The Ministry of Health has recommended hotels acting as managed isolation facilities limit the amount of alcohol that can be brought onto their premises.
An April 23 letter provided to Newshub by an individual who says they are in quarantine at Auckland's Pullman Hotel advises them the amount of alcohol they can have delivered to their rooms will be limited.
"Following an update from the Ministry today, if you are ordering anything either via a supermarket directly or using our Pullman shopping list, there will be a restriction of the amount of alcohol that can be delivered on a daily basis," the letter from the Pullman Hotel's general manager says.
"This is four bottles of beer or equivalent and one bottle of wine per person per day. If you have already placed an order for more than the daily limit, we will hold this for you and deliver this to you on a daily basis."
The Ministry of Health told Newshub that hotels providing managed isolation for people returning to New Zealand "have sought advice around issues with guests ordering large quantities of alcohol, damaging hotel property and breaking their bubbles in order to socialise".
"The Ministry recommended these hotels limit the amount of alcohol that could be brought onto their premises as a condition of entry and as part of their Host Responsibility as licensed premises under the Supply of Liquor Act 2012," a spokesperson said.
"The Ministry made no recommendation around the amount of alcohol people could purchase - this is a matter for individual hotels to determine and apply. Alcohol is not allowed in hotels used to quarantine symptomatic people."
The individual who provided Newshub the letter said they hadn't seen any out-of-control parties. They said they would have hoped the letter would have provided the reasoning behind the decision.
Asked about the alcohol restrictions laid out in the letter, Accor - which owns the Pullman Hotel - told Newshub: "The health and safety of our teams and guests is our utmost priority. The hotel is a licensed premise and we always uphold the responsible serving of alcohol."
Currently, anyone entering New Zealand must be quarantined for at least 14 days or longer if they have symptoms of COVID-19.
