Article: Is Your Hotel’s Minibar Trying to Trick You?

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/hotel-minibar-trick/

Is Your Hotel’s Minibar Trying to Trick You? is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Is Your Hotel's Minibar Trying to Trick You?

When staying at hotels, it's often confusing to work out which drinks and snacks are included, and which are chargeable minibar items. I suspect some hotels are deliberately vague in order to trick their guests.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[CaptJCool]

Sparkling or tap water ?

 

[moa999]

I would have said the bigger trend, particularly at value/mid-market properties, seems to be removing items from the minibar altogether, and often just leaving milk in it.

With some form of pantry/kitchen in reception, or just forcing you to order alongside room service

And water shifting from single use commercial bottles to refillable glass bottles, with filtered water stations on each floor, or at reception or even in the room.

 

[Pushka]

Biggest trap are those minibars that are electronically controlled and just moving an item creates a charge.

 

[CaptJCool]

Makes me wonder if that’s the type of hotel I’d wish to stay in
Overpolicing the mini bar
They ought just remove them or include them in the tariff

 

[Pushka]

Makes me wonder if that’s the type of hotel I’d wish to stay in
Overpolicing the mini bar
They ought just remove them or include them in the tariff

Im thinking that there are so many tricks people get up to like consuming contents then refilling with water etc. There are some rather nasty people out there.

 

[CaptJCool]

Im thinking that there are so many tricks people get up to like consuming contents then refilling with water etc. There are some rather nasty people out there.

Yes
I accept there’s theft
So what do the hotels expect ?

Placing temptation right there for impulsive spend ?
Without anyway to enforce it

Best that mini bars go the way of the dodo. Get rid of them

 

[Pushka]

Yes
I accept there’s theft
So what do the hotels expect ?

Placing temptation right there for impulsive spend ?
Without anyway to enforce it

Best that mini bars go the way of the dodo. Get rid of them

I like to look at them and laugh at their prices.

Given our last illness in Hawaii and being unable to leave the room then it might have come in handy but it was empty.

 

[cqtiger]

If I drink the cans I hope I can get the same at the 7-11 to replace it before its charged

 

[SeatBackForward]

If I drink the cans I hope I can get the same at the 7-11 to replace it before its charged

But wont work if those hotels have those detectors in the fridges that prevent you swapping them out.

 

[cqtiger]

havent seen those detectors for years now. They must be a pain for reception at bill time

 

[oz_mark]

Im thinking that there are so many tricks people get up to like consuming contents then refilling with water etc. There are some rather nasty people out there.

I am led to believe they are not allowed in Australia.

 

[RooFlyer]

I posted only recently I was at the Sofitel in Brisbane with a moderately stocked mini bar and there was no price list anywhere to be had. I assumed they were a platinum amenity as happens occasionally, so I checked and oh no no you get charged for them.

 

[dmgale]

We had items in the mini bar in Bangkok where some are free and some are not all of which was very unclear. It took several questions to staff and finally reception to determine what was what.

In Hungary nothing was free but we found a supermarket that sold local beers and soft drinks, removed all the hotel supplied products and stocked it with our purchases (a different brand to the hotels).

Hotel in London had an empty bar fridge and a note to say there was a convenience store close by if we wanted anything.

 

[Lukabs]

In the hotels I stay that have mini bars, I generally ask for them to be emptied before I check in, so there's no issue.

 

[JohnK]

If I drink the cans I hope I can get the same at the 7-11 to replace it before its charged

I've come across some that attach some sort of label to deter you from doing the swap.

 

[sudoer]

I was going to post about the ALL Platinum published benefit of free minibar at MGallery properties being underrated, only to find it has been recently enhanced...

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/37017083-post8.html

ALL – Accor Live Limitless – Benefits and status

all.accor.com

 

[PKMT]

I had cans of water on the table at the hotel I stayed at in London. No note on if they were free or not.

Nothing in the fridge though.

 

[Seat0B]

Biggest trap are those minibars that are electronically controlled and just moving an item creates a charge.

Yep, that has caught us out a few times as we moved things around or even out of the fridge onto the cabinet immediately above in order to store our own food items. I always argue the toss with them if they try to charge because we NEVER use mini bar items.

 

[Seat0B]

Best that mini bars go the way of the dodo. Get rid of them

I agree - as long as they leave the mini fridge behind for milk and some other small food items that I like to store. I really missed that on our recent trip as quite a few places did not provide a mini fridge.