Marriott may soon start sending you free drinks to your phone which you can redeem at automatic drink dispensers in hotel lobbies.
Another idea on display at the lab was an automatic drink dispenser that guests can control with a smartphone. The advantage of the dispenser is that a hotel can award guests free drinks by simply sending an email with a link to a website, Stoeckl said.
The website includes an icon that the guests can press, and within a minute, the dispenser pours out a glass of wine or beer, Stoeckl said. The website can also be linked to a credit card to pay for drinks.
Marriott Boca Raton
This seems like a cross between the wine dispensing machine I saw at the iPic theater in Scottsdale a few years ago, where I was surprised to see such higher-end bottles like Joseph Phelps Insignia where you could purchase a single pour, as the Amazing Beer Machine I discovered years ago at the Tokyo Narita United Club.
I’ve been to Marriott’s basement design lab in Bethesda but didn’t the drink dispenser this last year.
The prospect of being emailed free drink codes from the cocktail dispenser sounds like it’ll be a pretty good reason to download the Marriott app if this comes to fruition.
(HT: Heels First Travel)
The M Club Lounge at the flagship Marriott Georgetown M Street property. There is a wine dispensing machine that automatically charges the drink to your room with the swipe of your keycard. Surely, this could be programmed to also give a free drink based on the keycard that is swiped. (For those unfamiliar with Marriott, renovated U.S. properties seem to no longer have concierge lounges. Instead, they feature the M Club Lounge, which is sometimes an improvement in terms of food and more often than not is 24/7.)
@ Gary — Don’t you have another Marriott picture? I think you’ve used that same one like a thousand times.
I think this will run afoul of alcoholic beverage licensing laws in many locations.
@David – Indeed, dealing with the ABC is not as easy as 1-2-3.
I’ll show myself out.
They already have these drink dispensers in the new Club Lounge at the Marriott Marquis San Francisco.
Agree with the above comments. Most states alcoholic beverage regulations require that drinks are dispensed by a person who has checked the ID of the drinker. Since the machine can’t do that, I suspect that this idea will go nowhere.
@Marc, well played 😉