Who moved my cheese, and other mini bar horror stories
It’s bad enough that just picking up a can of Coke in mini bar will trigger a charge, even if you put it back, in many hotels nowadays. But now, some hotels are putting trays of snacks on top of the mini bar, and charging if anything gets moved (they can tell because of a sensor attached to a scale in the tray). Even if there’s a note explaining the fees nearby, I know I’d either knock the tray over, or pick something up, or do something to trigger a charge that I’d have to argue away later. For a fun discussion on this, visit this post on Gizmodo. My favorite comment was this one:
- I think it would be poetic justice to get a $2000 a night room and prepay it with nothing but restocking items for the minibar. You could get 334 cans of $6 soda and stack them in a pyramid in the center of the room. Better yet, pile them on top of the pressure sensitive tray and call down to tell them that your bill has been settled. Before doing so make sure to call the credit card company and tell them to cancel your card because it was stolen…
Thanks to the MiForum listserv for the pointer.
February 5th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Mini bars are becoming a real irritation with me. I find when I get my final bill for a meeting staff is being charged for items and they don’t even have a key for the mini bar. It takes forever to get the charge removed from the bill. Thank goodness some hotels are now taking them out of the rooms and just having mini refrigerators.
Putting trays of snacks is a disaster waiting to happen. I guess now when we have site visits we have to ask about this additional problem.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
These mini bars are a racket. What was wrong with the old “seal on the door” method? So many times, I’ve left my hotel in early mornings without disputing the automated mini bar charges. With so much to do while traveling (and then when you return to a mountain of work in the office), who has time to follow up on a mini bar charge? The hotels know business travelers are too busy to dispute them. I’m sick of it.
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