You don’t need to be a guest at The Morrow Hotel in D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood to enjoy a unique amenity found in its lobby: A Champagne vending machine.
Recently, Insider politics reporter Bryan Metzger posted a photo of the machine on Twitter, which led to a flurry of questions from others, including what bottles are offered, the cost of each and how IDs are checked.
If you’re wondering what all the fizz is about, WTOP got the chance to get up close and personal with the machine thanks to a demonstration by Nicholas Stefanelli, chef and owner of Masseria, Officina and Le Clou.
Stefanelli told WTOP that the amenity is a Moët & Chandon Champagne vending machine, so it only offers two types of 200 mL bottles of Champagne by Moët & Chandon: Brut or Rosé.
“I can drink both of them all day long,” said Stefanelli. “When I saw that Moët had a vending machine, I jumped on it right away.”
Available at $25 per bottle, the method to using the machine is to purchase gold-colored coins from the hotel bar. These coins, embossed with the Moët brand, can be dispensed into the machine before selecting one of the bottles, which slides into the pick-up box.
The machine maintains a cool temperature so the bottles are cold when purchased. Tokens have to be purchased before 3 a.m., to comply with regulations on when alcohol can be sold, but the tokens can be used in the machine any time.
While it is possible this is the very first Champagne vending machine in the D.C. region, Stefanelli couldn’t confirm this. It certainly isn’t the first in the nation.
In 2017, Town & Country reported that the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Las Vegas boasted the first public Champagne vending machine in the country.
The Morrow Hotel, located at 222 M St. NE, opened in late November 2022 on the site of the Central Armature Works mixed-use development. The hotel is a joint venture by Trammell Crow Company and MetLife Investment Management, under the Curio Collection by Hilton umbrella.
Central Armature Works broke ground in 2019 and completed in 2022 with 640 apartments and approximately 60,000 square feet of ground-floor retail in addition to the hotel.
As reported by the Washington Business Journal, the 12-story Morrow Hotel features 203 rooms, 11,400 square feet of meeting space and four food and beverage spots from Chef Nick Stefanelli, who is known for local restaurants like Masseria and Officina.
The hotel also offers other amenities like a fitness center, valet parking and the “sultry” Vesper lounge, which is a rooftop space that is set to open later this year.
