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How to Separate Mini Bar Criminals from Honest Citizens.
By Roland Wildberg ~ Weekly Exclusive - Views On The Latest Trends
Saturday, 13th April 2013
 
Exclusive Feature: An essential piece of both international hotel culture and strong revenues: The mini bar is a measuring instrument for hotel status and drinking habits around the world, but unfortunately it does also cause trouble.

It was in Malaysia during the monsoon season, and a gigantic storm moved up over Kuching. As we have been metereosensitive for quite a time, which regularly is manifesting itself by severe headache at the wrong time (is there a correct?) - and so of course it happened also at this time: Precisely when asked to join the General Manager with his dinner, it was knocking. On the inside of our skull.

We were beaten so violently that we only were able to whisper a cancellation through the phone down to the reception. Then it was night around us, while outside the monsoon rains maltreated the windows. A headache tablet was there, but water? In the tropics tab water is a delicate issue, so we grabbed a 1.5-litre bottle of mineral water from the mini bar (which thus rather was a giant bar).

Whom just the skull is exploding, he will not have much interest for price tags. Only when the pain ceased after about 60 minutes, our gaze hit the label: 6.50 dollars. It is actually laughable, after five years even to get upset about this amount, but still today we want to access spontaneously to the phone to complain about this charge (although at that day, we used it as medicine, so it was relatively cheap).

Of course, a minibar contains not only dull mineral water (which by the way is according to the statistics no. 1 of the minibar-bestseller). Though it is considered in many cultures an evidence of general personal and moral incapacities to drink alone, apparently the hotel room is excluded of this taboo: Perhaps because the direct access to narcotica of established variety is appreciated by travellers worldwide.

Indeed this has been examined already - recently, a survey of the German guest rating portal Holidaycheck showed that the vast majority of travellers may not forgo the luxury of in-room - drinking. Only 11% of respondents thought the minibar is dispensable.

But also about the trouble hosts do have with the small accessory, there are relevant statistics: 84% of 500 hoteliers around the world recently revealed to a booking portal, that they were cheated with the minibar at least once before.

For a tenth of the respondents, the cheating with the bottle even is a daily frustration. Easy to understand why: The sham is so easy: Open on the refrigerator door, pour the drink in your glass, then refill it at the faucet - finish. According to an estimate by Hilton Worldwide, the losses amount by theft of food and beverages eat away between 5 and 20 percent of minibar sales.

While this is just a scam to a few dollars per case, but it forces hotel manager to become detectives. And even worde, to develop bad faith: Every guest is now a potential bilk. A culture of distrust and control disease will move into the property. This is a shame, because hospitality should base on trust and honesty for each other.

Suspicion of the management goes so far to install strange devices in the hotel room: Automated mini bar's do register when you are taking a bottle, wait 14 to 40 seconds and then raise the alarm. Not something like a siren or a shrill bell, but the machine only registers the drink on the room bill silently. Whether you drink it or not.

Who is staring at the label for a long time, may later find oneself forced to justify himself when checking out. We do not find this a good solution – it reminds of dubious sleazy hotels offering special television channels with special content being charged for just after exactly five minutes. Do not what we are talking about? Don't we believe you!

And there can be even worse problems. The head of the Tourism Office of the Arizona capital of Phoenix, Douglas MacKencie, in the Wall Street Journal did report the unpleasant encounter with a minibar in Chicago a few years ago: he unintentionally pushed into the device - and later was asked to pay nearly 700 dollars when leaving the hotel.

The electronics had apparently interpreted the shove for a generous big round and put the entire contents of the minibar on the bill. The hotel canceled after a short consultation, says MacKencie.

Many managers try to fundamentally solve the problem by emptying the minibar for all time: That give more space for the guest's own drinks. Others go exactly in the opposite direction and move particularly stimulating food – appetizingly arranged in the lines of sight – such as chocolate and chips - the guests directly in front of their noses.

Reportedly, such a conversion in a US luxury hotel has brought 32% increase in in-room sales. But on the other hand such an arrangement risks scaring away guests - but who has stayed in a shopping mall? On the other hand it encourages dishonest visitors precisely to go on.

The "all inclusive" alternative seems the best solution: The hotel does offer everything just for free. But who can afford to provide such a luxury standard? Correct. And that is why it seems that mini bars will repeatedly cause headaches not only guests, but hoteliers as well.

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.

Roland Wildberg is Travel Writer and Correspondent based in Berlin, Germany. He started as an Editor for the National daily 'Die Welt' (tourism section), later on switched to a freelanced career and nowadays mainly publishes on the Web. Observing the hospitality industry always has fascinated him as it looks like the perfect combination of sleeping and writing – work-live-balance as its best.

Roland also heads the annual 4Hoteliers ITB Berlin news micro-site journalist and video/photo teams. For more info:
www.4Hoteliers.com/itb

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