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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Minibar £35

102 replies

Sandinmytoes · 16/04/2016 03:58

To think you shouldn't just blindly help yourself to the minbar when someone else is paying?

£35 for a vodka/tonic- extortionate
I don't mind paying for a beer @ £4 or a juice but that's ridiculous.

She hasn't realised and now I have to bring it up- which is just awkward

OP posts:

scribblegirl · 16/04/2016 07:49

Jess that's mad. Never touch the minibar personally. Except when we were in Thailand and it was the difference between a beer being £1 and £1.50. We didn't apply such a stringent rule then

donajimena · 16/04/2016 07:53

When we stayed in a ridiculously over priced hotel in Madrid which had no restaurants nearby we used our mini bar to store ham tortilla and yogurts.
We must have looked well classy!

LagunaBubbles · 16/04/2016 07:54

I stayed at a very nice hotel in New York a few years ago and even there it wasn't £35 for one vodka! I remember it was about the equivalent in dollars for half a bottle of wine though! It was also a fiver for a Mars Bar!!!

I love checking all the contents, never even realised there might be a sensor which was just as well as every hotel we went to on our California road trip last year I cleared it out and put our own stuff in it. Obviously put it all back in at the end though!

Toraleistripe · 16/04/2016 07:55

I love the idea of them though! Would love to be so rock and roll that I could drink the mini bar dry and trash the room! Along with some hot rock star type!

Ha ha! In my dreams..... Plus I'd feel bad for the domestic staff.

CakeNinja · 16/04/2016 08:01

Haha dp and I stayed at a hotel with the sensor mini bar recently, we took out 2 cans of beer and a vodka miniature and Diet Coke - man those things are quick to beep
We couldn't be bothered to go to the bar - that's why the mini bar exists
Also stayed in a hotel earlier this year where he minibar was stocked with super posh vodka, champagne, fancy chocolates, fancy water and mixers, loads.
We came back drunk, raided it and the next day we found the bill on the tv - when sober it's not nearly as funny...
Op, we need more details...

senua · 16/04/2016 08:28

Why are mini-bars so expensive? Like many others I wouldn't use it in a million years, I don't even look. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the goodies slightly more expensive so they actually sold some, instead of so expensive that they end up sat untouched in the fridge for years. They might even have happy customers,too!

Obviouspretzel · 16/04/2016 08:32

To all the people who don't even look at the minibar, how can you know how expensive they are then? Why would you assume something is too expensive and never even look at the price?

The minibar is usually a high markup obviously, but I've never seen one that charges 35 for a vodka. In my experience, a miniature vodka usually costs between 5 and 7 pounds. Expensive, but not prohibitively so.

Fratelli · 16/04/2016 08:46

Was it a big bottle of vodka? As I jus5 don't believe a miniature would cost that much.

Coconutty · 16/04/2016 08:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mouldycheesefan · 16/04/2016 08:55

Agree must be error.

QuiteLikely5 · 16/04/2016 08:55

Obvious pretzel you know the price because the price list is usually located out with the mini fridge! Is that not obvious?? It's not like everything is stickered inside the fridge

RonaldMcDonald · 16/04/2016 08:57

If you think that is bad you should try some hotels that have water butlers. £25 for a bottle of water.

Surprised at the price of vodka. It is usually cheaper than nuts.

Yabu. If you didn't want a minibar bill you should have made it clear to others not to use your minibar. If you didn't do so before the drink was taken then the bar bill is down to you

LaurieFairyCake · 16/04/2016 09:01

I wouldn't check and even though I wluld expect a minibar to be expensive I wouldn't expect it to be 35 quid!

I would expect it to be at most a tenner (cheaper than a cocktail the last time I drank a cocktail) and I would take one expecting to pay for it and to afford it.

If it was 35 I would want to discuss it with the manager and say it wasn't a reasonable charge

GingerMerkin · 16/04/2016 09:05

Reminds me of the time staying with my DSis in a posh hotel and we sent a blouse to room service for ironing. Bill was £60!

Drinksforeveryone · 16/04/2016 09:06

Update us OP.

Who paid the bill in the end?
£35 for one drink sounds ridiculously pricey!

AliceInUnderpants · 16/04/2016 09:06

£35 for a single vodka and tonic? Where was that?

ApocalypseSlough · 16/04/2016 09:14

Please update- that can't be right.
I've stayed in some lovely hotels with dcs and it was always a concern, along with checking balconies and locks we had the mantra 'don't touch the mini bar'

AppleSetsSail · 16/04/2016 09:16

Culture has seemingly passed me by as I am a big consumer of the mini-bar - a vodka and tonic simply can't be £35.

BarbaraofSeville · 16/04/2016 09:20

To all the people who don't even look at the minibar, how can you know how expensive they are then? Why would you assume something is too expensive and never even look at the price

Because they almost always are stupidly expensive, you just stop looking after a while and make other plans if you think you will want a drink/snacks like bring your own, have them before you get to the hotel, or do without.

It's like all the other things that are overpriced/unaffordable to most people. I would never even think about buying a Ferrari, designer handbag or house in London, because I can't afford them or don't think they are worth the money. The same goes for minibars. I could afford to pay a tenner or even £35 for a vodka and tonic, but I don't like being taken for a mug, so would have to not have planned ahead and be quite desperate to do that.

Birdsgottafly · 16/04/2016 09:21

I don't look at the mini bar, because I go equipped, I either clock where the cheapest offie is going to be, or stock up at the airport (including crisps), classy bird, me.

BarbaraofSeville · 16/04/2016 09:21

Oh yes the comedy prices for laundry in hotels. In many cases, it would be cheaper to go out and buy new.

XiCi · 16/04/2016 09:28

£35? For a single vodka? Are you sure they got that right? Where was this? You don't even pay that in the Burj Al Arab.
I don't think your sister could have foreseen you would be charged that much!

Scooterloo · 16/04/2016 09:47

I remember drunkenly raiding the min-bar first time I ever stayed in a hotel with a boyfriend. The £70 bill was a sober-upper.

LunaLoveg00d · 16/04/2016 09:48

Any hotel I've ever stayed in very clearly states mini bar prices. There's usually either something on the back of the bar door, or an A5 piece of paper with all the prices on it. We usually have a giggle at charging £3.50 for a can of Coke and £5 for a Snickers and close the door over again.

I'm not tight fisted but do believe in getting value for money - and a mini bar is never value for money unless you are in a hotel in the middle of nowhere and having intense cravings for a packet of peanuts at 3am. It's quite different from sitting in a lovely 5* hotel cocktail bar, enjoying the surroundings, being served by an expert bar tender and having a vodka and tonic prepared to perfection. That i'm prepared to pay for, not a miniature out of the fridge.

footballcrazy11 · 16/04/2016 09:50

Query it. No way can that be the correct price

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