Welcome to your daily briefing on hospitality developments in Rhode Island. Today we're covering 4 key stories including updates on rhode island hospitality headlines, background & context. Let's dive in.
1 story
The city has published information and procedures for applying for a new alcoholic beverage license.
For RI hospitality professionals seeking to open or expand establishments in East Providence, this guidance clarifies the licensing pathway.
Reach professionals in this market
3 stories
The merchant — the restaurant or hotel — remains responsible for PCI compliance regardless of the POS vendor's certifications. Vendor compliance covers the software; merchant responsibility covers network segmentation, employee access, and incident response. "We use a PCI-compliant POS" is not an audit response.
Card-brand fines after a breach apply to the merchant, not the vendor. Self-assessment questionnaires are required annually and are reviewed by acquiring banks.
Building occupancy posted on a permit reflects load-bearing and exit-capacity design; fire-marshal capacity reflects egress under emergency conditions and may be lower. Operating to the higher number is a citation; operating to the higher number while blocking a marked exit is a fire-code violation that can close the venue same-day.
A capacity citation is one of the few violations a fire marshal can act on in real-time during operations. Repeat findings can affect insurance and licensing renewal.
Short-term rental platforms collect and remit local occupancy tax in some jurisdictions and not others — the same platform may handle it for one city and not the next over. Hosts who assume the platform handles all tax obligations frequently owe state or local tax that was never withheld.
Tax authorities are increasingly using platform data to identify hosts; back-tax assessments in this category routinely run multi-year and include penalties.
Get Rhode Island hospitality intelligence delivered to your inbox every morning.
Subscribe FreeView all past issues
Feature your brand across the U.S., Canada, and select international markets and 10 industry verticals.
Become a National Partner