illegal in some jurisdictions, one issue that Airbnb hosts of entire place listings sometimes have is that the person who booked the accommodation either lied about themselves or made the booking on behalf of someone else (which is a third-party booking and against Airbnb's Terms of Service, but it happens nonetheless). Hosts will sometimes report here that a middle-aged woman booked, only to find that a pack of 17 year olds had checked in, with a parent nowhere in sight. If a host had left a bottle of wine in the unit, only to find that they had been misled as to the guests, and an underage teenager got drunk and disorderly, or worse, got behind the wheel of a car, the host could be charged with providing liquor to a minor, which is illegal pretty much anywhere, at least in the US and Canada. 

I just read a post here last week where a host had a scenario of a bunch of teenagers showing up on his outdoor cameras, and when he contacted the booking guest, she said she'd booked for her teenager and her friends, even though she had never disclosed that to the host when she booked. The host had left a bottle of champagne in the unit, assuming the middle-aged woman was showing up. Had anything bad happened, the host could have been charged.

Which doesn't mean your idea couldn't work, just that leaving a bottle of wine for guests to be surprised with when they check in isn't a great idea unless the host personally checks guests in and sees that they are responsible adults. Or brings the wine by at some point during the stay.

[Connor84]

@Sarah977 Thanks for sharing and I'm sure this is not a 1-off incident - so something to definitely take into account!

One way to mitigate is to offer the guest an "opt-in" workflow (vs casting this as a complimentary bottle of wine). Guests would still be able to take advantage of getting local low/no cost wine paired with their stay BUT the service would be responsible for age verification (just like any online wine distributor workflow).

Pros: It would reduce a host's liability in terms of age verification and  would allow guests to self elect into wine services (given them the freedom to say yes or no)

Cons: Guests would be doing business directly with the service; this subtle repositioning might land flat from a user experience standpoint as it could amount to something similar to wine.com with special discounting for local wines..... vs the original hospitality angle

Anyways, something to think about. Thanks again for the feedback!

[Robin4]

@Sarah977 

Great point Sarah!

Look I am all for what @Connor84  is trying to do, I love entrepreneurial spirit, it attracts guests to the platform, but alcohol is a minefield! Different countries have different laws and in the case of the USA, states have different laws.

I did a check on Washington States liquor laws and although they are really vague compared to others this section does stand out.....

9.07.030 License required for sale or manufacture – Violations.

It is unlawful for any person to manufacture or sell liquor without having first obtained a license as provided by RCW 66.24.010 through 66.24.150 and 66.40.010, and any person doing any act required to be licensed under said Washington State Liquor Act without having in force a license issued to him under the provisions of said act shall be deemed guilty of a violation of this chapter. (Ord. 2006-4 § 1, 2006).

I am trying to wade through this to find out what exemptions are tolerated.

This article is typical.....very thin on detail!

https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2020/02/complimentary-wine-in-your-airbnb-is-illegal#

The problem is 'paying guests' are not treated, or seen in the eyes of the law, like friends and acquaintances are.

I wish Connor luck but I think there is going to be a licence or two involved and getting it off the ground might just be, 'a bridge too far'!

Cheers.......Rob

[Connor84]

@Robin4  - Kuddos for digging into the legal side of things.

A) Per the article you linked; it is a bit gray and I've been watching to see if legislation referenced in that article goes anywhere in terms of allowing short-term rentals to serve complimentary alcohol - https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=2192&Year=2019&Initiative=false

B) That said, and per points above to @Sarah977 , fallback is shifting service so that guests are doing business directly with the winery in order to take advantage of their wine shippers permit which allows them to ship wine directly to AirBnB guests (which is legal in all but a handful of states). Sticking with the WA example:

Wash. Rev. Code §66.20.360

The holder of a license to manufacture wine issued by this state or another state may ship its wine to a person who is a resident of Washington and is 21 years of age or older for that person's personal use and not for resale.

C) Attribution and hosts commission would be a bit tricker but would be based on retrofitting typical digital advertising measures  - e.g. CPIs (“Cost per Impressions”) and CPAs (“Cost Per Actions”). 

Enjoy the dialogue. Thanks again for the comments!

[Helen3]

Why don’t you just set it up as an Airbnb experience @Connor84 

[Connor84]

That would work too - just looking for something a little more agnostic that could scale to other platforms as well:)

[Helen3]

You can offer experiences on many platforms and directly @Connor84 

[Laura2592]

Hi @Connor84  our cottage is situated between several well regarded local wineries. Before COVID we had a relationship with one where we did provide local wine and our guests got complimentary tastings. That winery is now by appointment only and probably not going to make it, which is a shame. 

We have a symbiotic relationship with several others as they are (or were) event venues and our guests often attend weddings and need a place to stay in the area. One recent guest even baked a wedding cake at our cottage for a winery wedding! We do leave local bottles for guests rather informally since our state shut down and reopened over time. Here are my observations about offering wine on any level.

1. Not everyone drinks it. Hard to believe, but I have had guests offended that we left a bottle. Since that happened, we now ask before check in and will leave a food treat (we try to do something from a local farm in season) or wine as their preference states. Some people are very touchy about alcohol due to past experience or religious belief.

2. There are legalities to be considered. Our arrangement with local wineries was very much on a handshake basis, but we could have actually gotten in trouble if any money changed hands. We didn't get any kick backs but we did have many referrals for wedding stays and I am sure our guests bought more than a bottle or two from our favorite vineyards. If this is meant to be profit driven for you, you may need a license or local permission to provide these items. 

3. Insurance. Look into it. If you are formally providing wine for guests and they get hurt because they are tipsy, make sure that you are still covered. Your premiums may increase if you disclose that you have an arrangement to serve people alcohol. 

4. Identification and legal drinking age. You would need to check IDs in person for each guest and make certain that additional underage guests were not coming to the space to take advantage of your wine service. You may do this already. If not, at the very least you need to disclose in your listing and house rules that this will be the case, no exceptions.

I agree that this might be better suited to an Experience than an endemic part of your Airbnb. I certainly would love this as a guest. But if you want your space to appeal to the most people, its probably best not to have this as part and parcel of every stay. You can have people who are interested sign up for the service and any education or tours of the wineries nearby that you offer. That way you can charge accordingly and guests can choose to participate or not. 

[Connor84]

@Laura2592  - thanks for the feedback.

If I do get to a point where I can pilot something that doesn't land the host, guest (or myself) in murky legal water, I'm hoping I can reach out to you as someone that would like to participate in user/validation testing.

Given that you already know what the analog version of this looks like, would love to get your opinion around value add of wrapping it with a more automated service.

Thanks again!

[Sarah977]

@Connor84  I know that this is the age of automated everything and apps and ordering everything one could possibly want through Amazon, delivered to the door, and for sure people lead busy lives and appreciate those time-savers.

But when everything starts going that way, what suffers in the process is the human interaction element. Laura had a story on another thread where she got a guest booking simply because she was at a local winery one day, doing a wine-tasting tour, ended up staying way longer than she'd planned to, the owner and she got chatting, he said he was hosting a upcoming wedding there, and passed her Airbnb info on to the wedding folks as a place that some of their guests could be housed. Those kind of connections don't happen, or at least not so organically or "Really? That's what you do? Well, funnily enough, I know someone who's looking for exactly that", when people are getting everything done impersonally online.

I once was in the market for a table and walked into a small furniture,/home decor shop that sold rustic Mexican wooden furniture. I looked around, found a table I liked and bought it, and mentioned to the owner that if he or his customers ever wanted cushions for the chairs, that was my business- I'm an upholsterer. He said "Oh, are you at all interested in some industrial sewing machines? I used to be a tailor, but I don't do that anymore, and the machines are right in the back here". I was, the machines were really well-kept, and I bought them (transporting them, a week later, was a big job, though, as they weigh about 500 pounds each). He sold me 2 types of machines for $200 in total. Those would have cost me at least $500 each had I looked for them elsewhere or online.

That's why I don't personally get excited about new apps and online services. I kinda prefer human to human interaction myself. You ever know what might happen when you're least expecting it.