In a Los Angeles hotel where a tourist recently found a bag of money left by a previous guest, the next traveler was “covered” by another stunning discovery in the room. So, a thirsty guest wanted to drink, but was horrified to find out the price of a bottle of water from the minibar after he drank it.
“Be aware, amidst all the extravagance (alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in the fridge) in the room, there were staggering prices (and) steep fines for what many of us do with the minibar quite regularly,” a British newspaper published such a tourist warning. The Sun. So, the cost of a 1-liter bottle of water cost him $31 (about 2.2 thousand rubles). But the most expensive was a bottle of Patron (premium brand of tequila) with a volume of 200 ml, i.e. like a cup of coffee – for $75 (4.9 thousand rubles). Such examples are enough to lose consciousness, the author assured.
“There was no price list next to the refrigerator warning that your wallet would be emptied faster than a roulette wheel several floors below. Instead, this information was hidden on the TV page in the room,” the traveler was indignant.
However, such hotels stop a common way of cheating guests by replacing more expensive drinks with cheaper ones. Modern mini-bars, equipped with precise scales and special sensors, report to the center, in this case, the hotel administration, about what manipulations were carried out with the refrigerator.
According to the “victim”, he would rather rent a whole refrigerator in this hotel than use the local minibar. “Refrigerating your $4 beer (at the corner store, 280 rubles at the current exchange rate) for 24 hours in a hotel minibar will cost you more than 10 times the beer itself,” he added.
Another hotel guest shared an image of a similar warning in their hotel. “The power center is on the sensor. The use of the buffet to store personal belongings is automatically charged a fee of $50 USD (3.5 thousand rubles).”
Another tourist told his horror story about using the hotel's minibar to cool down the liquor he brought to his room. “I was at the MGM Aria hotel, they have advanced minibars equipped with sensors. The refrigerator detects when an item is moved or the size or weight of the contents changes. We brought our own alcohol and used the mini-fridge to keep the drinks warm, and when we checked out, MGM charged us a “personal use fee” of $25 (1.7 thousand rubles) per day, ”he shared, though not specifying how many nights you had to pay for using the refrigerator.
As experts noted earlier, tourists who decide to challenge the hotel’s actions regarding the automatic withdrawal of money for the open door of the mini-refrigerator and storing their own products there have good chances of compensation. Especially if there is no warning price list nearby.
However, there are resort hotels that have completely eliminated mini-fridges in their rooms. For example, since 2018, hotels in the popular Costa Blanca in Spain have not used them. The decision was made after a series of incidents with British tourists. According to the hotel management, the guests furtively emptied the contents of the bottles, then filled them with their own urine and put them back. When leaving, they denied everything and left without fines.
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